Talking about bid is a no-no

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BANGOR – Baseball superstition is big on keeping quiet when your pitcher is flirting with a no-hitter.

But that’s hard to do, especially among teenagers whose wont is to talk – and talk.

So when Jordan Clarke began flirting with a no-hitter midway through Sunday’s Senior League World Series opener between Maine District 3 champion Bangor and Canadian champion Regina, Saskatchewan, the buzz began despite his teammates’ best efforts to keep it to themselves.

“Before Jordan came in one inning, we decided we weren’t going to say anything to him so we wouldn’t jinx him,” said Bangor first baseman Christian Larochelle.

That anti-jinx strategy paid off as Clarke worked through the added pressure to complete a 3-0 victory and pitch his first career no-hitter.

“The kids were all very discreet about it,” said Bangor manager Ron St. Pierre. “Nobody was saying anything about the no-hitter. In fact, I looked up one time in the fourth inning and saw it, then I forgot all about it until the last three outs, and even then I wasn’t thinking that much about it.”

That’s the manager’s role, of course, to focus on the big picture. As for the players, the temptation to talk was great, but Clarke also played the role of stopper in that regard.

“In the fourth inning or so, I looked up at the scoreboard,” said Clarke, “and everybody was starting to talk about it, saying how they had no hits. A few kids started to say something to me, and I said not to because it might ruin it.”

One key to Clarke’s success stemmed from a change in his pregame routine.

“I said to Jordan that it seems like it takes him two or three innings to get going,” said St. Pierre. “My theory was that he wasn’t really warmed up, so I wanted him to warm up 25 to 30 minutes before the game, which is what he did, and it showed right off the bat.”

Yet Clarke’s strong start was matched by Canada’s Tyler Cameron, who scattered three hits over the first four innings of a scoreless game.

“We actually focused more on hitting, because we were hitting balls but right at people,” said catcher Tyler McDade. “We needed to keep hitting and get some runs in. I just kept saying to Jordy to go back out there and do what you’re doing and we’ll play defense and get some runs.”

The needed runs did come, leaving one final moment of superstition to overcome.

Canada’s last best chance for a hit came in the seventh, when Tom Frasz hit a liner toward second base that Bangor’s Mack Susi grabbed with a leap.

“Jordan’s father [Bangor coach Scott Clarke] turns to me and says, ‘One more guy for the no-H,'” said St. Pierre, “and I said, ‘Don’t you dare mention it.’

“Then we got the nubber [a comebacker to the mound by Canada’s Kyle Richardson] to end the game. It was a great game to be part of.”

Tourney trivia

Based on results for the first four years the SLWS has been held in Bangor, the U.S. West and the U.S. South are the likeliest teams to advance to this year’s final four.

Both the U.S. West and U.S. South have reached the semifinals in each of the last four years, with the West making three trips to the finals and winning the 2003 title when Hilo, Hawaii, defeated Chesterfield, Va., 16-8. Pearl City, Hawaii, which lost to Urbandale, Iowa, in last year’s title game, will look to extend the West’s streak of appearances in the championship game to four straight years this week.

The U.S. South has reached two finals and two other semifinals in the last four years, with finals appearances by Boynton Beach, Fla., in 2002 and Chesterfield, Va., in 2003. The South has lost in the semifinals the last two years.

The Latin America champs have made three semifinals in four years, with Willemstad, Curacao, winning the 2002 crown. The U.S. Central and East each have two semifinal appearances, both times for the Central by Urbandale, Iowa, (2003, 2005) and both times for the East by Freehold Township, N.J. (2004, 2005). The New Jersey team won the 2004 SLWS title, while the Iowa champs won the 2005 crown.

The sixth team to be represented in the semifinals during the Bangor era is the U.S. Southwest, as a team from Houston, Texas, advanced to the 2002 semifinals.

Early loss no eliminator

If a team loses its first game of pool play at the Senior League World Series, it’s not necessarily a death knell for its title hopes.

No team has gone through the series undefeated during its first four years in Bangor. In fact, in three of those years the eventual champion lost its first game of the tournament.

Willemstad, Curacao, lost to the Northwest 45 Little League of Houston, Texas, 11-5 in its 2002 series opener but rebounded to win five straight games and the title.

In 2003, a similar early fate befell winner Hilo, Hawaii, which dropped an 8-2 decision to Central Chesterfield Little League of Chesterfield, Va.

Freehold Township, N.J., the 2004 champ, won its first three games of pool play and had already clinched its berth in the semifinals before losing 4-2 to the San Francisco Little League of Maracaibo, Venezuela.

And last year’s champ, Urbandale, Iowa, lost 6-4 to the Activo 20-30 Little League of Santiago Veraguas, Panama, in the first day of pool play before making its run to the title.