Sports
By Don Lyons - July 19, 2007
They're off!! 420s start to race in Edgartown Outer Harbor. Photo by Louisa Gould
The 84th Edgartown regatta
Sam Pierson of the Wianno Yacht Club finished first in the Opti Blue Division with the low score of 41. Greg Fligor and David Bradbury, both of the Edgartown YC, were second and third at 85 and 94. Twenty-six boats competed in the division.
In the 15-boat Red Division, William Godfrey of BBOT-BYC beat all at 40, followed by Mary Kate Mezzetti of Hyannis YC and Alex Nugent of Edgartown.
Six boats sailed in the White Division, led by Eli Jordi of the Vineyard Haven YC. Carter Pemberton of Hyannis and Nicholas Watts of Vineyard Haven were place and show.
A long line of Optis stretches out, looking for some air. Photo by Louisa Gould
Sixty-four boats made up the fleet of 420s, Lauren Burke of Tabor sailed off with the blue ribbon totaling 38 points after 12 races. Runners up were (2) Ellery Whitworth of Vineyard Haven with 46 and (3) Andrew Meleney, also of Vineyard Haven, also with 46.
Of the 21 sailors and boats in the senior Wianno Division, Eowyn, sailed by George Largay of the Wianno Yacht Club was first at 3 followed closely (4) by Wianno-mate John Fallon in Heritage. Two races were sailed.
In the seven-race Shields division, Bill Berry of Beverly YC in Syrinx edged out Roland Van der Meer in Bolero of Edgartown YC, 20-22. Right behind at 23 was Jonathan Pope of Beverly in Madame X.
George Eberstadt of EYC sailed Persephone II to victory in the Herreshoff 12 division with 8 points in six races. At 18 and 19 points, Warren Vose and Melissa Curtiss, both of Edgartown, were second and third in the 10-boat division.
A close play at home in the Highlander-Cannons game. Umpire Richie Roy scrutinized the play and called the runner out. Photo by Ralph Stewart
Softball news
Ladies Softball
In Women's softball games at Tisbury's Veterans field, Tuesday, the Snaps topped the Swingers in a mercifully shortened game, 11-1. Both Ryan Gold and Jackie Meehan homered twice for the Snaps.
Also Tuesday, the winless Toppers forfeited to the undefeated Creamers and the Shady Ladies ran off 26 runs in their game with the Swingers who scored nine times.
At the West Tisbury School, a late rally by the Late Fees fell just short and the Honeys claimed the win, 12-9.
Last Friday the Late Fees shut out the Toppers, 13-0, and the Drillers forfeited to the Snaps.
Men's Softball
In the Men's Softball League triple-header last Friday, the Brewhas made quick work (six innings) of the Wildcats, 16-1 and the Cannons outlasted the Riptide, 11-7. The final contest promised to be an interesting match as the wing-footed Highlanders went against the Treds, a strong team of veterans. Unexpectedly, the Treds came down with a bad case of the fumbles, rare for them, and the young Scots took full advantage scoring 3 in the first, 8 in the second, 5 in the third, and 2 more in the fourth before the Treds pushed a run across the plate, 3 in fact, in the bottom of the fourth. The Treds managed to escape a mercy rule abbreviation but nine more runs in the top of the seventh earned the Highlanders a 31-11 win. Ryan Kurth hit two over the fence and Ben Gunn circled the bases for an inside-the-park homer.
Monday games
The Treds avenged an earlier loss to the Riptide with an 11-8 win in the early game, Monday. The Tide posted the first runs and led after two innings, 4-0. But the Treds scored twice in the third and four times in both the fourth and fifth, more than enough to win.
Monday's second game matched the league's youngest teams, the Highlanders and the Loose Cannons.
Both teams scored twice in the first. The High ones added four in the second and led 7-5 after five innings. The Cannons altered that with four runs in the top of the 6th when Ben Connelly drove in three with a fence clearer. The Highlanders responded with four of their own in the bottom of the seventh, the big blow was by Ryan Kurth with one on. Final: Highlanders 11, Cannons 9.
The Boilers enjoyed a 1-0 first inning lead in the third game. But the Brewhas scored 10 in the second, one in the third, two in the fourth (on a Karl Kallinich blast.) Eric Hatt drove in two more with a homer in the fifth and Simon Goldberg iced the cake with an inside-the-park home run for a mercy rule Brewhas win, 16-1.
First Derby
The Men's Softball league's first ever home run derby will begin approximately 9:45 pm following the final game on Wednesday, July 25. Each of the league's eight team captains may nominate up to three players from his team to participate plus a pitcher. Competing batters will take ten swings. The four players with the most homers in round one will proceed to round two when each will be allowed ten more swings. A tie will be broken by a sudden death playoff.
A $50 gift certificate redeemable at Sports Haven will be awarded the batter who hits the most home runs. Another $50 gift certificate will go to the hitter of the longest home run.
Nick Billingham's mix of pitches kept the Lower Cape batters off balance most of the time. Photo by Ralph Stewart
Babe Ruth baseball
Sandwich sent its boys Babe Ruth baseball team to the Island Saturday for a double-header with the Islanders at the old high school field. It was a mismatch. The Vineyard won the first game by the unlikely score of 30-1, scoring 11 runs in the fist inning and nine more in the second.
The only home run in the game was by Nick Cuba, a solo shot in the third inning.
The second game of the twin bill was closer - but not much. M.V. 21, Sandwich 3.
With all of the booming offense it might be easy to overlook the effective pitching by Taza Verrecruzsse in game one and Zach Coutinho in game two.
The Vineyard team finished the summer season in second place.
In the playoffs, M.V. was host to Lower Cape whose home field is at Chatham, Tuesday. Nick Billingham pitched all seven innings, holding the Cape team to six runs, fanning ten, as the Vineyarders crossed the plate 10 times. Nick helped his own cause, scoring twice, once by a solo home run in the third inning. The Islanders' big inning was the fifth, which Zach Coutinho led off by drawing a base on balls and promptly stealing second. Kendall Chaves surprised everyone by bunting for a base hit and sending Coutinho to third. Jon Nelson unloaded a drive into the deep right center gap that went for a 3-run homer. Bill Johnson followed with a triple into deep left and scored when Lucas Landers singled sharply through the left side.
The Vineyarders were scheduled to play at Bourne yesterday for the league championship.
