An investigation that began with a call to the East Hampton Village police on Nov. 2, 2016, from an estate on Middle Lane ended with the arrest by agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation of a Manhattan man at Los Angeles International Airport on Jan. 16. 

Nicolas De-Meyer, 40, was charged with one count of transporting stolen property across state lines. The alleged victim was David M. Solomon, president and co-chief executive operating officer of Goldman Sachs, the multinational finance company. The property in question were bottles of rare wine, including pinot noir from France’s Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, producer of some of the world’s most expensive vintages. 

More charges may be in the offing. East Hampton Village Detective Sgt. Greg Brown said Monday that the investigation is ongoing.

A warrant for Mr. De-Meyer’s arrest was issued out of federal court in Manhattan on Sept. 29, 2017. Mr. De-Meyer was out of the country at the time. 

While the indictment does not name Mr. Solomon, The New York Times and other news agencies have confirmed with Goldman Sachs that Mr. Solomon was, indeed, the alleged victim. 

According to the indictment, Mr. De-Meyer’s responsibilities, working as Mr. Solomon’s personal assistant from approximately 2008 until November 2016, included receiving shipments of wine at Mr. Solomon’s New York residence and transporting them to a wine cellar at the Middle Lane house. In the course of performing this duty, the indictment says, Mr. De-Meyer pilfered rare wines valued at a total of $1.2 million.

He did so, allegedly, using the alias “Mark Miller” — a name that oenophiles recognized as that of a well-known vintner who pioneered wine-making in the Hudson Valley and died in 2008. Mr. De-Meyer, as Miller, sold the rare wines, the indictment says, to a North Carolina dealer he had found online, diverting the delivery to his own Manhattan apartment, where the dealer or an agent for the dealer would pick them up.

The plot thickened yesterday when it was reported in The Weekly Standard that it is likely Nicolas De-Meyer’s name was not actually Nicolas 

De-Meyer. A reporter for the online journal found that name and more than a dozen similar ones (including Nickolas Vonmeyer and Nicola Demeyer) linked in a database to a single Social Security number belonging to a 40-year-old Vassar graduate from Findlay, Ohio, named Nickolas Meyer. The name also has echoes in New York City history: Nicolas De Meyer served twice as the city’s mayor in the 1670s. Be that as it may, the indictment and police records are under the name Nicolas De-Meyer.

Although the value of all the bottles that Mr. Solomon told law enforcement had gone missing under Mr. De-Meyer’s care was $1.2 million, the indictment focuses on one transaction in 2016 valued at $133,650, which occurred shortly before East Hampton Village police were contacted in that fall. The indictment

states that the goods in this transaction, specifically, were seven bottles of Domaine de la Romanée-Conti.

Domaine de la Romanee Conti is considered the finest producer of Bourgogne wine, with appellation d’origine contrôlée names including Montrachet, La Tache, Grands Echezeaux, and, of course, Domaine de la Romanée Conti. Depending upon the appellation and vintage year, a single bottle can sell for tens of thousands of dollars. 

After the seven bottles were picked up in October of 2016 by the dealer or an agent for the dealer, they were split up, some being shipped to New Jersey, others to California, a circumstance that apparently prompted East Hampton Village police to contact the F.B.I., as causing the transportation of stolen goods across state lines is a federal crime. It appears from the indictment that the dealer had no knowledge that he was handling stolen property.

According to the F.B.I., Mr. De-Meyer fled the country in the fall of 2016, having been confronted by Mr. Solomon and his wife in Manhattan shortly after they discovered the wine missing and called the East Hampton Village Police Department. After Mr. De-Meyer was taken into custody at L.A.X. last week, a federal magistrate judge in California ordered Mr. De-Meyer remanded without bail, citing him as a flight risk, and ordered him to be extradited to New York.

F.B.I. Assistant Director William F. Sweeney Jr. said in a statement released after Mr. De-Meyer’s arrest: “The F.B.I. Art Crime Team is tasked with investigating and recovering rare and many times invaluable items, and bringing to justice criminals who believe no one is watching. We would like to thank the East Hampton Village Police Department for its partnership in this case.”

The prosecutors are demanding that any and all assets gained through these alleged illegal transactions be forfeited.

Things went according to form Saturday as Edwin Kipsang Rotich, a 28-year-old Kenyan, ran away from his nearest competitor and fellow countryman, Eliud Ngetich, 23, just shy of the 2-mile mark, and cruised thereafter to win the 38th Shelter Island 10K in 29 minutes and 28.57 seconds.

