By Benito Vila

The Kaiser Division of the Atlantic Collegiate Baseball League–comprised of teams in Sag Harbor, Southampton, Westhampton, Mattituck (North Fork), Riverhead and Old Westbury (Long Island)–overwhelmed their Wolff Division counterparts 11-0 at St.John’s University on Monday. That win gives the Kaiser playoff winner home-field advantage in the best-of-three championship series to be played the first week of August.

The Wolff teams, playing along the New Jersey-Pennsylvania border, were able to knock just four hits off of seven Kaiser division pitchers in the nine-inning game. Meanwhile, the Kaiser bats were hot, scorching 15 hits. Sag Harbor Whalers’ Ed Squeri (Dowling, two hits, two runs) and Brandon Boykin (Rutgers, two hits, three RBIs) led the way, Boykin blasting the game’s only home run.

The Whalers, at 10-15, have run aground of late, a 1-6 week sending them from among the league leaders towards the lower realm of the standings. As of yesterday afternoon, Westhampton, at 17-10, leads the league with Southampton (15-10) and Riverhead (16-11) a game behind and North Fork (15-11) just a half-game back of those two.

Today the Whalers take on the Ospreys in Mattituck and tomorrow they meet the Mustangs at New York Tech; both games start at 5 p.m. This Sunday, the boys are back in Mashashimuet Park for a doubleheader against the Southampton Breakers. First game is at 2 p.m. and the second at 5 p.m.

Scouts Come Out

John Venturella, coach of the Breakers, was excited by the Kaiser Division win, noting on Tuesday, “That’ll bring more scouts out this way and get more of our players noticed. The way we won so convincingly says a lot about our pre-season scouting and the people that have put this program together out here.”

Philadelphia Philly scout Dan Gallagher has been watching this summer’s games from the outset. His grandson, Chris Walker (Fordham), plays catcher for the Westhampton Aviators, and he has been one of the league’s top collegiate recruiters.

Sitting behind home plate in Mashashimuet Park on Sunday, Gallagher, who coached at Fordham University for 22 years, said, “This league out here has the potential to be one of the top four collegiate leagues in the country. It has great facilities and has attracted a big following in just two years.”

In talking about the success of similar leagues in Cape Cod, Alaska, Virginia, Minnesota and California, Gallagher suggested, “It’s good for these boys to get away and meet people and learn how to adjust to the things that come their way. At school, they can get too comfortable and when they stay home, they don’t take the game as seriously.”

Look for “Follows”

In explaining what scouts are looking for, Gallagher explained, “What we have here are mostly freshmen and sophomores; they’re too young for the [major league] clubs until their junior year so what scouts look to do is put in ‘follows’ to other local scouts so that the clubs can keep up with how they’re doing.” That system of “follows” leads candidates to the pro ranks via drafts and tryout camps.

Gallagher and his baseball brethren will be out on Monday afternoon for a “scout day” at Southampton High School, select players from the Kaiser Division teams doing what they can to show they have what it takes to earn a “follow”.

Turnaround Week

Whaler coach Jason Lefkowitz attributes the Whalers’ losses of late to breakdowns in the field, the other teams “getting more chances than they deserve. You can’t do that at any level. It puts pressure that doesn’t need to be there on the pitchers and the defense behind them. Players start to try and do too much and things just have a way of falling apart.”

Looking for a way out of the losing habits, Lefkowitz added, “A few one-two-three innings and a few base hits and it’s easy to get past this. We still have a lot of baseball to play in the next three weeks and getting into one of the top four spots [for the playoffs] is still within our reach. And everyone on our club is focused on that.”

No sport takes hold of the habits of the superstitious as much as baseball. Whether it’s stepping over baselines, wearing certain clothes or eating specific foods, throughout the history of the game, players, coaches and fans alike have all taken to ascribing mystical power to their preferences; doing things to ensure success which have nothing to do with what goes on when the ball is in play.

One of those is not talking about no-hitters, let alone perfect games, when one is in progress. When the field umpire asked Sag Harbor Whaler first baseman Mike Labrozzi (Farmingdale State), “Are you superstitious?” with one out in the seventh in last Sunday in Mashashimuet Park, Labrozzi suddenly had a sinking feeling. Whaler pitcher Tim Welch (Bowdoin) just two outs away from a perfect game.

