Sports
The Richie Madeiras
The first use of the park after its reopening was the annual Richie Madeiras Memorial Softball Tournament, Sunday, this year a series of one-pitch men's softball games between the Highlanders, Brewhas, Wildcats, Blazers, and Treds.
A close play at third: Kenny Silva applies the tag to Ryan Kurth. Photos by Ralph Stewart Scores in the several games were (1) Brewhas 5, Highlanders 4 (2) Blazers 6, Wildcats 5 (3) Highlanders 15, Wildcats 14, (4) Treds 9, Brewhas 8, (5) Brewhas 6, Blazers 5 (6) Highlanders 15, Treds 10 (7) Blazers 11, Treds 10 (8) Wildcats 17, Brewhas 8 (9) Wildcats 7, Treds 0 (9) Brewhas 6, Blazers 2 (10) Highlanders 3, Wildcats 1.
In the final game, the Brewhas outscored the Highlanders 7-2.
There was also a woman's game pitting the Snappers (Snaps and Creamers) versus the One Hit Wonders (Rug Sox, Swingers, Honeys, and Late Fees), won by the Snappers, 4-3.
Richie Roy and Ray Tattersall called balls and strikes, outs and foul balls.
Tisbury has good reason to be proud of its park and the rest of Martha's Vineyard has even more reason to be grateful.
Softball commissioner Bart Kent observes as Fred Thifault cuts the ribbon officially reopening the War Veterans Memorial Park after a year of reconstruction. Reconstruction celebrated
With the cutting of a ribbon Saturday morning, the Committee to Reconstruct the War Veterans Memorial Park in Tisbury completed its work on time and on budget and the park, surely the most heavily used recreational facility on Martha's Vineyard, was open again for business. It had been closed for exactly one year.
Chairman of the Committee to Reconstruct, John Thayer, acknowledged the essential work of DPW Director Fred Lapaina
and the wisdom and generosity of the town of Tisbury in recognizing the importance of the park and the need to restore and renew it.
Kara Shemeth ducks as Chick Stapleton goes for a DP in a game at the Veterans Memorial Park reopening day.Invitations had been sent to all men's and women's softball teams and soccer teams captains, to Frisbee players, beach volley ball players, and Tee-Ball teams, to all who count on using the park including teams of students of the Tisbury school for whom it is home field in the spring interscholastic baseball and softball seasons.
Cutting the yellow ribbon was a member of the Committee, Fred Thifault, who was involved in the creation and opening of the park in 1963. With Fred and John, other members of the Committee to Reconstruct were Arthur Dickson, Leo DeSorcy, and David Ferraguzzi. Arthur was also a member of the 1963 committee.
Max Conley led the Vineyard boys to the finish line. He was fourth overall. Island invitational
Four of the first six boys to complete the Martha's Vineyard Invitational 5K cross-country run through the State Forest in occasional rain on Saturday were from Canton high school, paced by Christian Bates at 17:18.
Max Conley led the Vineyard team, completing the run in 18:00, good enough for a fourth place finish. Other Vineyard pointers were Willy Nevin, 11th in 18:27; Forrest Harcourt, 13th in 18:43; Cooper Chapman, 16th at 18:50; Michael Schroeder, 18th in 18:55 and Anthony Piland, 21st in 19:09.
Megan Dreyer chased two Notre Dame girls and finished third in the field of 58 runners. Team scores were: (1) Canton 33, (2) Martha's Vineyard 62, (3) Falmouth 64, (4) Durfee 85, (5) Barnstable 100.
Notre Dame Academy's varsity girls team filled the first two places, and added fifth, seventh and eighth to claim the team title with 23 points, Barnstable was second at 50, Canton third with 100, followed closely by the Vineyarders at 102. Falmouth (128) and Fontbonne (136) also ran.
Megan Dreyer was the lead Islander to finish the run in 20:57, third overall, just a half second behind Notre Dame's Corrina Lucini.
Also scoring for the Vineyard were Shivonne Schofield 18th in 23:29: Julia Sadowski 20th in 23:48; Caitlin Serpa, 37th at 26:07 and Haillie D'Angelo, 38th in 26:09.
Notre Dame and Barnstable dominated the junior varsity girls race filling all but two of the first 20 best times.
Carter D'Angelo was the first Martha's Vineyard jayvee to finish. She was 33rd overall. Cece Degregorio was 36th.
Ten of the first eleven JV boys were from Canton. Warren Gowell and Patrick Garrett finished together at 12-13.
Asher Cottrell and Andrew Han were 27th and 28th. Andrew Hakala was the fifth Vineyarder, 36th at 25:00.