Ngetich won this race in 2015, in 28:53.31, but he was about a minute slower this time. It had been, he said in reply to a question after crossing the finish line at Fiske Field, a bad day for him. “I didn’t have that power — it’s the second time he’s beaten me,” Ngetich said of the winner.

Cliff Clark, one of the founders of this popular race — there were 956 finishers in the 10K and 652 in the 5K — when asked if it had been an upset of sorts, said that Kipsang Rotich had come in with the fastest 10K time among the elite runners, a 27:27.

Clark added that the winner’s splits were 4:25 for the first mile, 8:49 at mile 2, 14:05 at the 5K mark, and 18:17 at the 4-mile mark. He presumed, said Clark, that his splits for the 2, the 5K, and the 4 were course records. That having been said, Kipsang Rotich did not come anywhere near setting a course record for the entire distance. 

“From the second bridge, in other words from four and a half miles to five and three-quarter miles, it’s all uphill,” said Clark. “That’s where this course bites them.”

The St. Mary’s Episcopal Church bell clanged as the large field, led initially by Kipsang Rotich, Ngetich, Bernard Legat, and Eric Chirchir, made a left-hand turn onto St. Mary’s Road. 

Near the Shelter Island Fire Department building, about 100 yards shy of the 2-mile mark, Kipsang Rotich made his move, after which he virtually left Ngetich and the other front-runners in the dust. You could barely make Ngetich out in the distance as Kipsang Rotich swept through the village of Dering Harbor.

As it has in the past number of years, the race was graced by the presence of Joan Benoit Samuelson, the Olympic women’s marathon gold medalist, and by Bill Rodgers, the four-time winner at Boston and New York. Samuelson, who recently turned 60, ran a 39:38.85, which translates into a 6:23-per-mile pace. Clark wondered if it weren’t a world record for her age group, but she reportedly told him she knew it wasn’t. “It might be a U.S. record, though,” Clark said.

Rodgers, who is 69, won the men’s 65-to-69 age division with his 47:33.24. He was 175th over all.

The women’s winner, and 11th over all, was Gotytom Gebreslase, 22, an Ethiopian, who, like the men’s winner, was a Shelter Island first-timer. 

It looked before race time as if it might rain, but aside from mist at the start, in front of the Shelter Island School, it didn’t. It was a bit humid, though, as it often is this time of year, which isn’t conducive to record times.

Among the many spectators was Justin Gubbins, who in 1979 won the inaugural Shelter Island 10K (the women’s winner was Burke Koncelik). 

Gubbins recalled that “a friend of mine, Harold Schwab, who has a running store in Stony Brook and who went to UPenn — he was fourth in the Olympic trials’ intermediate hurdles — said he could beat me in the first half-mile. I must have gone under 2 in those first 800 meters. I crawled the rest of the way.”

“But that wasn’t the first time I raced here. Cliff had an open 2-mile race before that, around 1967, that I won, when I was at Bellport High School.”

Gubbins, who once ran a 1:05 half-marathon, no longer runs. “My knees are shot, but I do the elliptical and ride a stationary bike,” he said.

His wife, Barbara, 57, has not stopped running. Her 42:27.48, good for 68th, topped the 55-to-59-year-old women. 

Another local, Erik Engstrom, 19, just missed the top 20, finishing 23rd, in 35:19.83. That earned him the number-one spot in the 19-and-under group. Eric Perez, a former East Hampton High School teammate of his, placed third in that group, in 39:12.33.

American flags in honor of the late First Lt. Joseph Theinert, a Shelter Islander who was killed in combat in the Middle East in 2010, lined the 10K’s last mile — 6,916 of them by actual count, said Dr. Frank Adipietro, “in memory of all those who have died in Iraq and Afghanistan.”

“Say hi when you pass me by,” Samuelson said during a brief pre-race talk. 

“Our sport is about friends and family,” said Rodgers. “Let’s do our very best in the last mile.”

John Pizzo, during a recent conversation at The Star concerning his 23-0 Police Athletic League third-grade boys lacrosse team, said of his and John Tintle’s charges, “They’re a unique blend of talent and heart — it’s a wonderful team.”

“Every kid has brought something to it — speed, great stick skills, field intelligence. . . . Some lack the skill set at the moment, but they have heart. The other stuff will come in time. They’re little role models among their peers, and the parents have been great. They never tire of it; they’re always there for their kids. I’m lucky to be a part of this.”

