SLWS tradition a sure hit

It’s the time of year when anyone who constantly follows baseball at both the professional and amateur levels can feel a little burned out.

Sure, there’s no such thing as burned out when it comes to Red Sox angst, or the angst of another major league team if you prefer.

But the progression from the spring high school and college seasons to summer leagues and postseason tournaments can seem endless when matched with the heat and humidity of the season.

Yet just when fatigue may start to set in and thoughts turn toward the fall, football and – hard as it is to say on Aug. 10 – getting ready for another winter, along comes the Senior League World Series.

It’s become a mid-August tradition in Bangor, its opening ceremonies scheduled for Saturday marking the sixth year the event has been held in the Queen City.

For those who have experienced the event as a player, fan or behind-the-scenes organizer, it truly is a special week of athletic competition and cultural exchange.

Ten teams bring their unique stories to Mansfield Stadium, from all parts of the United States and all parts of the globe.

There’s the various stages of the sport’s development around the world on display, represented in such baseball hotbeds as the defending SLWS champions from the Paraguana Little League in Falcon, Venezuela, and such fledgling regions as Vilnius, Lithuania.

There are the world travelers, the 15- and 16-year-old kids who think nothing of hopping aboard a plane to visit lands far, far away in the spirit of baseball and adventure – like the team from the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, a collection of 14 islands in the South Pacific.

There’s the contingent from Hilo, Hawaii, which travels across the Pacific 2,500 miles just to play in its U.S. West regional at Salem, Ore. – then travels another 2,500 miles across the continent to compete for a world championship, which it won just four years ago.

But even the shortest of trips can produce similar dreams. Take the kids from Brewer, who earned their berth in the SLWS by outlasting rival Bangor to win this year’s Maine District 3 championship. Win or lose in the series, they’ll remember the experience – and the possibilities are endless. Think Bangor’s Jordan Clarke will ever forget his no-hitter against the Canadian champions from Regina, Saskatchewan, in 2006?

All involved in the series sacrifice time, travel and the chance to partake in other summertime activities for the love of baseball, and the pursuit of championships.

Consider the team from Cartersville, Ga. One day after winning the U.S. South title, those kids were beginning a new school year. And tomorrow morning, just two days later, they’ll board a plane in Greenville, S.C., bound for Bangor and one more week of educational escape.

It must be just crushing for those 15- and 16-year-olds to have to leave the books behind for a few more days. Yeah, right.

But it’s a pretty good bet the Senior League World Series will provide the Cartersville kids and the other nine teams plenty of lessons they won’t get in a classroom setting, both about themselves and the world in which they live.

Baseball fatigue? Forget it. The Senior League World Series is here. Make sure to check it out.

Ernie Clark may be reached at 990-8045, 1-800-310-8600 or eclark@bangordailynews.net.