Curaçao throws combined no-hitter past Japan at LLWS

Williamsport had itself a night. Curaçao's Pariba Little League team no-hit Japan's Joto squad 6-0, and according to the on-field graphic, it's just the 3rd no-hitter in LLWS history — and the first ever thrown in a 6-inning game.

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Curaçao has a combined no-hitter! Two no-no’s within the span of 20 minutes at the LLWS

Jaymiëll Martina started it, working 4 2/3 no-hit innings and striking out 7 of the 16 batters he faced, before Giendry Ryan came on to slam the door for the final 1 1/3 innings. Two arms, zero hits allowed, one Japan lineup left staring at the scoreboard.

What makes it wilder is the timing. Curaçao's gem came within roughly 20 minutes of Iowa's Davenport Northwest team also throwing a combined no-hitter in a separate game against California's Sweetwater Valley — two no-hitters, same day, same complex, minutes apart.

No-hitters at the LLWS are rare on their own; the 6-inning format leaves almost no margin for a defense to have an off-inning without giving up a hit. Pulling one off in an elimination-stakes international bracket, with a flag-waving crowd and a trip to Williamsport on the line, is a different kind of pressure than a regular-season gem back home.

Curaçao has been a perennial LLWS threat out of the Caribbean region, and this kind of performance is exactly why teams from the island keep showing up on the international side of the bracket deep into August. Now the question is whether the pitching staff has enough left in the tank to ride this run further.