When they were first graders, “it was a little like babysitting, just trying to keep them under control — they’d take the ball and run, like the girls — but every year the numbers and the skill level have grown. In their first-grade year we had no subs. Now, we’ve got 18 kids. We can almost field two full teams in practices.”

As for the three-year win skein (which followed a winless season as kindergartners), “I don’t think we’ve ever been behind after the first quarter. We come out and take it to them. . . . Eastport-South Manor, North Fork, William Floyd, and Riverhead all have P.A.L. teams. Some of the margins have been fairly close, within a couple of goals, but mostly we rule.”

He added that “when you have a four-goal lead, you have to make three successful passes within the [35-by-60-yard] box before you shoot. Three successful passes: You have to catch it. That’s the rule.”

“Checking at this age is limited,” he continued. “You can’t reach out to a player with your stick, though you can apply some pressure within arm’s length. Our kids rarely commit fouls. They’re smart and disciplined.”

 Six of his players, he said, had been invited recently to try out for a very competitive E-3 club team in Westhampton Beach, whose level of play is “a step or two above the P.A.L.’s. They’ll play from now through mid-August, in four or five tournaments. Lacrosse is almost a year-round thing now. P.A.L. and club experience makes a big difference come high school.”

The invitees were his son, Finn, Tintle’s son, William, Alex Davis, Henry Cooper, Evan Schaefer, and James Corwin.

Four — Pizzo, Tintle, Davis, and Corwin — are starting. “James has been outstanding in the goal, and Finn and Alex are the team’s leading point-scorers,” goals and assists, the elder Pizzo said in an email Monday. 

Concerning skills, the coach said, “The first year, as I said, we’d just take the ball and run, but last year, and particularly this year, we had a balance of scoring on offense. We started to set up like seventh and eighth graders do. Actually, you don’t even see that at the high school level — it’s rare.” 

Pizzo himself, who played football and baseball and wrestled at East Hampton High School (and later wrestled at Gettysburg College), never played outdoor lacrosse, “because it wasn’t offered when I was in high school. I remember we played informally in the gym, with blue and red sticks, in the spring. . . . We’ve been emphasizing the basics, ground balls, passing and catching, face-offs. . . . We’re not trying to overthink it.”

Anyway, he said, he would soon have his elder son, John, who starred in lacrosse here and played club lacrosse at the College of Charleston, as an assistant. “He’ll bring his expertise and experiences at just the right time, when the kids are fourth and fifth graders. The kids love him.”

“It’s all about year-round exposure,” he added. “We’ve had these kids practice at Sportime in the winter — 10 to 12 catch-and-throw sessions with Wiffle balls in the middle of the winter. You rarely see that at the K-1, K-2 level. We’ve done it now for three years. It gives you a huge advantage going into the season.”

As for the boys lacrosse program here, a program that has been struggling of late, Pizzo said in parting that he thought it was “on the upswing. James Corwin’s dad [Chris] coaches the fifth and sixth graders, and they’re tough. We have a ton of numbers coming up.”

“Everything has to be there when it comes to the recipe for success — the parents, the kids, the coaching. . . . Otherwise it’s like a chocolate chip cookie with no vanilla extract.”

Thursday, June 29

LITTLE LEAGUE, District 36 playoffs, 11-12 Pool B boys, Patchogue at East Hampton, Pantigo Fields, 5:45 p.m.; 11-12 Pool A boys, Sag Harbor at East Hampton, Pantigo Fields, 5:45 p.m.

Friday, June 30

LITTLE LEAGUE, District 36 playoffs, 11-12 girls final, site to be determined, 5:45 p.m.; 9-10 girls, East Hampton at North Shore, 5:45 p.m.; 9-10 boys, East Hampton at North Shore, 5:45 p.m.

Saturday, July 1

LITTLE LEAGUE, District 36 playoffs, Pool A 11-12 boys, Southampton at East Hampton, 10 a.m.; Pool B 11-12 boys, East Hampton at Mattituck, 10 a.m.; 9-10 girls, North Shore vs. East Hampton, East Hampton High School, 10 a.m., and East Hampton 9-10 boys at Hampton Bays, 10 a.m.

Sunday, July 2

RUNNING, Firecracker 8K and 3-mile walk, benefit Southampton Rotary Club scholarship fund, Agawam Park, Southampton, 8 a.m., registration from 6:45 a.m. 

Wednesday, July 5

LITTLE LEAGUE, District 36 playoffs, 9-10 boys, Eastport-South Manor at East Hampton, Pantigo Fields, 5:45 p.m.; 11-12 Pool B boys, North Shore Nationals at East Hampton, Pantigo Fields, 5:45 p.m., and 9-10 girls final, site to be determined, 5:45 p.m.

