Sports Highlights

By Don Lyons - July 26, 2007

Round she goes

John Amabile of the Holmes Hole Sailing Assn. sailed Solitude to victory in the non-spinnaker division of the Round the Island race, Saturday. Dan Culkin was aboard as navigator. Good Fortune, skippered by Bill Brine of Edgartown Yacht Club (EYC) was second. The other five boats in the division failed to finish as the wind died.

Only two of the seven boats in the spinnaker PHRF division completed the race. Wesley McMichael in Ballyoo of the Beverly YC was first and Peter Schwebach of New Bedford was runner up in Tangent.

Two of the six PHRF A division boats made it around the Island. First was Kinship, sailed by Tom Selldorff of New Bedford, followed by Jeffrey Eberle in Cilista of the Manchester YC.

Three of the four IRC big boats made it, led by Hugh Chandler in Scheherazade of the Eastern YC. Moneypenny of EYC with Jim Swartz at the helm was second and Aquarius out of East Greenwich, with skipper Sam Fleet, was third.

Bourne to win

After rainouts (the game was supposed to be played last Wednesday) the Vineyard senior boys Babe Ruth team played Bourne at Cody Field, Bourne, for the Division B Cape Cod Senior Babe Ruth Championship, Monday.

It was a good game, as close as it could get, and Bourne won it, 5-4, with a tie-breaking run in the final (7th) inning.

The Islanders had their chances, especially in the top of the 5th when Zach Coutinho led off with a single, followed by another single by Kendall Chaves and yet another by Jon Nelson. With bases loaded and no outs, M.V. failed to score as Bourne's port-sided relief pitcher struck out the next three batters.

In all, M.V. left 12 base runners stranded.

M.V.'s season record was 9-4. In the post-season playoffs it was 1-1. Others in the five team league were Lower Cape, Yarmouth-Dennis, and Sandwich.

A pitch for a new field

"Fever Pitch," a film by the Farrelly Brothers starring Drew Barrymore and Jimmy Fallon will be shown at the Vineyard's own "Field of Dreams," aka the new baseball field at the high school, on Wednesday, August 1. Prior to the showing, a 50-foot tethered hot air REMAX balloon will provide rides over the field.

Some of "Fever Pitch" was filmed at Fenway Park and fans will find familiar faces as a number of Red Sox and Yankee players are shown.

The film, loosely based on an English movie about devoted fans of the Arsenal football (soccer) team, was intended to depict the devotion of Sox fans despite repeated disappointing losses to the New York Yankees. But in the year of its filming the Sox, down 3-0 in the playoffs, ran off four straight wins over the despised Yankees and went on to defeat St Louis, 4-0, in the World Series, calling for a serious rewrite of the film's ending.

The event is a fund-raiser to finish construction of the "Field of Dreams" - dugouts, for instance, and bleachers.

Tickets are available at Our Market, Your Market, Bunch of Grapes, Conroy Apothecary, and the Menemsha Market.

Forest Frisbee

John Tate ran away from the crowd at the disc golf league's Riverhead field last weekend, completing the course with a 4 over par 60. Jim O'Connor, Jim Sharp, Steve Butman, and Jake Gifford finished in a four-way tie at 64. In Division 2, Junior Brazil won at 12 over par, 68. D.J. Kaeka was second and Benton Coulter third.

Dana dares

Dana Gaines finished fourth in the 20-mile Blackburn Challenge race around Cape Ann, Saturday. According to Dana, "conditions were challenging with moderate northwest winds countering large southerly swells."

After a week's rest, as if Dana ever rests, he plans "another stab at the Vineyard to Nantucket row." He was foiled by equipment failure three miles short of the breakwater on his 50th birthday.

Snap to it

The Creamers (9-0) string of wins was snapped, literally, Tuesday at the West Tisbury school as the Snaps (5-5) pulled out a 12-11 victory in the eighth inning.

The Snaps took a 4-3 lead in the first inning and grew that to 8-4 after six. But the Creamers were not the unbeaten leaders of the league by chance. They scored seven runs in the top of the seventh inning, four on a grand slam by Trish Jendrick and took an 11-8 lead. But the Snaps answered with three of their own to send the game into overtime. The Creamers were scoreless in the top of the 8th. But with two out and Kris Conklin on base, Jackie Meehan's drive into deep right center pushed across the winning run.

The game featured excellent fielding by both teams, especially at short and third.

At Veterans Park, also Tuesday, the Late Fees upset the Shady Ladies, and in a game of big innings - the Swingers scored 8 in the 3rd, the Honeys did the same in the 7th - the Honeys topped the Swingers, 17-14, and the Drillers found enough players to field a team and beat the Toppers.

Home runs made the difference in the Swingers vs. Snaps game, Friday won by the Swingers, 14-10. Kara Shemeth hit two round-trippers and Swinger teammate Jill Benevides hit another.

Women's Softball standings

Team W L
Mocha Mott's Creamers 9 1
Summer Shades Shady Ladies 6 3
Dairy Queen Swingers 6 4
Wharf Pub Honeys 6 4
Long & Meehan Snaps 6 5
Island Entertainment Late Fees 4 5
Dockside Dentistry Drillers 2 8
Edgartown Pizza Toppers 0 10

Silver on Chappy

Bob O'Rourke, a 70-year-old youngster from Chappaquiddick, won six of seven table tennis matches in the novice division of the Bay State Games at the Boston Table Tennis center in Medford, July 14. Bob was awarded a silver medal as proof of his prowess. Not a life-long ping-pong player, Bob took up the game in retirement.

Obviously he has found a new career.

Summer Soccer

Last Wednesday, Sports Haven and MV Lath & Plaster played to a 1-1 tie. Sports Haven's goal was by Chris Buehler. Charlie DeWitt scored for L & P.

Also Wednesday, Coop deVille handed Atlantic its first defeat, 1-0 on a goal by Chris Fager.

On Thursday, the Atlantic Football Club squeezed by Shirley's Hardware, 1-0 on a goal by Jeff Taylor, and Lath & Plaster edged Broadway, 1-0. Scott Surface did the honors.

Tuesday Lath & Plaster shut out Atlantic, 1-0, and Sports Haven beat Broadway, 1-0.