And sure enough, the next batter hit a sharp grounder to third that was misplayed, ending Welch’s bid to go 21 batters up and 21 batters down. Unfazed even by the stolen base that followed, Welch induced a line drive to right and a grounder to short to finish seven shutout innings without surrendering a hit.

That almost-perfect pitching and timely base-loaded hitting by out-fielder Stanley Fich (Stanford) led the Whalers to an 8-0 game-one win over the North Fork Ospreys in Atlantic Collegiate Baseball League action. In game two, the Whalers evened their season mark at 9-9 making the most of scant opportunities in winning 3-1. Starting pitcher Steve King (Farmingdale State, five innings) and relievers Patrick Shanahan (Fisher, one inning) and Nick Lettes (High Point, one inning) combined to three-hit and further frustrated the Ospreys (12-8).

After the doubleheader sweep, Whaler skipper Jason Lefkowitz (Brown) was much relieved, saying “We’ll win a lot of ballgames with pitching like that.” Injuries, sickness and inconsistency have plagued the Whalers of late, but Coach Lefkowitz sees that as part of any season. “What we’ve had to deal with has come suddenly, but it’s not unexpected. We’re almost through it. Now we’re starting to get healthy and we’re starting to hit. We’ll be good to go for the second half.”

A Three Game Skid

Bad bounces and bad baseball led the Whalers to post a three-game losing streak last week, Riverhead, Southampton and North Fork narrowly outscoring the Whalers in weekday games. Two first-inning errors helped the /tomcats to three runs in a 3-2 los sin Riverhead Wednesday; a five-run fifth was the Whalers undoing in a 6-4 loss against the Breakers in Southampton Friday; and 13 walks and a hit batsman negated at 7-3 lead and turned it into an 8-7 extra-inning loss in Mattituck Saturday.

Saturday’s game was the most mind-boggling for Coach Lefkowitz and his players, the Whalers leaving 11 runners on, the attack did not fully take advantage of six North Fork errors. Seeing the winning run cross on a bases-loaded walk in the tenth nearly took away all the fun from the fireworks that came after.

Along Comes Welch

Looking for pitching help with injuries and rainouts wearing down the rotation, Coach Lefkowitz was able to recruit Tim Welch from a summer job in Maine for weekend games here. The lefty made his team debut in a scoreless inning of relief in Friday’s loss to the Breakers, allowing two hits.

In taking the mound in the park Sunday, Welch had no knowledge of the perfect game Whaler Phil Klein (Youngstown State) threw last July 13, the first ever perfect game in the 42 year history of the ACBL. Settling into an easy rhythm and getting eight groundouts, seven fly outs and six strikeouts. Welch consistently kept the Ospreys from closing in on the 7-0 lead the Whalers worked up by the second inning.

Four of those runs came off the bat of Fich, who singled in one run with the bases loaded in the first and then cleared them all with a double in the second. A Brazen steal of home by Chris Migani (Quinnipiac) closed out the Whalers scoring in the sixth.

After the game, Welch recalled pitching to no-hitters at Portsmouth High School (NH) last spring, but never coming so close to a perfect game. When asked what he would remember most about the game, he answered, “That it happened.”

He later added, “the mound felt good all game and I was able to hit the corners and not leave pitches in the middle. I mixed it up more after their first time through and everything worked.”

Whaler pitching coach Jonathan Anderson (Duke) claimed not to have said much to Welch, noting he had “command of all three pitches, fastball, change-up and curve, and was able to throw them for strikes in any count.”

Weekend games

On July 9, the Whalers host the Long Island Mustangs at Stony Brook Southampton at 5 p.m. On Saturday, the Whalers and local dignitaries officially dedicate that new diamond in a ceremony there at 4 p.m. followed by game against the Breakers at 5 p.m.

This Sunday, the team is home in the Westhampton Aviators, games at 2 p.m. and 5 p.m. Next Sunday the Breakers are in the park for a pair of games starting at the same times.