MEN’S SOCCER, playoff semifinals, 4th seed vs. 1st seed, 6:30 p.m., and 3rd seed vs. 2nd seed, 7:40, Herrick Park, East Hampton.

Riding Scholarships

The Stony Hills Stables Foundation announced at its fund-raiser Saturday evening that the following had won scholarships to ride there: Kaliee Brabant and Nadia Binozi of East Hampton, Olivia Walsh and Nina King of Montauk, and Johana Morales and Aaliya Brown of Amagansett. 

The goal of the foundation, according to its spokesperson, Lynn Stefanelli, is to “provide a unique atmosphere for local children to become skilled in equine sports.”

Firecracker 8K

The Southampton Rotary Club’s 4.96-mile Firecracker 8K race is to be held Sunday at Agawam Park. The event, which is in its 27th year, includes a three-mile walk as well. The starting time is 8 a.m. Race applications can be had online at firecracker8k.com. The day-of-race fee will be $35. Registration will be from 6:45 to 8 a.m.

Last year’s winner was Jonathon Laurie, 31, of New York City, in 26 minutes and 59 seconds. The women’s winner, Aileen Barry, was 10th over all.

The 24:24 that Larry Barthlow ran in 1992 is the course record. Caroline Bierbaum, with the 28:34 she ran in 2008, holds the women’s record.

Fighting Chance Swims

Half-mile, one-mile, and two-mile swims to benefit Fighting Chance, which provides free counseling services to cancer patients and their families, are to be held at Sag Harbor’s Long Beach on Saturday, July 8, beginning at 6 a.m. These popular swims, formerly under the Swim Across America aegis, used to be held at Fresh Pond in Amagansett. Griffin Taylor was first out among last year’s one-milers; Amanda Calabrese topped the half-milers, and the first one out in the 5K was Michael Petrzela.

Going into last night’s games, Hampton F.C.-Bill Miller, at 6-0-3, led the Wednesday evening 7-on-7 men’s soccer league, with 21 points, followed by Bateman Painting, the fall runner-up to Maidstone Market, at 5-0-4, with 19.

F.C. Tuxpan, at 5-3-1, Maidstone Market, at 4-4-1, Tortorella Pools, at 1-5-3, and Sag Harbor United, at 0-9-0, followed.

In games played at East Hampton’s Herrick Park on June 21, Tuxpan, averaging a goal every four minutes or so, overwhelmed Sag Harbor United 12-0; Maidstone Market outlasted Tortorella 3-2, and Bill Miller and Bateman played to a 1-1 tie, thus each remaining undefeated.

The latter encounter, said Leslie Czeladko, the league’s correspondent, “was a hard-fought game with very physical play on both sides, whose players were yelling at each other and at the referee.”

Bateman’s score resulted from a penalty kick taken by Jonathan Lizano following a foul within the goalie box in the game’s 23rd minute. Bill Miller, with two minutes remaining, tied it on a goal by Gehider Garcia, who as of earlier this week was tied for the “golden boot” award with Tuxpan’s Wilber Flores, with 14 goals each.

Flores scored six — count ’em, six — goals in Tuxpan’s rout of Sag Harbor United, which played the entire game with five men.

Tuxpan led 5-0 at the halftime break, owing to goals by Cristian Espinoza, Juan Carlos, and Flores (three), who tacked on three more goals in the second half. Edgar Alvarez, Gabriel Castro, and Luis Munoz scored as well in the second half.

Czeladko’s team, Tortorella Pools, as aforesaid, lost 3-2 that night to Maidstone Market, which took a 2-1 lead into the halftime break. 

“Maidstone could have scored off the kick-off that opened the second half, but Tortorella’s goalie, Boris Penaloza, who was playing up, was just able to push the ball back over the crossbar.”

“Tortorella attacked throughout the second half, and, with five minutes gone, David Rodriguez put Tortorella back in the running again on the rebound of a shot by Cristian Munoz that Alex Mesa, Maidstone’s goalie, could not hold on to. It was the second goal of the night for Rodriguez, and tied the score at 2-2.”

Tortorella continued to attack, though on a counter play following one of the forays, with about five minutes left, Maidstone’s Jefferson Ramirez gathered in a pass at midfield and went one-on-one with Penaloza, dribbling around him and firing the ball into the empty net. 

