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NAILBITER. It was a great game between Hawaii and defending champion Curacao, marred only by an umpire's call more amateurish than anything done by kids in the series. In what should have been an inning-ending double play in the third, the Americans caught a Curacao baserunner in a rundown between second and third, then threw out another baserunner attempting to steal home. The runner was doubly out. He ran out of the basepath trying to elude the tag, but was deftly tagged from behind anyway. Only the umpire standing ten feet away at home failed to watch any of it but the runner sliding across home plate. Curacao scored another run after the uncalled third out, taking a 3-1 lead.

The Hawaiians could have lost heart at this turn of events, but they responded in their next at bat with a pair of lead-off homeruns to tie the game once more. Curacao fought back, too, and grabbed a 6-3 lead in the fifth with a pair of their own homeruns, one with a runner aboard. When the Americans went down 1-2-3 in the bottom of the fifth it looked as if the game might be over. But the Hawaiian relief pitcher, Vonn Fe'ao, took the mound at the top of the sixth with a look of ice-cold fury in his eyes and seemed to keep throwing his pitches harder, edging up to the Little League equivalent of a 98 mph fastball.(The smaller field dimensions increase the effective speed of a pitch.) A Curacao runner reached third, where Fe'ao stranded him with an inning-ending strkeout.

Fe'ao also scored the first run of the Hawaiians' gutsy comeback in the bottom of the sixth (and last chance) inning, which tied the game with a couple base hits, adroit baserunning, and a turn of speed that converted a possible game-ending double play into a third run.

In the top of the seventh, Fe'ao threw even harder, reaching the equivalent of 100 mph with his fastball. His manner on the mound was so intimidating that it drew a rebuke from ABC commentator Brent Musberger, but that didn't save the heart of the Curacao lineup. Fe'ao struck them all out with hardly a wasted pitch.

Michael Memea, the catcher, was first up for the Hawaiians in the bottom of the seventh, and as he walked to the plate, the camera caught a glimpse of Fe'ao striding back and forth in the dugout like a caged tiger, waiting for his own imminent turn at bat. He never got the chance. Memea blasted a centerfield homerun (his second of the game), and Hawaii brought home its first world championship ever.

Both teams have plenty to be proud of. Curacao played hard and well. The Hawaiians played as if they simply weren't going to accept anything less than victory. Congratulations are due to each and every player, coach, and parent.