Hawaii, US beats Curacao in Little League World Series Championship

August 28, 2005

The 2005 edition of the Little League World Series ended in thrilling fashion as Ewa Beach, Hawaii overcame a three run deficit in the last inning and eventually beat defending champion Curacao 7-6 in extra innings of the international championship game in front of a crowd of over 25,000. It is the first Little League World Series title for an American team since Kentucky beat Japan in 2002.

Going into the sixth and final inning, the team from Ewa Beach was trailing 6-3 to the team from Willemstad, Curacao. However, a couple of key hits and timely bunts closed the gap, and Ewa Beach tied the game after Curacao was unable to complete a potential game-ending double play. Curacao was able to get out of the inning as the Little League championship game was sent into extra innings for the first time in over 30 years. After shutting down Curacao in the top of the seventh, Hawaii came up in the bottom of the seventh with a chance to complete the comeback. Hawaii's Michael Memea would finish what his teammates started by hitting a line drive solo home run with no one out to give Hawaii its first Little League championship.

Curacao was trying to become the first back-to-back champions in Little League since Long Beach, California did it in 1992 and 1993.