Going up against the dominant defending-champion Reds in the East Hampton Town Little League’s 11-to-12-year-old “world series” presented a challenge for the very young Pirates, but Tim Garneau’s team acquitted itself well in the best-of-three final, which ended with a 4-1 Reds’ victory at the Pantigo fields Friday night.

    Steve Minskoff’s Reds finished the regular season with an 11-1 mark, the Pirates, who were the National Division’s runner-up, finished at 7-5. Nevertheless, it was not a David and Goliath affair, the Reds’ coach, Steve Minskoff said. “I only had one returnee this year, Christian Johnson, and only one 12-year-old.”

    The Pirates scuttled the Reds 6-4 in game one, “behind the masterful pitching of Elian Abreu,” Garneau said.

    The Buccaneers extended an early 1-0 lead with three runs in the fourth inning. John Walters, the center fielder, led it off with a triple, after which Skylar Minardi drove him in with a single. Then Burton Garneau (one of two 9-year-olds on the team, the other being Matthew McGovern) doubled in Minardi for 3-0. The Pirates’ fourth run scored on a fielder’s choice.

    The Reds came back, however, scoring once in the bottom of the fifth and plating three more in the sixth (a two-run double by James Foster being the big blow) before Burton Garneau closed them out, on two strikeouts and a popup that he gathered in for the game-ending out.

    The Reds reasserted themselves in game two, “mercying” the Pirates 13-3 after four innings. “Ryan Brewer pitched a masterpiece,” said Garneau, “giving up just three hits and striking out seven.”

    Patrick DeSanti, Brewer, Christian Johnson, and Hayden Soloviev were among the Reds’ heavy hitters. Soloviev lashed a bases-clearing triple in the top of the fourth that extended the margin to 10-3, after which the Reds tacked on three more runs to close out the game.

    Game three, said Garneau, “was a pitchers’ duel — Christian Johnson and Elian matched each other strikeout for strikeout.”

    Abreu had to reach back, however, when he confronted bases-loaded, two-out situations in the first and third innings, getting out of the jam each time. The Pirates led 1-0 [the result of a sac fly by J.B. Stewart] going into the bottom of the fifth, at which point the elder Garneau told his charges, “Six more outs and we’re done.”

    But it wasn’t to be. Soloviev began the Reds’ comeback by reaching first base safely on an infield error. DeSanti then forced him at second, but Brewer’s single up the middle put runners at the corners for Johnson, who, after taking three balls, was intentionally walked. With the bases loaded and one out, Abreu struck out Max Bahi on three pitches. That brought up James Foster.

    Abreu had by that time maxed out his pitch count at 85, and had to give way to Burton Garneau. When play resumed, Foster lofted a two-out bases-loaded blooper just over the second baseman Quentin Bazar’s reach that enabled two runs to come in.

    With runners at the corners, a wild pitch enabled Johnson to score the Reds’ third run. An inning-ending strikeout followed, but not before a passed ball led to another run for the Reds, who, by that point led 4-1.

    Johnson struck out the Pirates’ J.B. Stewart to lead off the top of the sixth, after which Henry Garneau drew a walk. A wild pitch with John Walters at bat enabled Garneau to go to second, but Johnson came back to strike out Walters for the second out. That pitch proved to be his 85th, which prompted Minskoff to replace Johnson, who went to short, with Nate Wright.

    “Guys, we’re a two-out ballclub, let’s do it right here,” the elder Garneau said.

    But Wright, after getting two quick strikes on Abreu, clinched the championship — the Reds’ second in a row — as Abreu grounded out to Johnson, who, after the final out was made, rolled delightedly over and over in the dust of the mound as his teammates rushed in to celebrate.

    “Christian is unbelievable,” Minskoff said of the winning pitcher, who is 11 years old. “He has another gear like no other kid in our league. You see a kid like him only once in a very long while.”

