East Hampton’s 11-and-under all-star softball team went 2-3 in a state tournament contested by six teams in Glens Falls this past week, finishing tied for third over all, thanks to a 19-15 win over Carle Place Saturday, a game after which Lily Griffin, who hit a three-run home run, received the game ball from the head coach, Mike Ruddy.
The young Bonackers, after defeating LaGrange 18-1, lost pool play games to Syracuse, Snug Harbor, and Stony Point, the eventual champion. “The good news,” said Andrew Salamy in an emailed report, “is that our players learned from each loss and improved as a result.”
“The main culprit was the opponents’ very strong pitching, as well as some growing pains on defense,” continued Salamy, who, along with Joe Lenahan, was an assistant coach. “With a few exceptions, most of the girls were playing different positions than they had played in the regular season. . . . The parents erupted in celebration following Saturday’s win over Carle Place, clearly a welcome change.”
A 25-Mile SEA Paddle
Evelyn O’Doherty of East Hampton is to paddle 25 miles around Manhattan in a Surfers Environmental Alliance race on Saturday.
“This is my favorite event of the year,” O’Doherty said in a release this week. “It’s an extraordinary experience. . . . The stamina required can be mind-boggling — it’s a boiling, swirling, churning mine field to navigate.”
Despite the challenges, she said, “Seeing Manhattan from the water, passing Yankee Stadium on your paddleboard . . . there’s nothing else like it.”
Montauk Sprint Addenda
Vicki Ventura, the Montauk Lighthouse sprint triathlon’s race director, said in an email this week that the winner, Brendan Martin, was new to the sport. “This was only his third triathlon,” she said. “He was first at Mighty North Fork and second at Huntington. He went to the Olympic marathon trials in 2016.”
Caitlin Dowd, who repeated as the female winner, “won Huntington. She’s been having a great season.” As for the race director’s husband, Peter Ventura, who won here last year but was seventh this time, “The heat wasn’t really a factor — he has another baby, who’s 5 months old.”