Whaler All-Stars

Representing Sag Harbor in the ADBL All-Star game at St. Johns University on Monday are pitcher Steve King (Farmingdale State), infielder Ed Squeri (Dowling) and outfielder Brandon Boykin (Rutgers). The trio will take the field for the Kaiser (Long Island) Division against the league’s Wolff (Northern New Jersey) Division. Whaler manager Jason Lefkowitz will coach the Kaiser team.

Squeri leads the Whalers in batting with a .407 mark, while Boykin (second at.323) leads in runs scored (11) and is six-for-six in stolen base attempts. King is 3-0 with a 1.12 ERA, with 13 strike-outs and just 10 hits in 16 innings pitched. Whaler pitcher Gardner Leaver was also selected for the team but is unable to play due to injury.

Above: Whaler Tim Welch tossed a near perfect game in his first Mashashimuet Park start last Sunday. His new teammates outscored the Ospreys 8-0

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Pierson baseball MVP Casey Crowley was named to the Class C All-State fourth team, the announcement coming from the Suffolk County Baseball Coaches Association on Tuesday.

Primarily a pitcher and catcher for the Whalers this spring, Crowley helped the Whalers take the 2009 Suffolk County Class C baseball title. The team posted a 15-8 overall record before losses in the county and regional tournaments ended their season.

Crowley, a senior this past school year, is set to attend Florida State in the fall.

Little League News

 Pitching Ousts Stars

The 2009 Sag Harbor-Bridgehampton Little League 11-and-12-year old “all-star” baseball team was eliminated from the district tournament last Thursday in a 10-2 loss to Hampton Bays at Lions Field in Bridgehampton. Manager Tom LaGrassa praised his stars in their effort to overcome “a hard thrower. Down 10-0, they battled back for one in the fifth and another in the sixth. It was enough to keep the game going but not enough to get close. We had more runners on but that’s all we got in.”

Manager LaGrassa described his team, which lost to Riverhead in game one and outlasted Southampton in extra innings in game two, as “a good group of kids that really played hard and pulled themselves up when they got down. There’s a lot of talent and potential there that bodes well for Pierson baseball.”

The under-12 Little League programs now go on hiatus until the board elections in the fall and the winter clinics after Christmas. Those looking for organized games must hold out for the All-Pro Sports Academy baseball and softball camps in Mashashimuet Park the week of August 10 to 14.

That camp has a 9 a.m.-to-noon softball program for players ages 7 to 15. The baseball program has two sessions: one for players ages five and six from 9 a.m. to noon and one for players ages 7 to 15 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. More information on the camp is available at allprosportsacademy.com.

Senior Leaguers 2-2

Off to a quick 2-0 start, the 13-to-15-year old Little League “senior leaguers” were slowed a bit by a pair of one-run losses this week. On Thursday, East Hampton rallied for a 5-4 win, coming back from a 4-0 deficit. On Monday, Hampton Bays scored two in the bottom of the seventh to pull out a 2-1 win.

In Thursday’s loss, Sag Harbor starter Jake Weingartner saw all the runs come in following physical and mental errors in the field. In his first three innings on the mound, Weingartner allowed just one hit and one unearned run in striking out three and walking four. In the fourth, four hits and two errors erased the early Sag Harbor lead.

Providing scoreless and no-hit relief were Michael Heller and Forrest Loesch. Heller retired the Bonackers in order in the fifth with Loesch coming on to get the last two outs of the sixth with runners on first and second.

In Hampton Bays on Monday in the top of the sixth inning, Kyle Sturmann slid safely into home following an infield grounder by Lukas Wheeler, beating the Baymen first baseman’s throw and breaking a 0-0 tie.

Whaler pitcher Colman Vila threw six innings of one-hit ball striking out 10, before a lead-off single, a steal and a throwing error tied the game in the seventh. A walk and another single pushed Vila to the Little League pitch limit, reliever Jake Bennett being rudely greeted by a sharp single. With the bases-loaded, Bennett notched a strikeout before a walk brought in the go-ahead run.

The senior leaguers were set to host Hampton Bays yesterday before going there again on Monday. East Hampton comes to the park next Wednesday, the teams having split their first two games. The senior league games begin at 5:30 p.m.

 Tomorrow night the softball field in Mashashimuet Park will be lit on a Friday night for the first time in many years. The recent rains have washed away five nights of play, leading the Sag Harbor Mens’ Fastpitch Softball League to add an extra night of games to the schedule the next two weeks rather than a whole week of make-ups at the end of July.