    Minskoff (whose assistant coach is Rudy DeSanti) and Garneau were to have coached East Hampton’s all-star travel teams — Minskoff the 11-12s and Garneau the 9-10s — in District 36 tournaments whose opening-round games were to have been played Monday.

    The 9-10s roster comprises Jackson Baris, Tucker Coleman, Logan Gurney, Burton Garneau, Tucker Genovese, Liam Leach, Matthew McGovern, Callum Menelaws, Colin Ruddy, Owen Ruddy, and Hayden Soloviev.

    The 11-12 traveling all-stars are Auggie Gladstone, Patrick DeSanti, Max Bahi, Chasen Dubs, Ethan Pratt, James Foster, Seth Martin, Christian Johnson, Kurt Matthews, Anthony Genovese, Lou Britton, Elian Abreu, and Ryan Brewer.

     A number of strong volleyballers, including Kim Valverde, whose Hillsborough Junior College team placed seventh in the nation, Jesse Libath, Hayden Ward, the State University Athletic Conference’s player of the year in men’s basketball, and Tahlia Miller, showed up at Gurney’s Inn in Montauk last Thursday evening for an informal round of 4-on-4 games — a prelude to a six-week league to begin July 11.

    Valverde, an honorable mention all-American libero when she was at East Hampton High, is playing on Air & Speed, last year’s runner-up to the Beach Diplomats, along with Josh Brussell, Bonac’s boys volleyball coach, and his assistant, Jon Jamet.

    Libath, who played for the champion Beach Diplomats last season, ought to provide considerable firepower for Bonac Yard Sale. Tahlia Miller and her brother, Connor, better known perhaps for his play on the rugby pitch, James Keogh, and Rachael and Sarah Faraone should make the Burritos very competitive.

    Another strong player who was not there that night undoubtedly will be Raya O’Neal, who, said Kathy McGeehan, the league’s organizer, was at U.S.A. Volleyball’s junior championships in Texas. O’Neal, who set a career assist record on McGeehan’s team last fall, with 1,616, will be a senior at East Hampton High School this fall.

    League play, as aforesaid, is to begin next Thursday. “We’ll go for six weeks,” said McGeehan, “and end it on Aug. 15. We’re ending earlier this year than last because so many have to leave for college.”

    McGeehan added that it was nice to see among the players some children — namely Lydia and Jenna Budd and Katie Brierley — of people she’d played beach volleyball with at Indian Wells Beach in Amagansett 25 years ago, the last time there was organized beach volleyball here.

    Besides the above-named, other entries in the Gurney’s Inn league are Hamptons Free Ride, Sea Capture, Sloppy Tuna A and B, Gurney’s, Naturally Good/On Point, the Montauk Beach House, Lydi, and Shelter Island Volleyball.   

Saturday, July 6

SWIMMING, ‘Swim Across America’ half-mile, mile, and three mile races in Gardiner’s Bay, benefit cancer research and Fighting Chance, Fresh Pond Road, Amagansett, 6-11 a.m.

Sunday, July 7

RUNNING, ‘Firecracker 8K,’ benefit Southampton Rotary scholarship fund, Agawam Park, Southampton, 8:30 a.m.

Monday, July 8

YOUTH LACROSSE, Zach Brenneman’s camp, opening day, East Hampton High School turf field, 9 a.m.-1 p.m., through Thursday.

Wednesday, July 10

 MEN’S SOCCER, 7-on-7 playoff semifinals, fourth seed vs. first seed, 6:30 p.m., and third seed vs. second seed, 7:40, Herrick Park, East Hampton.

Saturday, June 22

PICKLEBALL, introductory clinic, East Hampton Indoor/Outdoor Tennis Club, Daniel’s Hole Road, Wainscott, 8:30-10 a.m.

TENNIS, Kids Day, Hampton Racquet Club, Buckskill Road, East Hampton, 10 a.m.-1 p.m.

Wednesday, June 26

MEN’S SOCCER, Maidstone Market vs. Tortorella Pools, 6:30 p.m.; Hampton F.C.-Bill Miller vs. Bateman Painting, 7:25, and The Hideaway vs. F.C. Tuxpan, 8:20, Herrick Park, East Hampton.