Quarterback Randall Jette, a junior, deked, and danced, and broke tackles to run for a total of 95 yards.Bitten by Bulldogs
The Old Rochester football team visited on Friday to play a memorable season opening game with the Islanders and left with a 22-15 win.
Vineyard quarterback Randall Jette proved amazingly elusive, bouncing off would-be tacklers, deking others and out-sprinting speedy defenders in the secondary. When it wasn't Jette sweeping left, it was apt to be Tyler Araujo following a surging line and bulling his way for significant yardage.
The Islanders scored on their first possession with Araujo picking up the last two yards. The extra point attempt failed.
The Bulldogs failed to move the ball on their first possession and punted to the Martha's Vineyard 37. The Jette-Araujo one-two punch made it as far as the Bulldogs' 15 yard line but stalled there and turned the ball over when Jette's first attempt to pass the ball was intercepted.
Old Rochester scored its first six points following a fumble recovery on the Martha's Vineyard 27. Miles Hubert, the Bulldogs' main threat who scored all of the O.R. points, moved the ball doggedly and scored from the five yard line.
The kick for extra point was blocked, the ball flying high in the air and coming down in Jette's arms. Randall took off for the Old Rochester goal line 95 yards away for a two-point conversion going the other way to make the score 8-6, Vineyard.
Hubert opened the fourth quarter with a 35-yard scamper to the end zone and the Bulldogs led, 12-8. They grew their lead to 6 points by adding a two-point conversion.
Martha's Vineyard began its next set of downs on its own 37. A combination of runs and passes in seven plays saw the Islanders tie the score at 14. A 25-yard pass, Jette to Lamar Moreis plus an extra point kick gave the Islanders a 15-14 lead - but not for long. After a 30-yard kick return It took Old Rochester ten plays to move the ball from their own 46 to the Vineyard end zone with only 2:07 on the clock, not enough, as it turned out, for the Islanders to answer with another scoring drive.
On Friday the Islanders are at Charlestown at 5:30 pm.
VNA Scramble
The Vineyard Nursing Association (VNA), the only provider of home health care on the Vineyard, will host its popular golf tournament on Monday, September 28, at the Vineyard Golf Club in Edgartown.
The VNA uses donations to fill the gap between the cost of home medical services and the reimbursement rates of Medicare and private insurers.
Play will be in a scramble format with prizes including $20,000 for a putting contest, a $15,000 hole-in-one prize, raffles, a 50-50 drawing and a chance to win a Garmin Golflogix GPS. Players can also bid on a three-night stay at Bermuda's 9 Beaches Resort, an Island restaurant package, and a trip to Boston including air fare, accommodations and dinner.
Breakfast will be provided, as will a lunch prepared by the Vineyard Golf Club and served at the end of play.
Cost of play this year is reduced to $200 per golfer. Carts and caddies will be provided. For more information and to register see www.mvsbclassic.com or call the VNA office at 508-696-0785.
This year the VNA celebrates 25 years of service to Martha's Vineyard. In 2008 the agency made more than 25,000 home visits providing home health care for patients of all ages - infants to elderly. Visiting caregivers include registered nurses, home health aides, physical and occupational therapists and medical social workers.
This year the VNA was recognized by CHAP, the Community Health Accreditation Program.
B&G registration
The Martha's Vineyard Boys & Girls Club will accept registration for its flag football and cheerleading programs this Saturday from 9:00 to 10:45 am.
Flag football is for youngsters in grades 2 to 6 (in two divisions, 2-3 and 4-6).
Cheerleading is for kids in grades 2 to 5.
Registration fees: $40 football; $25 cheerleading, $20 club membership.
25th B&G Tourney
The 25th annual Martha's Vineyard Boys & Girls Club Fall golf tournament teed off at the Edgartown Golf Club, Saturday.
The tourney was sponsored by Morton Financial. The luncheon was sponsored by National Lumber.
Prize sponsors included Basics Clothing, Reliable Market, The Square Rigger, Mediterranean, Soigne, Depot Corner, Slice of Life, and Tony's Market.
The team finishing in first place with a score of 60.1 was John Dutton, Chas Deary, David Finkelstein, and Bob Murray.
Second, at 60.3, were Ted Morgan, Karen Altieri, Mike Cassidy, and Scott Ferency.
Third with a score of 60.8 were Dave Garvin, Jack Holmes, Brian Smith, and John Donavan.
Twenty-two teams competed. Some $8,000 was raised for the B&G Club. Golfers were treated to a cookout between morning and afternoon shotgun starts.
