Strategy is as much a part of the Senior League World Series as pitching, hitting and defense, given such issues as pitch-count rules and special pinch runners.

And picking the strategic move of the weeklong event is a no-brainer, as it came during the pivotal point of the championship game – and worked.

Upper Deerfield, N.J., was clinging to a 9-8 lead over Willemstad, Curacao, in the bottom of the sixth inning, and the Latin American team had runners on second and third with one out and the heart of its order coming to the plate.

So Upper Deerfield manager Jim Willis opted to intentionally walk the No. 3 hitter in the Curacao lineup, Kevin Moesquit – who already had singled twice, scored twice and walked in the game – in order to set up a force play at any base.

The only problem was that brought to the plate cleanup hitter Jonathan Schoop, a highly regarded shortstop who is expected to sign a pro contract in the coming months. He already had two sharp singles and two runs scored to his credit on the day.

“I had been watching [Moesquit] all week long and he just had a sweet, quick compact stroke, and every time he hit the ball he hit it hard somewhere,” said Willis.

Schoop also hit the ball hard in the sixth, but ripped a 2-1 pitch right at Upper Deerfield shortstop Chet Godfrey. He grabbed it, flipped it to second baseman Ryan Griffith to get not only a force play at second, but to start an inning-ending double play.

“They had second and third with the tying run at third and the winning run at second, so I just put my kids in position to get a force play,” said Willis.

Luck takes a walk

Willemstad, Curacao, had lived a charmed life of sorts en route to Saturday’s Senior League World Series final.

It won the Latin American title only after the team from Venezuela that defeated it in that championship game was disqualified for using an ineligible player.

Then the Curacao team went just 2-2 in pool play, and needed U.S. Central champ New Philadelphia, Ohio, to defeat U.S. Southwest representative Bryan, Texas, in the final game of pool play just to become part of a three-way tiebreaker for the final semifinal berth. The Ohio team won, and then Curacao won the tiebreaker.

That luck ran out early in the championship game, however, amid a flood of walks and hit batters.

After retiring the first two batters he faced in the first inning, Curacao starting pitcher Dudley Leonora walked six consecutive batters to force home three runs and give Upper Deerfield, N.J., a quick – or slow, given the pace of the game at the time – 3-0 lead.

During that series of walks Leonora threw 24 balls and just eight strikes.

“I had watched their pitcher work earlier in the week and he had given up six walks in four or five innings,” said Upper Deerfield manager Jim Willis, “so I told the kids to be patient, let’s see what he’s got, and he just started walking guy after guy after guy.”

The second inning wasn’t much better for Curacao reliever Dimitri Eugenia, though the damage in this case required fewer pitches. Upper Deerfield loaded the bases again with one out, and while Eugenia struck out the next batter he faced, the righthander then hit Andrew Owens and Joe Hamidy on back-to-back pitches to force home two more runs.

“The start with a lot of bases on balls and some hit batters was rough,” said Curacao manager Roque Bernadina. “If you don’t do the little things, you lose. You have to pitch well, you have to hit well, you have to run and you have to play defense well, and if you don’t, you lose.”

Flying bat alert

Upper Deerfield, N.J., starting pitcher Chet Godfrey suffered an unconventional injury midway through Saturday’s Senior League World Series championship game.

He had gone behind home plate to back up a possible throw there after Curacao’s Jonathan Schoop had singled to left to drive home Kevin Moesquit.

But when home-plate umpire Marc Lowther cleared Schoop’s bat away from the plate area in case of a close play at the plate, he threw it behind him and it hit Godfrey right on the knee.

Godfrey went down in pain momentarily, but soon got up and was able to continue on the mound.

“I didn’t see it coming,” said Godfrey, who was moved to shortstop in the fourth inning but returned to the mound in the seventh to earn the save. “The umpire chucked it behind his back and didn’t see me standing there and it hit me right in the knee. It hurt.”

Public pitch counts

Pitch counts are a major element of the Senior League World Series, with pitchers limited to 95 pitches in any game and other limits based on number of pitches over a several-day period.

In an effort to provide up-to-date pitch-count information for players, coaches and fans, the pitch count was kept on the Mansfield Stadium scoreboard by public address announcer and scoreboard operator Bob Beatham.

The scoreboard was modified so that the pitch count was maintained where ordinarily the batter’s number is shown.

In previous years, tournament scorekeepers would have been inundated with phone calls from the team dugouts asking about pitch counts, particularly when a pitcher got close to 95 in a game, or two a number that would have prohibited the pitcher from working the next day.

This year, there was just one call to the press box inquiring about a pitch count, that because the brightness of the sun that day obscured the scoreboard lights.

Bangor wins Clifford award

The solid performance by the host Bangor Senior League All-Stars during this year’s SLWS wasn’t confined to hitting, pitching and defense.

During the annual tournament banquet held Friday evening at the Bangor Elks Club, the team also was the recipient of the first Dan Clifford Memorial Sportsmanship Award.

That award is named for the former SLWS assistant director who died last fall at age 52.

“It’s presented to the team that most exemplifies Danny’s way, which we defined as ‘play hard, play fair and have fun,'” said tournament director Mike Brooker.

Umpires involved in this year’s SLWS voted on the award, and they selected manager Ron St. Pierre’s club for their conduct throughout pool play.

Bangor finished with a 1-3 record, but suffered narrow losses to two semifinalists, a 7-2 decision to Surrey, British Columbia that was a 2-2 game through five innings, and a 10-9, eight-inning loss to East Boynton Beach, Fla.

The visiting umpires were the voters and the Maine team got the award, so we’re awfully proud of that,” said Brooker.

eclark@bangordailynews.net

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