Ramirez’s goal assured Maidstone of a fourth-place finish in the regular season, and thus a playoff spot, and eliminated Tortorella Pools from playoff contention.

Last night’s games were to be the last of the regular season. The playoffs are to begin Wednesday with the fourth seed facing off against the first (Maidstone versus Bill Miller as of this writing), and with the third seed versus the second.

The last time they met, at Herrick on June 14, Bill Miller easily defeated the Market 4-1, though Mathew Ramirez, rather than Mesa, who had been sidelined because of two yellow cardings in a previous game, was tending the Market’s goal. Otherwise the Market was at full strength.

Bill Miller’s goals, by Gehider Garcia (two) and Cristian Flores (two), were good ones. Jose Almansa, Flores, Garcia, and Eddy Juarez all got assists. Xavi Piedramartel got one back for Maidstone near the end of the game.

The Market put only five men on the field against F.C. Tuxpan on May 31. “Even so,” said Czeladko, “they could have pulled out a win. . . . Alex Mesa played an incredible game, with a total of 12 saves and a goal that saw him, following a save, dribble up the field, pass off, shoot when he got the ball back, and head the rebound in over Tuxpan’s goalie, Jose Reyes, but he could only do so much.”

Sag Harbor United, again shorthanded — though this time with six men — put up a good showing against Bateman Painting on the 14th. Romulo (La Pulga) Tubatan, one of the league’s veteran players, scored all of Bateman’s goals in the 3-1 win. Miguel Angel scored for S.H.U.

Bob Budd, who is to be inducted into East Hampton High School’s Hall of Fame in the fall, has been associated with Bonac’s football program for the past half-century — the last 17 years as a volunteer. 

His philosophy, when it came to teaching and coaching, he said during a conversation this past week at The Star, “is very simple — love the kids and know what the hell you’re talking about.”

An all-county football player (quarterback and tailback) and an all-county pitcher at Patchogue High School, Budd declined football scholarships proffered by Hofstra and St. Lawrence in favor of accepting one in baseball at the University of Bridgeport, where he earned an education degree.

“I had a tryout with the Milwaukee Braves,” he said in answer to a question, “at Yankee Stadium. Honey Russell, who coached Ed Petrie in basketball at Seton Hall, conducted it. I pitched to nine batters, struck out the first eight and threw out the ninth on a dribbler. Coming off the mound I was feeling pretty good. Honey Russell said, ‘Go home and grow about five or six or seven inches and we’ll look at you.’ ”

He began his teaching and coaching career in his hometown in 1961. Patchogue, he said, had been a great place, but it had changed. “Jean and I moved here in 1967. . . . We met in kin­dergarten. People don’t believe this,” he said with a smile, “but when I was in first grade I decided I was going to marry Jean.” 

“No,” he said in answer to a question, “she didn’t know. We were more or less together all through school . . . we started dating when we were sophomores.”

As for his 30-year science-teaching career here, “I wouldn’t have traded the job I had at the middle school for any other school in America.”

On arriving in East Hampton, he became the late football coach Gary Golden’s assistant, and East Hampton’s 18-13 upset of Southampton that year remains his favorite football memory.

“The Long Island Press, I think, had predicted Southampton would beat us 47-6. We had great practices all week, during which I never heard anything negative. We had a pretty decent team, there was a lot of confidence. Then, when we arrived in Southampton, we saw all these victory balloons in the stands. That excited our kids a little bit. And when we were in the locker room we saw them bring a victory cake into Southampton’s locker room. Afterwards, their coach . . . I can’t remember his name [it was Herb Goldsmith] . . . brought that cake into our locker room and said, ‘You guys deserve it.’ It was the best cake I ever ate.”

“Southampton’s smallest guy was their quarterback, who weighed 190. That was the same weight as our biggest guy, Rocky Claxton, one of our tackles. One of their tackles was Tom Tarazevits, who weighed 315 and played both ways. He went on to play for an Ivy League team,” Dartmouth.

“Let me tell you, we ran out of a different formation. We had been running out of the I, with the quarterback under center. That was our normal one. But for the Southampton game, we changed to a single-wing type of offense with the quarterback a little off-center to the left. Sometimes the snap would go directly to the tailback, which was William Myrick, a great back who led the county that year in scoring. He’s retired now, living in Nassau County — a wonderful, wonderful man. That formation confused them.”

“We came from behind in the fourth quarter. Southampton fumbled pretty deep in their territory. Leon Overton was our quarterback. The play that resulted in the winning touchdown was to go to Keith McMahon, but he was covered. William was the alternative receiver. He came out of the backfield and the pass went to him. He carried it in.”