Thursday, June 27

U.S. WOMEN’S OPEN, opening day, Sebonack Golf Club, Southampton.

   Peter Heinz, 36, a Manhattanite who’s summering in Springs, had just biked 30 miles out to Montauk and back on Saturday when his girlfriend, Analisa Cipriano, told him that a triathlon was about to get under way at Maidstone Park. Away they went, and though Heinz arrived late, he quickly swam his way into the lead in the 300-yard swim and didn’t look back during the course of the 7-mile bike and one-and-one-half-mile run.

    The triathlete, who was eighth at Mighty Hamptons last fall, registered for the race after winning it in 40 minutes and 15.42 seconds.

    The runner-up — and the women’s winner — was Sally Dawson, 36, a native of Scotland who lives in Southampton. “Swimming is my thing, though I enjoyed everything today,” said Dawson, who finished in 43:41.52, and whose first triathlon this was.

    Fittingly, there were many more females than men in the Turbo-Tri, which was a fund-raiser for Theresa Roden’s I-Tri program, whose goal is to transform and empower adolescent girls through triathloning.

    For her work — I-Tri now numbers more than 50 members in the Springs and Montauk Schools — Roden was cited in a Suffolk County Legislature proclamation that County Legislator Jay Schneiderman presented as “a woman of distinction.”

    I-Tri’s honoree that day was East Hampton Town Police Officer Kim Notel, who for the past 18 years has, as the Drug Abuse Resistance Education officer, worked with students spanning Wainscott and Montauk.

    She also raced that day, doing the swim leg on a relay team with Ana Jacobs (bike) and Dan Newman (run). “I love I-Tri,” she said. “It’s great for the girls and the community.”

    Ten mothers of I-Tri girls did the triathlon, which is over the same course as the one their daughters are to face in a youth triathlon on July 14.

    In that group was Noemi Sanchez, who had a few years ago been, in the words of Roden, “the victim of a brutal attack at the hands of her estranged husband. . . . If it had not been for the courage of Ms. Sanchez’s daughter, Noely, and her two sisters, Noemi would not be here today. In 2011, a still-recovering Noemi Sanchez watched Noely, who was then 11, compete in I-Tri’s youth triathlon, and in the two years since has used fitness, dancing, and a positive outlook to prepare herself to cross the finish line today.”

    Besides Heinz, the top five men were John Westbrooks, 30, of Howard Beach, Queens; Jeffrey Smith, 33, of Hampton Bays; Gary Zaino, 49, also of Hampton Bays, and Dave Rutkowski, 50, of Montauk.

    The top nine women were Dawson, Patricia Fall Salamy, 46, of East Hampton; Stephanie Brabant, 37, of Springs; Lisa Cueva, 37, of Staten Island; Selena Garcia-Torres, 17, of Sag Harbor; Ricci Paradiso, 50, of East Hampton; Amanda Husslein, 33, of Montauk; Tara Gurney, 38, of East Hampton, and Liz Forsberg, 23, of Montauk.

    The winning relay team comprised Margaret Thompson, the Springs School’s music teacher, and Kristi Guarino, the mother of an I-Tri girl. The runners-up were Susie Roden (swim), Rob Roden (bike), and Deb Donahue (run).

    Kathryn Perry, I-Tri’s publicist, said “over $18,000 was raised, all of which is to benefit the I-Tri program. . . . We had over 40 local businesses as sponsors, including Southampton Hospital, East End Tick & Mosquito Control, Sneakerology, and Ben Krupinski Construction. The East Hampton Volunteer Ocean Rescue Squad made sure that all of our racers had a safe swim, and Hamptons Free Ride helped shuttle spectators from off-site parking to the finish line.”

    Awards “for showing the spirit and determination to face a huge challenge with grace” went to David Valentine, 50, of Little Neck, Queens, and to the aforementioned Noemi Sanchez.

