A tale of redemption and atonement
Aruba South overcame surprising surge by Bangor East/West for ’10 title

For eight years, Maine District 3 players had said the same things to the local news media leading up to the World Series. We think we can play with anybody. We’re just as good. We can beat anybody on any given day. This team is different.

The cliches were many, but the results were always the same: a token win against a team from Canada or against an underrated team from Asia-Pacific. Or, at least in the 2002 series – the first in Bangor – a surprising upset over a U.S. West team that had already clinched a semifinal berth.

The hopes and promises were always big, but the results were always little. It seemed the hometown team never could get over that little hump and win more than a single game.

There were close calls. In 2005, Bangor East/West was leading U.S. Southeast’s Habersham L.L., Clarkesville, Ga., 3-2 before giving up a two-out run in the bottom of the sixth inning and a two-out, walk-off double in the seventh. In 2008, Bangor East/West forced extra innings against U.S. Southeast’s East Boynton L.L., Boynton Beach, Fla., with a run in the top of the seventh, but East Boynton won in the bottom of the 10th inning on a throwing error. In 2009, Bangor East/West again fell to a U.S. Southeast team in extra innings when Northwood L.L., Greenville, S.C., hit a walk-off home run in the 10th inning for a 4-2 win. In the next game, Bangor East/West rallied for two runs in the sixth and three in the seventh against eventual series runner-up U.S. West’s Niles-Centerville L.L., Fremont, Calif., to force extra innings.

Bangor East/West even took a 6-5 lead with a run in the top of the eighth.

But Niles-Centerville scored twice in the bottom of the inning, with the winning run scoring on a bases loaded walk.

Prospects for a successful run in last year’s series by a Maine District 3 team weren’t looking any better, as rivals Bangor East/West and Brewer/Orrington slugged their way to a 9-9 tie through seven innings in the district championship game.

“Whoever wins this game isn’t going to have any pitching left for the series,” Bangor Manager Ron St. Pierre said during the game. “We’re going to get smoked.”

Brewer/Orrington’s pitching collapsed completely in the top of the eighth, allowing 11 unanswered runs as Bangor East/West won 20-9 to advance to the World Series for the seventh time in nine seasons.

The Bangor East/West pitching staff was beat, with most of the kids having pitched high school and American Legion in addition to Senior League. Although the high school team had played 18 games, the Legion team about 23 games, and Senior League had lasted about 16 games, more than 50 total games was a very long season by Maine standards.

But something happened: teamwork on a level that is rarely seen or learned in young men, as the Bangor boys vowed to learn from 2009’s heartbreaking close calls and pick each other up, no matter who the opponent, no matter what the score.

After beating Canada’s East Park L.L., Edmonton, Alberta, 8-0 to open the series, Bangor East/West trounced Europe-Middle East-Africa’s Lazio L.L., Lazio, Italy, 13-0 in five innings. For the first time, a Maine District 3 team had won two games. For the first time, a Maine District 3 team had started a series 2-0.

However, Maine District 3 teams had always done well against teams from Canada. The win was the host’s fifth in nine series against Canada – the only region the host had a winning record against. And although Lazio had lost only 6-3 on opening day to defending World Series champion West University L.L., Houston, Texas, EMEA teams had been an abysmal 1-16 since Georgia YMCA L.L., Tbilsi, Georgia’s shocking upset over Latin America’s Activo 20-30 L.L., Santiago Veraguas, Panama, in 2005.

Bangor East/West’s first real test would be against U.S. East’s South Vineland L.L., Vineland, N.J. A Maine District 3 team had never played a U.S. East team in eight prior series because the teams were always in different pools.

For the first time, a buzz of anticipation filled Mansfield Stadium before a game. A Maine District 3 team had finally won two games. Could a Maine District 3 team make the semifinals?

South Vineland took a quick 3-0 lead in the first, but Bangor East/West answered with four runs in the third, the growing crowd roaring on each hometown hit.

But errors – five of them – spelled the hometown team’s downfall, as South Vineland came out on top, 10-5. Heading into the last day of pool play, Bangor East/West was 2-1 and playing West University, also 2-1 with a loss to South Vineland. The winner of the Bangor East/West vs. West University match-up would move on.

West University starting pitcher Stewart Cartwright silenced Bangor East/West through five innings, retiring the first nine batters he faced and facing the minimum number of batters through five innings, thanks to a double play after an error in the fourth. Meanwhile, West University had pressured Bangor East/West starter Jesse Wood through five innings, garnering five hits, two walks, and an error, taking a 3-0 lead.

Bangor started the sixth with three straight hits: a single by No. 7 hitter Nic Cota, a triple by Seth Freudenberger, and a single by Wood.

After six, West University led 3-2.

In the seventh, Bangor cleanup hitter Anthony Capuano grounded out leading off, leaving his teammates with only two outs to work with. Dylan Morris grounded a single just to the right of second base on a 3-2 pitch. He gave way to special pinch-runner Wyatt Frost as Josiah Hartley prepared to hit.

