Hurricane Charley could force pool-play schedule to change

BANGOR – The 10-team field is set, and some of the best 15- and 16-year-old baseball players from around the world are making their way to Maine from as far away as the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands in the North Pacific, the Netherlands, Venezuela and British Columbia, Canada.

For the third straight year, the Senior League Baseball World Series is bearing down on Bangor.

Opening ceremonies are slated for 11:30 a.m. Sunday at Mansfield Stadium, followed by the first of five scheduled four-game days of pool play.

The top two teams in each of the two pools qualify for Friday’s semifinals, with the 2004 Senior League world champion to be crowned on Saturday, Aug. 21.

That schedule may be subject to change, however, because weather forecasts suggest that the remnants of Hurricane Charley may also be bearing down on Bangor late this weekend, bringing heavy rains.

“We’ve got some contingency plans,” said tournament director Mike Brooker. “Right now we’re just hoping and praying that Charley goes out to sea, and if that’s the case we should be in pretty good shape.”

If Sunday’s games are washed out, plans call for them to be rescheduled throughout the other four days of pool play, with five games to be held daily from Monday through Thursday rather than the current four-game daily schedule.

“Everybody would have to end up playing two games on one day, but no more than that,” said Brooker.

The Mansfield Stadium playing surface absorbed more than an inch of rainfall Friday morning, as what was left of Tropical Storm Bonnie passed through Maine.

Yet by midafternoon, just a single puddle near second base was the lone obvious sign that the field had been hit by rain at all.

Brooker credited the work of Mansfield Stadium field director Ron St. Pierre and fellow volunteers including Dave Mansfield, Jimmy Owens, John Stubbs, Skip Black and Chris Grant for keeping the field in game-ready condition.

“The field’s in remarkable shape; they’ve done a tremendous job,” Brooker said. “The field was saturated at 9 o’clock this morning, and now it’s almost completely dry. We could play tonight if we had to, and considering the amount of rain we got that’s amazing.”

Much of the field’s ability to absorb water can be traced to its drainage system as well as the application of Turface, an absorbent material made of baked clay that is placed on the red clay that makes up the “dirt” part of the infield.

St. Pierre said as much as three tons of that material will have been put on the field in recent days by the time the World Series is scheduled to begin, with that application having the additional benefit of creating a truer-playing infield.

B.C., Illinois teams complete field

The Whalley Little League of Surrey, British Columbia, and the Humboldt Park Little League of Chicago, Ill., were the final two teams to qualify for the 10-team Senior League World Series.

The British Columbia team edged Valleyfield, Quebec, 11-3 at Coquitlam, British Columbia, on Thursday evening to win the Canadian championship. The team, which went 6-1 during the regional, then flew from Vancouver to Toronto on Friday and were scheduled to leave Toronto early Saturday to fly first to Detroit and then to the Portland International Jetport.

SWLS tournament director Mike Brooker said the Canadian team is scheduled to complete its cross-continental journey by late Saturday morning.

The Humboldt Park Little League team earned its trip to Bangor by edging Ankeny, Iowa, 2-1, in Thursday evening’s U.S. Central championship game at Peru, Ill. Humboldt Park finished its 12-team regional with a 5-0 record.

The Chicago-based team joins Europe-Middle East-Africa (EMEA) champion Rotterdam, Netherlands, Latin America champ Maracaibo, Venezuela, U.S. East representative Freehold Township, N.J., and U.S. Southwest winner San Antonio, Texas, in Pool B.

Pool A consists of Surrey, British Columbia, host Bangor, U.S. South winner Dade City, Fla., U.S. West champ Oxnard, Calif., and Asia-Pacific winner Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI).

Sunday’s four-game schedule has Dade City, Fla. against Oxnard, Calif., at 12:30 p.m., followed by Freehold Township, N.J. vs. Humboldt Park at 3, San Antonio, Texas, vs. Rotterdam, Netherlands, at 5:30 and Bangor vs. Surrey, British Columbia at 8.