SOUTH WILLIAMSPORT, WILLEMSTAD – Louisiana could have claimed its first Little League World Series title but for the Curaçaoans, the Pabou Little League Team is still the number one in the world.

Louisiana pitcher Egan Prather threw a two-hit shutout Sunday to lead the team from River Ridge past Curacao 8-0.

Egan shut down a powerful Curacao lineup, throwing 88 pitches over six innings. His performance in the championship caps off a solid tournament on the mound in which he picked up two victories and struck out 19 batters in 14 1/3 innings.

The offensive breakthrough came in the fifth inning for Louisiana as the team scored four runs on four hits to seize control. Reece Roussel smacked an RBI double that was followed by Marshall’s RBI single, his third hit of the day.

Curacao threatened in the top of the third, loading the bases with one out. But a sharp ground ball to Marshall at third base resulted in a force-out at the plate and a few pitches later, Jurdrick Profar, the youngest brother of Oakland A’s infielder Jurickson Profar, was thrown out trying to score on a wild pitch.

With Louisiana’s victory, U.S. teams have won back-to-back Little League crowns for the first time since 2009, when a team from Chula Vista, California, capped off a streak of five straight championships for the United States.

But Curaçao is preparing to receive its team as champions of the world which ones again showed why the island is big in the baseball game.