Twice in the game Hartley had hit fly balls deep to center field. And twice West University center fielder Andrew Waters had tracked the balls down, making a sensational leaping catch on the second one.

This time, however, Waters would not be in center, as Cartwright had reached his 95-pitch limit and West University Manager Trey Cornelius had summoned Waters to the mound.

After watching a first-pitch ball, from Waters, Hartley lined the second pitch to left-center field.

“When the ball left the bat, I didn’t know what to think,” Hartley said after the game. “I kind of put my head down and started running, hoping it would fall somewhere.”

“Somewhere” was on the other side of the left-center field fence, a home run that sent the capacity crowd at Mansfield into a roar never heard before in the stadium’s 18 years. Up 3-2 with two outs to go against what had been a listless Bangor lineup, West University was suddenly down 4-3.

And not ready to go down so easily.

In the bottom of the seventh, West University got the potential tying and winning runs to third and second. A soft base hit to the outfield could easily shatter Bangor’s dream. But unlike in years past, when Maine District 3 just could not get that last out, a strikeout ended the game.

“The one thing I feel this team has over all of the other teams in the tournament is the competitive edge,” Hartley said. “We have kids on this team that fight. We may not be the most gifted, but we all battle. And we’ve gotten through some tough situations, we’ve played from behind and came back, and we thrive on these situations. In front of the hometown fans, it’s a big deal.”

St. Pierre took little responsibility for his team’s surprising berth in the semifinals.

“I’m just along for the ride,” he said. “I didn’t do anything fancy. I just stayed out of their way and let them play ball.”

From hopes of winning a second game to reaching the semifinals, local baseball fans were now hoping for a Maine District 3 berth in the World Series championship game, of all things. But for Bangor to do that, it would have to beat U.S. West champion Manhattan Beach L.L., Manhattan Beach, Calif., which had finished Pool B play with a 4-0 record and hadn’t lost a game at all in its tournament season.

Manhattan Beach started the game with three consecutive singles off Bangor starting pitcher Curtis Worcester to take a 1-0 lead. After a strikeout, a two-run double made it 3-0. Worcester regained his composure and essentially turned into a new pitcher, shutting down the Californians the rest of the way. A walk, a triple, and a single by Bangor in the third inning cut Manhattan Beach’s lead to 3-2.

But in a seven-inning game, it gets late awfully quickly. After four innings, it was still 3-2 Manhattan Beach, whose starting pitcher, Anthony Lombardo, began to tire as he reached the 95-pitch limit. After getting the lead-off hitter to start the fifth, Lombardo gave up a single to Adam King on his 98th pitch.

Christian Corneil greeted reliever Carter Casady with a single on Casady’s first pitch, putting runners at first and second with Capuano coming to the plate. Capuano took a strike, watched three straight balls, and then hit a long home run over the right-center field fence. As against West University, Bangor was down one pitch and up the next, 5-3.

From there, Bangor’s lineup let loose, scoring four more times in the sixth to take a 9-3 lead Manhattan Beach never cracked.

“We had a 19-game win streak and today we ran into a buzz saw,” Manhattan Beach Manager Carlos Rojas said afterward. “This Bangor team can beat the 19 teams that we beat. You guys have got a very good team here in Bangor.”

For host Bangor, the 2010 World Series was a chance for redemption for all of the close calls and hopes that had fallen short for Maine District 3 teams. For Aruba South L.L., San Nicolas, Aruba, the 2010 series was about atonement.

The Latin America champ was making its second consecutive trip to Bangor after a disappointing 2009 series, in which it went 3-1 in pool play, losing to eventual series champ West University, and then coming up short in the semifinals against Niles-Centerville.

In the 7-6 semifinal loss to Niles-Centerville the year before, Aruba South gave up seven runs in the third inning after being ahead 2-0. Aruba South gradually cut into the 7-2 deficit, but a two-run rally in the seventh fell short, with the tying run left on first base.

Aruba South opened the 2010 series with a mixed performance against Asia-Pacific’s Saipan L.L., Saipan, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Island. Seven players stole bases, with three stealing two. The 10 steals in a game set a record for a Bangor series. But Aruba South set another record – 14 strikeouts at the plate. And committed five errors.

Nevertheless, the two-time Latin America champ won 8-4.

In Aruba South’s second game, against Manhattan Beach, it had to score a run in the bottom of the seventh inning with two outs to send the game into extra innings, tied 2-2. Manhattan Beach scored three runs in the top of the eighth for what would end up being a 5-3 win.

U.S. Central champ Holmes County L.L., Holmes County, Ohio, had the misfortune of facing the Arubans next, as the Aruba South lineup broke out of its slump – at least by Latin America standards – with 17 runs on 17 hits in a 17-1, five-inning rout. The 17 hits raised the team’s batting average from .270 to .360.

Against U.S. Southeast champ Palm Bay East L.L., Palm Bay, Fla., Aruba struggled again, taking a 4-3 lead into the seventh inning before rallying for three more runs in a 7-3 win.