“Before the game, Golden asked me who we had to stop. I had scouted Southampton three times and I knew they had a wide receiver, McMahon, same last name as Keith’s, who they’d throw deep to. They’d run, run, run, and then there’d be a deep pass to him. Kent Metz, who died recently, a really tough kid, went face up on McMahon, basically to prevent him from getting off the line of scrimmage. He took him away.”

“. . . Larry Cantwell was our right guard. His job was to pull and block Tarazevits on off-tackle plays. Larry never missed a block. He weighed 165 pounds at the time. . . . Yes, it’s true what they tell you, people lined the streets when we came back. We had a police escort through the village. The whole town turned out. To this day, it was the greatest upset I’ve ever seen. We shared the league championship with them.”

“Myrick . . . Pete Bistrian . . . those four players from the county-championship ’81 team who are already in the Hall of Fame — Eddie [Budd’s son], Richie Cooney, Joey McKee, and Charlie Ecker. . . . It’s unfair to ask me who I’d put on my all-time Bonac football team. . . . The Bonackers were always known as hard-nosed football players. Other coaches didn’t like to see us coming because they knew that, win or lose, it would be a battle. There’s been a real tradition here and Joey McKee [East Hampton’s present varsity coach] is doing a great job, he really is. He’s up on everything.” 

“Yes, concussions are a legitimate concern, but they’re tackling differently now, more like in rugby, with their shoulders. The head’s not involved. Joey’s doing everything he can, he’s got flag football going to get more kids involved, but the culture has changed: It’s not true of all of them, but sometimes the kids won’t commit wholeheartedly to a team, as they used to in the old days. And a lot of parents these days, for some reason, think they know better.”

Budd said he couldn’t remember a losing season during his 14-year tenure (first, as aforesaid, with Gary Golden, and then with Dick Cooney), “except for the year after austerity, in the late ’70s. We could have won a championship in that austerity year, but there were no sports at all. . . . The ’81 team won a county championship. That was as far as you could go then. There was no Long Island championship. We were classified as a B school then. We defeated Riverhead in the championship game 28-8. It was 26-zip at the end of the first quarter.”

“Eddie and Justin Winter were a good one-two punch in that ’81 backfield. I’ve nominated Justin for the Hall of Fame and I’ll keep pushing for him. We played eight games. He rushed for over 100 yards in seven of them, and was maybe five or seven yards shy in the other. As a combination, Justin, who lives in Riverhead now, and Eddie were lethal.”

“You may not believe this, but in Dick Cooney’s first year here, 1969, there were only 13 players on the team. We had to suit up jayvee players because you had to have 20. We went 2-6. We lost 49-0 to Hauppauge in our first game, but as the season went on we were losing by less and less and less, and we won our last two games. We beat Longwood and Riverhead of all teams. I have always said those guys were winners even though we had a losing season. That was definitely a highlight.”

His relationship with Dick Cooney had been a good one, “and working with Mike Burns [another former East Hampton A.D.] was a pleasure. He was a great coach, a great person, and he loved kids. He was a great motivator, and that’s been my forte too. When I’d talk to the team at the Friday night meetings, it basically wasn’t about football, but about life and working hard at everything you do. I used to get wound up, it was all from the heart. I’ve had kids tell me that after those Friday meetings if they weren’t ready to play football they never would be.” 

“You know, funny thing, with that ’81 team you come off the field, you’ve just beaten Riverhead by a big score and it’s euphoric, but it’s fleeting. That’s when you realize that the joy of the season lies in the week to week to week preparation, in the game planning, and in practice. To me, the Friday night meeting was the highlight of the week. Another highlight was going out in ’81 with Eddie, who I’d coached for three years.”

He had been volunteering for the past 16 or 17 years, he said, “because I just love to be with kids and I love the camaraderie of the sport. I’m 78 and I’m pleased that I can still do that. I don’t coach much anymore. Joey will ask me things sometimes, but I’m more like a grandfather. I pat kids on the back and encourage them.”

“And sometimes,” he said with a smile, “I do the same thing with the coach.”

There were three Little League games here at high noon Sunday — two 11-to-12-year-old boys games at Pantigo and an 11-12 girls game at East Hampton High School.

The Greys, the 11-12 boys team coached by Andrew Daige, which plays in District 36’s B pool, was bageled 10-0 by the Westhampton-area team, East End, though the Maroons, coached by Chris Anderson, mercied Hampton Bays 14-1, a game that was ended after four innings of play. 