The newly revised schedules can be collected at Conca D’Oro this afternoon. Should the rains ever stop, the league plans on completing all its regular season games July 28, opening its semi-final playoffs July 30 and its championship finals August 6.

Tonight’s schedule has league-leader and defending champion Sag Harbor Liquors hosting Pilinko Plumbing and Heating at 7 p.m., followed by Beyel Plumbing and Heating at Southampton Publick House at 8:45 p.m. Tomorrow, T&S Mott General Contracting takes on Beyel early with Decker’s Scrubs bumping up against Liquors late.

On Monday, the Scrubs meet Mott early with Liquors taking it to the Publick House late. On Tuesday the schedule has Pilinko playing a pair, hosting Beyel early and visting the Hysterical Society late. Next Wednesday, it’s Mott at Beyel and Decker at Liquors for the second time in the same week.

Standings and More

With rain canceling last Wednesday’s contests and doing the same to Tuesday’s, there were only four games played this week. Mott played two of the four, outlasting Pilinko 14-13 in eight innings last Thursday and sliding past Publick House 10-6 Monday.

Liquors humbled Hysterical late last Thursday in a one-sided affair and Decker did the same to Beyel on Monday. Those four outcomes leave Liquors in first at 9-1 with Mott second, at 8-2, and Decker third, at 7-3.

Those three teams have all but clinched playoff spots, with Pilinko, at 4-8, and the Publick House, at 3-7, closest behind, competing for the last berth. Beyel, at 2-6, and Hysterical, at 2-8, are still in the running with a whole lot of ground to make up.

Last night the Hysterical Society played two games, doubling up against Mott early and then Decker late.

By Benito Vila

With so many storms this spring, it was only a matter of time before some sort of lightning would strike. There was tingling excitement in the air after last Thursday’s late game, the Sag Harbor Hysterical Society outscoring Beyel Plumbing and Heating, 18-17.

The win was the first for the Hysterical Society this spring and it sent the reeling Beyel team, last year’s third-place finisher, into the league basement in seventh place at 0-3. The shocking win was enough to quiet talk of Sag Harbor Liquors’ 8-5 take down of T & S Mott in the season’s first game between the league leaders.

In that match-up last Thursday, Liquors’ catcher Alex Tekulsky lined a home run deep to center in the top of the seventh to give his team an 8-4 advantage. Although Mott posted a run in their last at-bat, it was not enough to get back into the game, giving the defending champions early-season bragging rights.

The electrifying late game turned on a defensive play, according to Hysterical first baseman Kevin Major, who reported, “It was the bottom of the sixth, Beyel batting, up 17-14, with runners at first and second, no one out. There was a line drive towards the middle and Scott Brooks made great stab and threw to second for a double play. The next batter flew out and we were out of the jam.”

In the top of the seventh, the Hysterical Society, sparked by the base running of Jeff Warne, scored four times to take an 18-17 lead. In the bottom of the seventh, Beyel went down one, two, three, Hysterical pitcher Frank Venesina happy to get high fives, fist bumps and the win.

Results and Re-caps

Last Wednesday. Publick House hustled past the Hysterical Society before Jeff Peters pitched the Scrubs past Pilinko 18-7. Cory Cass and George Kneeland lifted long home runs for the Scrubs to roll up the win.

The Scrubs’ win-streak ended quickly at one Monday, Publick House pitcher Bruce “Sandman” Sanders powering a pair of home runs, including a three-run shot in the bottom of the seventh that tied the game at eight. Aggressive baserunning by Danny Rowe in the Publick House eighth drew a throw that skipped into the outfield, bringing in the go-ahead run.

The Mott-Pilinko match-up in Monday’s late game was decidedly one-sided, Mott making off with a 19-3 win. Sean Mott led the attack hitting three home runs for the second time this season.

Hysterical held off Liquors early Tuesday until a barrage of long home runs led the champs to an 18-3 win. In one game changing at-bat, Jeff Hand, Joe Sullivan, Jeremy Karl and Billy Schmitz hit four home runs, one after the other, to put Liquors ahead for good.