The club staff expressed special thanks to Mark Hess and the staff at the Edgartown Golf Club, to Ted Morgan, president of EGC, Jay Morton of Morton Financial for his continued and generous support, and to all the volunteers without whom the event could not be held.
Putters sink Panthers
The Martha's Vineyard Regional High School Golf team won its match with Whitman-Hanson at Farm Neck, Wednesday, 257-277, and followed that with a 266-311 win against Somerset, the next day, also at Farm Neck.
The W-H Panthers' Steve Bruzer had the medalist round of 39 on the par 35 course, but the Martha's Vineyard team score was 20 points better than Whitman Hanson. Grant McCarthy led the Islanders with a medalist round of 40, Thursday. Monday, the team lost its match with Coyle and Cassidy. Coach DeBettencourt's team is 2-2 in the early going.
Fourth Martha's Vineyard Open
The fourth annual Martha's Vineyard Open attracted a goodly number of Pros to the Edgartown Golf Club, Wednesday, only two of whom shot par or better. The grand prize winner of $1,800 was Jay Wick of Old Sandwich G.C., who went around in 70 on the par 71 course winning the Jack Spear Open.
Henry Smith, a senior at the high school, claimed the F.D. Garron Island Amateur honors with a round of 77. Len Vanderhoop and George Thomas were runners-up, each at 78.
Library 5K
Douglas McLucas, 38, of Westborough set the pace for the 12th annual Vineyard Haven Library Run the Chop 5K road race, Sunday, completing the course in 17:16, 20 seconds ahead of 47-year-old Larry Czaplewski of West Caldwell, N.J., who was second.
The first Islander, who was third over all, was Todd Cleland, 40, of Oak Bluffs in 20:33.
Eleven-year-old Silas Berlin of West Tisbury was tied for fourth with Mark Johnson, 28, of Edgartown in 21:02.
The first female to reach the finish line was Julie Lucas, 39 of Westborough.
Andy down under
Andrew Flake of Tisbury qualified to enter the Gold Coast Triathlon World Championships in Australia this past weekend, a 750M swim, 20K bike ride, and 5K run.
Andy was the fifth in the American 60-64 team and 16th overall in that age category.
Closing Bridge
The Bridge Club of Martha's Vineyard final '09 summer games were played Saturday at the Tisbury senior center with eight tables engaged.
At north-south, Stanley Segal and Clara Hargrave were tops followed by Hedy H. Echard with Patricia H. Purcell and Susan Silk with Duncan Walton.
At east-west, the pace setters were Geraldine Jones and Charity Randolph, pursued by Catherine Chiles and Catherine Jones, Lee Scott and Helen Colvin.
Nice ride, good cause
On Sunday, October 4, a 40-mile bike ride will leave from the Flying Horses in Oak Bluffs at 9 am raising money for the Pan-Massachusetts Challenge, a major support for cancer care and research at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute. The 40-mile Pan Martha Challenge is sponsored by Will Pasquina, owner of Vineyard Pedicab.
The minimum fundraising requirement is $500.
Potent Ping Pong
Martha's Vineyard Table Tennis begins a new season Thursday, Sept. 17, at the West Tisbury school. According to Bob O'Rourke, first among equals (the club has no officers), the club was organized as Quinnapong in 2004 by John Walsh and Spa Thorpe of Aquinnah and played on used tables in the dimly lit Aquinnah town hall. That venue was lost to the club in 2008 when the town converted it to a library. But the club continued to meet and play at the West Tisbury school.
The club's membership now lists players from each of the six Vineyard towns and includes four rated by the National US Table Tennis Association. Two members, Alina Wen and Albert Lau, finished first and second in the recent Chappypong all-Island tournament at the Chappaquiddick Community Center.
Club play with Martha's Vineyard Table Tennis members is open and free to players of all ages. The club uses professional quality Donic tournament tables and nets and provides paddles and instruction for first-time players.
Weekly play is scheduled for Mondays and Thursdays from 6:30 to 9:00 pm at the West Tisbury school.
To learn more call 508-627-7902 or 508-696-6303.
Youth hockey
Martha's Vineyard Youth Hockey announces registration dates for House Mites with previous hockey experience is September 21 and 22 from 4:00 to 5:00 pm at the Arena. Practice to follow each night at 5:00 pm.
The 13 and under recreational league is for those with no hockey experience but must be able to skate. Register Sept. 21 and 23 from 4:00 to 5:00 pm. First practice to be announced.
The instructional league is for skaters 8 and under with no hockey experience. Register Sept 26 and 27 at 8:00 am. First practice to follow at 8:30 am.
