There is no length Northridge's Geoff Vernon wouldn't go to get a bag of Trolli Sour Gummi worms before every one of his baseball games. It's become one of two rituals that he just has to do this season.
    If they're not in the vending machines at school, he'll walk over to the 7-Eleven store near campus to get some.
    He likes to open them up as soon as the bus starts heading toward the school the Knights are going to play.
    But, when the bus pulled out of the Northridge parking lot to head to Fremont about a month ago, Vernon reached into his bat bag only to find the candy wasn't there.
    He reacted quickly, calling his dad and asking him to buy some gummi worms and meet him at Fremont.
    "I thought, 'Something is not right.' I called my dad and he kinda laughed, but he brought them just before the game," Vernon said. "It's pretty extreme, but it's something I have to do."
    Vernon went 2-for-3 with a couple RBIs. And he played even better in the next game - also against Fremont - when he pitched five innings and struck out 12 to help his team to a 10-5 win.
    "It was the gummi worms. Honestly, if I don't have them, they're on my mind," Vernon said. "I feel like something's missing."
    That isn't his only superstition. In his bat bag are two bats, one wooden and the other aluminum. As he walks
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down to the field before the game, Vernon always hangs his hat off the handle of the wooden bat, never the aluminum one.
    Superstitions have long been a part of the culture of sports, and high school sports are no exception. Except when it comes to teenagers, the rituals may be more outlandish and unheard of. Bizarre, even.
    And, with the state tournament for all the spring sports - some tournaments have already started for the lower classifications - there is no other time when rituals are more important.
    "I just don't feel right if I don't do it," Riverton softball player Kelsi Hoopiiaina said. "It's like an OCD thing. Once you start something, you can't change it. Whatever your ritual is, you have to do it the whole season."
    If there is a certain handshake between teammates, they continue to do that handshake - with no revisions - throughout the season without fail. This season, Riverton's ritual is to draw a circle in the dirt with the opposing team's first letter in it. All the players spit in the circle and then cross out the letter.
    For Hoopiiaina, there's one thing she must always do before playing. Before game time, she goes to second base and dusts it off.
    "It always has to be clean," Hoopiiaina said. "In softball, you just have to do things a certain way."
    There are different type of rituals for high school athletes. Some like to have a certain pregame meal or put their uniforms on a certain way.
    East soccer player Matt Rider has a ritual for both.
    On game days, he has Eggo waffles. Then he'll go home after school and have a mini pepperoni pizza.
    He always puts his right shin guard on first and he never listens to his iPod on game days.
    "I like to listen to music when I'm working," Rider said. "But on game days, it's good luck not to."
    It's not that the iPod itself is bad luck. But, two years ago - when East won the state championship - Rider remembers bringing it to games but never listenting to it. From that, a ritual was born.
    Team rituals are much more common. After home games, the whole East team runs up to the hill just east of the soccer field and touches the red sign on the fence that sits right above it that reads, "Coach Kernodle's Hill."
    Personal rituals vary because they depend on each individual person. Whether it's eating Gummi Worms, cleaning off second base or not listening to an iPod, rituals get players in the right frame of mind. And to some players, the winning frame of mind.
    "It's just one of those mental aspects," Rider said. "If something doesn't feel right mentally, it's hard to feel right physically. It plays a part in it."
    mthach@sltrib.com