We’re hot and then we’re not,” Erin Abran said with a smile after last Thursday night’s women’s slow-pitch playoff softball game. The Police Benevolent Association, led by its pitcher, T. Schirrippa, and its shortstop, Nicole Fierro, downed Groundworks 9-4 in the third game of a best-of-three semifinal series, advancing the P.B.A. to the final round with East End Land Planning, the defending champion.

For boat owners, the fact that diesel has dipped below $6 a gallon is welcome news, even if it's still expensive. As any owner of a power boat knows, fuel is just one part (actually a very small part) of the overall expense of the craft. Other expenditures like dockage, insurance, maintenance, and other factors, significantly overshadow the bill at the fuel dock.