The 11-12 girls meanwhile lost 15-1 here to the district’s defending champion, North Shore, a game that went the full six innings. “North Shore, which draws from a much bigger area than we do — from Mount Sinai, Miller Place, Sound Beach, Rocky Point, and Shoreham-Wading River — is the perennial favorite,” said Michelle Grant, one of East Hampton’s coaches. North Shore pitching notched 11 strikeouts Sunday. East Hampton was to have played Bellport in a semifinal game at East Hampton High School Tuesday.

The 11-12 girls, whose head coach is Kathy Amicucci, East Hampton High’s varsity mentor, began the double-elimination tourney Friday with a 13-2 mercy rule win over East End.

A 9-run second inning during which East Hampton sent 14 batters to the plate, served to do the home team in. Amicucci’s assistant said Baye Bogetti, Emma Terry, Sophia Weiss, and Emily Kennedy were among those with run-scoring hits. 

“Weiss began the top of the third with a triple up the middle,” Grant said, “and came home on a 6-3 groundout. Bogetti subsequently drove in Camryn Hatch, who had singled and had advanced to second on a single by Sophia Yardley. That made it 13-1. East End got one back in the bottom of the fourth, but it wasn’t enough to avert the league’s mercy rule, which says a game shall be terminated if there’s a 10-run spread by the end of the fourth inning.”

“We have to practice our hitting,” Lindsay Roman said following the Grey team’s 10-0 loss Sunday to their East End counterparts, whose pitchers, she said, limited East Hampton to just a few hits while tattooing Bonac’s pitching in turn. 

Anderson’s Maroon team had begun A pool play with a 5-1 loss to the North Shore Americans, a game in which Anderson said his charges made a number of mental mistakes. The team rebounded Sunday versus Hampton Bays. Jake Krahe was the winning pitcher. Jack Dickinson started the North Shore game, and went five-and-a-third innings before reaching the 85-pitch limit that keys a four-day pitching layoff. 

Cameron DePetris, a grandson of Billy DePetris, a Bridgehampton School Hall of Famer, started Sunday’s game for Hampton Bays, but the Bonackers had their way with him, as well as with a subsequent relief pitcher.

Alex Lombardo, Michael Locascio, and Calum Anderson were among those with big blows for the Maroon team, whose hitters looked to be pretty aggressive by and large.

Besides the above-named players, Anderson’s roster includes Trevor Sacheki, Nico Puglia, Nick Schaefer, Zach Dodge, Hunter Eberhart, Nick Cordone, Aryan Chugh, Rich Gosman, and Cassius Hokanson.

Daige’s roster comprises Julian Link, Chase Siska, Brody Keogh, Ayden Herlihy (who started on the mound Sunday), Finn Byrnes (who relieved him), Milo Tompkins, Eli Wolf, Danny Lester, Kayden Daige, Julian DelFavero, Eddi Cobb, Patrick Farrell, and Joseph Garcia.

East Hampton’s 9-10 boys team, coached by Henry Meyer and Tim Garneau, was to have begun play here yesterday, with Sag Harbor. 

“We’ve got three pretty strong pitchers in Tyler Hansen, Carter Dickinson, and Leandro Abreu,” Garneau said. “And since we’ve got games on Wednesday and Friday at North Shore our plan is that they all go 35.” East Hampton’s 9-10 girls team is to play at North Shore tomorrow.

As of earlier this week, all three East Hampton Little League boys teams were contending for District 36 Final Fours. 

The 11-12 Maroon team coached by Chris Anderson finished pool play at 4-1 at the Pantigo fields Saturday by trouncing Southampton 10-0, thanks in great measure to Jack Dickinson’s no-hit pitching. That wasn’t the only no-hitter for the Maroons last week: Hunter Eberhart and and Aryan Chugh combined for one versus Eastport-South Manor on June 27. The young Bonackers won that game 12-0.

The 11-12 Grey team coached by Andrew Daige likewise did very well last week, rebounding from a lopsided playoff-opener loss to East End with three straight wins, over North Fork, Patchogue, and Mattituck, which had previously been undefeated.

That team had two more pool games to play, at home yesterday versus North Shore National, and tomorrow at Riverhead.

Additionally, Henry Meyer and Tim Garneau’s 9-10 boys were 3-0 as of Tuesday, having defeated Sag Harbor 12-0, North Shore 11-0, and Hampton Bays 16-1. That team too was to have played here yesterday, versus Eastport-South Manor, and is to finish up pool play at home tomorrow with Southampton.