Mott met the Publick House late on Tuesday and left the park with a 13-2 win. A Mike Semkus bases-loaded triple in the fifth closed out the Mott scoring; a pair of seventh inning errors and a two-out base hit broke up Bob Burden’s bid for a shutout.

Who’s Playing This Week

Once again wet weather could be a factor tonight and into next week, the league already having lost two nights to soggy conditions. Should the rains hold off this afternoon, Beyel is due to play Liquors early and Hysterical meets Mott late.

On Monday, the Scrubs get Hysterical early and Liquors hooks up with Pilinko late. Tuesday’s schedule has the Publick House at Beyel early and Mott at the Scrubs late.

The Publick House and Liquors are early on Wednesday; Pilinko is at Beyel late. Next Thursday, Hysterical has Pilinko early and Beyel takes on Mott late.

Liquors, at 5-0, remains atop the standings, followed by Mott, 4-1. Pilinko, 3-3, and the Scrubs, 2-2, are vying for third and fourth with the Publick House, 2-3, close behind. Hysterical has improved to 1-5 while Beyel awaits its first win at 0-3.

The Sag Harbor Whalers of the Atlantic Collegiate Baseball League played five games this week, going 2-3 and giving the squad a 4-4 start on their 40-game schedule.

The three losses came in contests with the high-flying league-leaders, the Westhampton Aviators (4-2) and the North Fork Ospreys (6-3). The Whalers split their doubleheader with the Aviators in Mashashimuet Park last Sunday, seeing game one get away 2-0 on a bases loaded double in extra innings and playing “small ball” to prevail 2-1 in game two, a bunt and a fielder’s choice scoring the go-ahead run.

The team is back in the park again this Sunday for a doubleheader against the Long Island Mustangs, who are off to a 1-4 start. Game one Sunday is set for 2 p.m. and game two 5 p.m.; both games scheduled to go seven innings.

Looking at how his team has performed of late, Whaler skipper Jason Lefkowitz sees “a strong offense that has run into some good pitching. We’re not putting together good at-bats consistently right now. We’re getting a good one here and then one there. Consistency will come with playing and with playing together. The guys are putting in the work and, for a lot of them, it’s just a matter of getting their timing down. I know we’re going to start getting better results. And that’s great, because so far our pitching has been strong and we’ve been in all our games.”

Going into last night’s game against the Mustangs at New York Tech, former Pierson Whaler Mike Labrozzi (Farmingdale State) led the team in batting at .500 (12 for 24), with Ed Squeri (Dowling), at .308, being the only other Whaler over .300. Bonacker-alum Gardner Leaver (Rhode Island) leads the club in innings pitched (11.1) and has yet to surrender a run.

Steve King (Farmingdale) leads the pitchers with two wins and Brian Russell (Davidson) tops the staff with eight strikeouts in eight innings. Brandon Boykin (Rutgers) is third in hitting at .292. The team has turned ten double plays on defense in the eight games while the offense has only hit into four.

This week the Whalers are at Riverhead Tuesday, at Westhampton Friday and then back in the park next Sunday for two against Southampton. The weekday away games start at 5 p.m.

The toughest task for the middle school baseball and softball coaches was making teams, the seventh grade class having an abundance of players in each sport and the eighth grade class too few. In the end, each sport resolved their “numbers” dilemmas differently.

Baseball played a combined seventh and eighth grade schedule with two evenly drafted teams and softball fielded an eighth grade team and a seventh grade team, a few girls playing “up” to fill out the older team’s roster. And both solutions worked out well if final records are any indication of success, the baseball teams going 12-0 and 9-1 and the softball teams finishing 9-0 and 5-6.

Solid Play

Special education teacher Marc Schimmer coached the eighth grade Lady Whalers. In re-capping the season, he said, “From my vantage point in the dugout, I thought the team had a very good season. Last spring as seventh graders they were winless and this year we were very competitive in all our games and completed a 5-6 season, two games being wiped out by rain.”

 “We were a team that always looked forward to game days, and with able coaching assistance from John Romeo, who volunteered his time and effort, we worked hard from day one to improve both our individual and team skills, defensively and offensively.”

