If there is a player who best represents just how good Curacao can be at the Little League World Series, it might be Davey-Jay Rijke.
In Curacao’s 2-0 victory on Wednesday over a talented team from Nicaragua, Davey-Jay allowed just two hits while striking out 14 over 5-1/3 innings. He came up with a big hit, a triple in the sixth inning, and scored his team’s insurance run.
Not only that, but with Curacao up just 1-0 and Nicaragua with runners in scoring position in the fourth inning, Davey-Jay laid out to grab a bunt that popped up between the mound and the first base line. As he went back to the dugout, his teammates mobbed him, with one tossing a jacket over his shoulders.
Photo: AP
“You have to keep the guys smiling, just let them have fun,” Zaino Everett, the team’s manager, said afterward. “There are so many pressures in the game to not be that way.”
Davey-Jay works fast, but also stays calm. The batters he faces do not seem to stay so cool facing his 120kph fastball, which comes in about as fast as a 157kph pitch from a major-league mound. Also unnerving to hitters is his tempo. As soon as his foot touches the rubber, Davey-Jay’s windup begins.
“I feel good, my arm feels good, my control is perfect.” Davey-Jay said through an interpreter. “That’s the way Shohei Ohtani [a two-way star of the MLB’s Los Angeles Angels] is looking so I’m trying to be like him.”
Photo: AP
What’s interesting about Curacao is performances like Davey-Jay’s, while remarkable, are not so rare.
Curacao is just off the coast of Venezuela and is small — just 444km2 — with a population of just over 150,000 people.
This year is the country’s 14th visit to South Williamsport, including a 2004 championship with a team who featured future notable big-leaguers such as Jonathan Schoop and Jurickson Profar in a win over undefeated California.
An advantage that the island of Curacao has is the condition of its fields — and that means the relatively poor condition. Baseball diamonds lack the smooth playing surface that grass provides for infields, and instead are left with divots and rocks, forcing infielders to handle frequent bad hops from ground balls.
“That’s why our infielders have the smoothest hands,” said Andy Martina, a broadcaster covering the Little League World Series for fans in Curacao on news Web site Deporte Aktivo.
They were to face Panama Region winners Aguadulce Cabezera Little League from Aguadulce yesterday, another tough team. Panama might be good, but they are certain to face a team that will play well in Curacao, who are represented by the Pabao Little League, the Caribbean Region winners.
“We’ve trained so long and hard to get here, for this year since the [COVID-19] pandemic stopped us from coming the past two years,” Everett said. “We come back, do a good job, and make Curacao proud of us.”
The winners of the Curacao-Panama game are to face Taiwan on Tuesday morning Taiwan time.
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