The district’s semifinal games are to be played Sunday, and the finals are to be contested Monday and Tuesday at sites yet to be determined.

East Hampton’s 11-12 and 9-10 girls softball teams, which vied in smaller tournaments — there were four teams in the older division and only two in the younger one — did not fare as well, though there were bright spots. The powerful North Shore teams won both tourneys, though Mike Ruddy’s 9-10s gave their counterparts all they could handle here Saturday, bowing in the end 9-8. 

Sandwiched between two lopsided losses to North Shore, the 11-12s flattened Bellport here by a likewise lopsided score as, one after another, East Hampton’s hitters stroked line drives into the outfield.

As aforesaid, Dickinson no-hit Southampton for the Maroon 11-12 boys team Saturday morning, notching 14 strikeouts while walking four. The only runner to reach first base safely other than via a base on balls was the leadoff hitter as the result of an error in the bottom of the fifth inning (East Hampton, while playing at home, was the “visiting” team). 

Eberhart relieved the starter with two outs and runners on first and second base in that inning, and got the third out as the result of a subsequent forceout at second.

Meanwhile, the young Bonackers tattooed the ball at the plate, scoring one run in the first, four in the third, one in the fourth, and four more in the fifth to complete the rout.

Among those with big blows were Dickinson, who broke the ice, doubling in a run in the first; Rich Gosman, with an R.B.I. double, and Nico Puglia, with a run-scoring single, in the third, and Calum Anderson, with an R.B.I. double in the fourth.

Puglia led off East Hampton’s fifth with a line drive opposite-field double to right. The next three batters, Jake Krahe, Alex Lombardo, and Nick Cordone, drew full-count walks, the latter’s resulting in East Hampton’s seventh run. Two more came in as the result of an error by the visitors’ third baseman, who, in going for a forceout there, overthrew the bag. 

An infield single by Trevor Stacheki loaded the bases again. Eberhart fanned for the first out, and a subsequent force at the plate resulted in the second. That brought Dickinson to the plate. He was to be called out on strikes, but not before another run came home on a wild pitch.

When this writer remarked on the team’s uniformly good hitting, David Samot, who has been Anderson’s assistant the past few years, said it had resulted from a group effort, and added that, “It’s really defense that we pride ourselves on first, though, with Jack on the mound, we didn’t have to do much defensively today. Still, you never know.”

The Final Four picture, the coaches agreed, would not be clarified until later in the week. 

As of Tuesday, North Shore, at 5-0, was listed on the eteamz.com website as the 11-12 Pool A leader with East Hampton second. The Pool B leader was Riverhead, at 4-0, with the East Hampton Grey team second, at 3-1. Longwood and East Hampton, each at 3-0, led the 9-10 pools.

Thursday, July 6

COLLEGIATE BASEBALL, Riverhead Tomcats vs. Sag Harbor Whalers, Mashashimuet Park, 5 p.m.

Friday, July 7

LITTLE LEAGUE, District 36 playoffs, 9-10 boys, Southampton vs. East Hampton, Pantigo fields, 5:45 p.m., and Pool B 11-12s, East Hampton at Riverhead, 5:45.

Saturday, July 8

SWIMMING, Fighting Chance half-mile, mile, and 2-mile swims, either Long Beach, Noyac, or Havens Beach, Sag Harbor, 7-9:30 a.m.

BASKETBALL, LuMind Down Syndrome Research Foundation Hoops Classic tournament, Sportime Arena, Amagansett, from 8:30 a.m.

Sunday, July 9

LITTLE LEAGUE, District 36 tournament 9-10 and 11-12 semifinal games, noon, sites yet to be determined.

Monday, July 10

LITTLE LEAGUE, District 36 tournament, 9-10 final, 5:45 p.m., site yet to be determined.

Tuesday, July 11

LITTLE LEAGUE, District 36 tournament, 11-12 final, site yet to be determined, 5:45 p.m.

Wednesday, July 12

COLLEGIATE BASEBALL, Long Island Road Warriors vs. Sag Harbor Whalers, Mashashimuet Park, 5 p.m. 

MEN’S SOCCER, 7-on-7 league final, Herrick Park, East Hampton, 7 p.m.

Thursday, July 13

YOUTH TRIATHLON, benefit I-Tri program, 10-through-17-year-old boys and girls, 300-yard swim, 7-mile bike, and 1.5-mile run, Long Beach, Noyac, 5:30 p.m.