Coach Schimmer cited wins over Mattituck (12-10), Westhampton (10-8) and Hampton Bays (18-6) as highlights of the season. Seventh grader Bridget Canavan pitched most often with eighth grader MariCarmen Chavez filling in in relief. Platooning at catcher and second base were Liz Grigonis and Emma Romeo, Coach Schimmer noting “their strong offense and their able leadership.”

Completing a “solid” infield were starters Lindsey Cox (1B), Julia Schiavoni (SS) and Kelly Koehne (3B).  Also on the roster were Pierson’s Alissa Clermont, Carli Fischer and Sydnee McKie-Senior and Bridgehampton’s Tatyana Dawson and Jennah Hochstedler.

High school physical education instructor Shannon Judge led the seventh grade team to a 9-0 mark, but credited that success to her girls, saying, “What made the difference was their unbelievable work ethic. They were one of the best teams I’ve ever coached.”

Coach Judge found she had tremendous pitching depth, Ashley Nill, Katherine Matthers, Annie Osiecki, May Evjen and India Hemby all getting work inside the circle. Lily Kunzeman and Sol Varela emerged as able catchers.

The team’s starting infield featured Paige DePetris (1B), May Evjen (2B), Kasey Gilbride (SS) and Annie Osiecki (3B). Backing up those players in the outfield or off the bench were Diana Rozzi, Eilis Sheil, Nell Dobbs, Marley Holder, Kristian Washburn and Katy Koehne.

Who’s Better?

Starting the season with just seven eighth graders, an inexperienced group coming from Bridgehampton and a pile of seventh graders, there were doubts on how the middle school season would work out. A pair of workouts supervised by physical education instructors Jonathan Tortorella and Fred Marienfeld preceded a “draft” to create two even teams.

Given the final records, 12-0 and 9-1, it seems that both coaches were able to share the talent as well as inspire smart play. An end-of-season “Red versus Black” game may have provided some motivation to the boys and the coaches, but rain soaked up all the open dates and no one will ever know which team was “better”.

Coach Marienfeld’s undefeated Red team played a full complement of games against East Hampton, Springs, Hampton Bays, Southold, Greenport, East Moriches and Montauk. Weather interfered with two of Coach Tortorella’s games and a lousy Saturday morning in East Hampton gave the Black team its only loss.

The Red team saw Forrest Loesch, Aaron Schiavoni and Ian Barrett become reliable starters on the mound with Schiavoni and Liam Doyle donning the gear behind the plate. Loesch, Schiavoni and Jackson Marienfeld proved to be the bats the boys looked to for big hits.

The Black team saw Jack Bori earn the majority of the catching duties with Colman Vila, Jake Bennett, Caleb Atkinson-Barnes, Kyle Sturmann and Tim Markowski sharing the pitching. Sturmann proved to be a dependable shortstop on defense while Bennett and Atkinson-Barnes brought home the most runs on offense

That confidence also carried into the team’s at-bats, as was evident Monday when a seven-run sixth inning broke open a close 6-3 game. Coach Schiavoni was thrilled with his team afterwards, saying, “We had a lot of outstanding plays by a lot of different girls, Sam Duchemin, Sabrina Baum, Meg Schiavoni, Bridget Canavan, Zoe Diskin and Claire Kunzeman.”

Praising the team as a whole, he added, “The bottom of the line-up proved to be as productive as the top. Sometimes you have the talent but things don’t come together. This one was a good season; this team just gelled.”

JCP was the championship runner-up for the second consecutive year, manager Jeff Peters once again bringing together young talent for a strong playoff run. The JCP team finished the season at 5-9.

For the second spring in a row, the Sag Harbor girls played against each other and against their Southampton counterparts, the two Little League chapters working together to give their players a more varied experience. The two chapter’s majors’ baseball programs also came together for “inter-league play” this spring, the 9-and-10-year-old and 11-and-12-year-old divisions each scheduling regular-season games.

Baseball Notes

The post-season baseball playoffs are still underway, the majors’ final seeing the Sag Harbor PBA take on the Sag Harbor Fire Department and the AAA final having Sag Harbor’s Ace Hardware against a yet-to-be-determined Southampton team.

Local Little League tournament play for the 11-and-12 year old baseball division “all-stars” is due to start at the end of the month, with the full roster of that team being announced next week. That is the only tournament team the Sag Harbor-Bridgehampton Little League will field this year, the softball majors and baseball minors divisions being short on available players.