Aruba South took a 3-1 record into the semifinals against 4-0 South Vineland. Using its speed on the base paths, the Latin America champ used stolen bases in the first and fourth innings to set up single runs for a 2-0 lead. The second run scored on a double-steal, of second and home.

South Vineland answered with two runs in the bottom of the fifth on four singles – two of which didn’t leave the infield. Yet Aruba South again relied on its running game to score what proved to be the winning run in the top of the seventh. After Chadwick Tromp was hit by a pitch leading off, special pinch-runner Joes Luis Gonzales raced all the way from first to third on a sacrifice bunt by Richinell Mantos. Luis Gonzales scored on a single by Ray-Patrick Didder.

“You have to know your team,” Aruba South Manager Greg Manual said after the game. “We know we have to be a running team. If you are a running team, you have to play running. You can’t play the home run if you can’t hit the home run. We have to play small-ball, because we know we have some good pitchers.”

As his players prepared for the bottom of the seventh, in which South Vineland hitters went down in order, Manuel reminded his players of the key to good defense.

“I tell the guys, ‘Just relax,’” Manuel told reporters later. “‘Don’t overrun. Just relax. Play cool baseball. Just take it easy. Because if you overplay the baseball, that’s when you’re in trouble. Easy. We know we have a good pitcher.’”

The weather could not have been better for the championship game, which was set for a 12:06 p.m. start on ESPNU. An hour before game time, the Mansfield Stadium grandstand was just about full as a hot afternoon sun beat down on the fans as public address announcer Bob Beatham played Bon Jovi’s “Livin’ On A Prayer” over the sound system. Although a Latin America vs. Maine District 3 match-up wasn’t an ideal one for the hometown fans to want – Latin America’s all-time record in Bangor World Series was 34-14 (.709) while Maine District 3’s was 10-27 (.270) – the mood in the ballpark wasn’t of dread but of anticipation.

After the late-inning heroics against West University and the tide-turning play the day before against an undefeated Manhattan Beach team, anything, it seemed, was possible.

Both teams had .321 batting averages, with an identical number of hits and at-bats (44 and 137). Bangor East/West batters had walked 19 times and struck out 32 times. Aruba South batters had walked 20 times and struck out 33 times. Their fielding percentages were within mere points of each other (Bangor East/West’s was .949, Aruba South’s was .945). Opponents had hit .239 against Bangor East/West while Aruba South’s opponents had hit .235.  Aruba South pitchers had averaged allowing 1.18 walks and hits per inning while Bangor East/West pitchers had averaged allowing 1.21 per inning.

Four of Aruba South’s first five hitters got base hits to start the game, two of them doubles, off Bangor East/West pitcher Cody Savage. Before Savage and his teammates got to bat, they were down 3-0. But just as things looked like they were going to get ugly, Savage found a way to keep the Aruba South hitters enough off-balance and hold them to the three first-inning runs, even though he allowed at least one base runner in every inning.

Aruba South pitcher Shawn Duinkerk was better, though. After giving up a lead-off single to Luke Hetterman in the bottom of the first, he retired 11 of the next 12 batters he faced.

In the fifth, Bangor East/West loaded the bases against Duinkerk on a lead-off walk and two singles. But a running catch by Aruba South second baseman Jiandido Tromp in the outfield on a soft liner took away a hit that would have scored a run. Bangor East/West mustered only one run, on a fielder’s choice.

After six innings with Savage’s pitch count at 89, Bangor East/West Manager St. Pierre put Josiah Hartley on the mound for the seventh inning. The hard-throwing Hartley struck out his first batter, but walked his second. A fielding error loaded the bases. Duinkerk reached on a fielder’s choice that forced in a run to make it 4-1. A double by Juan Carlos Moncion made it 6-1. Chadwick Tromp then delivered a two-run home run that made it 8-1 and vanquished all but the faintest of hopes that Bangor East/West could once again pull out a come-from-behind win.

Both teams won the hearts of their hometowns and, in the case of Aruba South, its nation.

Manuel praised the Bangor East/West players.

“I like their style of play,” he said. “They have a lot of spirit. They fight. Their spirit is high.”

Chadwick Tromp said he didn’t take the hometown team for granted, not when he and his teammates had a 3-1 lead entering the seventh.

“They played against West. It was 3-0, and they came back and won the game 9-3,” he said. “So we said to ourselves, ‘That’s not enough. We’ve got to get more runs.’ That’s what we did.”

The week-long experience nearly brought Bangor East/West Manager St. Pierre, a coach for decades, to tears.

“I’ll cherish these kids in my heart forever,” he said. “It’s a great thing for Bangor. I haven’t seen this many fans. And people who haven’t even been paying attention to the World Series now realize that this really is a world event and that you do see caliber baseball. For 6 ½ innings, we had fantastic baseball. We kind of died. In the bottom of the seventh, we just ran out of steam, I guess. I think the state of Maine realizes that, look, there’s something special going on in Bangor.”