LL Graduates

The chapter’s 13-to-15-year-old senior league baseball program opens play this week, the Sag Harbor team hosting Southampton in Mashashimuet Park Monday and traveling there Wednesday. Both games are due to start at 5:30 p.m.

Five senior league “graduates” are playing travel baseball this summer. One of them, Kyle McGowin, an all-county honoree at Pierson, pitched a no-hitter Sunday, leading the Long Island Tigers (from Flushing) to a doubleheader sweep of Eastport South Manor in a 17-and-under league.

The nationally competitive Tigers are due to play in tournaments in Louisiana and Virginia in July, with the hopes of matching the success of last year’s 17-and-under squad which won the 2008 National Amateur Baseball Federation’s 17-and-under World Series.

Closer to home, all-league Pierson seniors Joe Mascali and Ryan Miller are suiting up for the 17-and-under East Hampton Sharks while Pierson juniors Brandon Kruel and T.J. Arreguin are playing for a Shoreham team in the Brookhaven Police Athletic League.

Last Thursday, Kruel threw six-innings of two-hit ball, striking out eight as Shoreham beat the Long Island Bandits (of East Northport), 5-3. Arreguin threw a runner out at the plate from right field to preserve his new team’s narrow lead late in the game.

The pair’s roles were reversed Monday when Arreguin pitched six innings of one-hit shutout ball in a 1-0 win over the Center Moriches-based Long Island Ducks while Kruel played an errorless right field and contributed a hit.

By Benito Vila

Tonight’s the night; one that all the players in the Sag Harbor Men’s Modified Fastpitch Softball League look forward to: it’s an early summer classic, defending champion Sag Harbor Liquor at arch-rival T & S Mott at 7 p.m. in the first of three regular-season meetings.

The two squads have met in the finals six times over the last nine years, each taking home the trophy three times. It’s likely though that there’ll be more talking than playing tonight, the forecast calling for yet another day of wet weather.

The soggy spring rains have already likely added a day or two to the summer’s schedule, the late game last Wednesday and Tuesday’s doubleheader called on account of the playing conditions.

There were still games played this week, Liquors coming back to outscore Pilinko Plumbing and Heating, 20-8, in the early game last Wednesday. Mott made off with a 29-0 shutout of Decker’s Scrubs early on Thursday before Liquors came back to rout the Publick House 21-6, late.

Pilinko pulled off a doubleheader sweep Monday. A three-run rally in the bottom of the seventh bested Beyel Plumbing and Heating, 10-9, in the early game and a barrage of base hits humbled the Hysterical Society, 19-4, in the late game.

If the weather holds off tonight, Hysterical is due to be at Beyel late (8:45 p.m.). On Monday, the Publick House takes on the Scrubs early and Mott plays Pilinko late. Tuesday’s schedule has Liquors hosting Hysterical early and the Publick House at Mott late.

Beyel and the Scrubs match up on Wednesday early before Pilinko is at the Publick House. Next Thursday, Beyel has Liquors early and Hysterical is at Mott late.

Liquors sits atop the standings so far, at 3-0, followed by Mott, 2-0. Pilinko is next at 3-1 with the Scrubs even at 1-1. Beyel and Hysterical have yet to break into the win column, but have hopes of doing so this week.

 

 

Breakwater YC has announced the winners of its 2009 May Cup Series. The May Cup consists of four weekly races where each yacht is allowed to “throw out” its worst performance, creating a three race series. In Division 1 (Spinnaker) first place honors went to Gossip (Captains Kenny and Ames). Scoot (Captain Jim Vos) took second place and Purple Haze (Captains Oldak and Kalish) finished third.

White Lightning (Captain Jim Smyth) took first place in Division 2 (non-Spinnaker).  Impromptu (Captain Sean Leary) finished in second place and Wave Equation (Captains Dinsmore and Worthing) took third place.

June 3 began Breakwater’s 2009 Summer Series with Wednesday night races held until September 2. All races are governed by the U.S. Sailing Association’s Rules of Sailing. Races are run in Shelter Island Sound with a starting time of 6 p.m. A yacht’s best scoring for 70% of the races is used to determine Summer Series results. Prizes are awarded for 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd place in each division.