    Going into last night’s games at East Hampton’s Herrick Park, Hampton F.C.-Bill Miller led the Wednesday evening 7-on-7 men’s soccer league with a 5-2-0 mark, though the Hideaway, thanks to a 3-1 upset of perennial-champion Maidstone Market on June 12, was right behind, at 4-2-1.

    The Market, whose entry in an 11-on-11 league at Calverton is undefeated, was in third place, along with Tortorella Pools, each with 4-3-0 marks. Tuxpan, which played Bill Miller tough in a 1-0 loss on the 12th, was in fifth place, and Bateman Painting, a former champion, was last, at 1-5-1.

    Maidstone, whose players are sporting Aston Villa-type jerseys donated by Randy Lerner of Amagansett, Aston Villa’s owner, was not quite its usual self in the showdown with the Hideaway. Part of the reason, according to the Hideaway’s manager, Donald Nunez, is that Alex Meza, Maidstone’s former goalie, arguably the top one in the league, now plays with Bill Miller.

    Gehider Garcia broke the ice, putting a 14-yard shot by the Hideaway’s keeper, Quique Araya, though the Hideaway, which dominated play in the second half, was to come back, with goals by Romulo Tubatan, from about 15 yards out, which tied it, and by Edwin Robles, on feeds from Cristian and Marco Bautista.

    Tubatan’s equalizer came after Marco Bautista stole the ball from the Market’s center midfielder, Diego Marles. Robles bicycle-kicked his first goal in, beating Maidstone’s onrushing keeper, Corey DeRosa, to the far right corner of the nets. Robles’s clincher came near the end of regulation after Fabian Arias had blocked a Maidstone shot and had sent a long pass up the field to Marco Bautista, who got the assist.

    “Marco and Cristian are new — otherwise, we’ve got the same guys we had last year,” Nunez said afterward. “This was the first time we played Maidstone. We were on top of them in the second half.”

    In other action that night, Bill Miller, as aforesaid, edged Tuxpan 1-0 as the result of Oscar Reinoso’s 18-yard direct penalty kick in the early going, and Tortorella defeated Bateman Painting 4-2. Alex George, Eddie Lopez, and David Rodriguez (two) scored for Tortorella. Jonathan Lizano scored Bateman’s goals.    

   The future of tennis is in good hands if the attendance at the East Hampton Indoor/Outdoor Tennis Club’s “festival” for kids was any indication.

    As their parents looked on through the club’s glassed-in lounge Saturday, some 60 to 70 youngsters — the youngest being 3 years old, the eldest being 10 — had a lot of fun while being eased into the game by two of the club’s young pros, Vanessa Heroux, a former National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics doubles national champion, and Kevin Cretella, who played with the managing partner Scott Rubenstein’s son Brian on James Madison University’s team.

    Heroux, who is a native of Montreal, and Cretella hadn’t expected such an overwhelming turnout, but, with the help of some of the club’s other pros, were able to manage.

    “We’ll be using the U.S.T.A.’s 10-and-under format in our kids’ program this summer, with everything — nets, rackets, balls — scaled to their size and speed, but today,” Heroux added, as legions of “dodgeball” teams dashed toward each other from the opposite baselines to retrieve and hurl soft tennis balls across the net, “is all about having fun. . . . The younger they start, the better. The kids are our future.”

    The Hampton Racquet Club, which is on Buckskill Road, not far away from E.H.I.T., is to have its Kids Day this Saturday, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., and a good-size turnout is expected there as well, for John Graham, who, with his sister, Monica, revived the former Green Hollow club last year, is a highly regarded teacher of children.

    In a conversation the other day, Graham said he wants to “make this place a family club again, which is the way I grew up, in a family-oriented club up the Island where you had 12-year-olds hitting with 60-year-olds.”

    “Tactical tennis will be emphasized. We want them to play, but we also want them to know how to play, and to reinforce that, we’ll use chess for strategy, golf for eye-hand coordination, yoga for calming the mind . . . we’ll have an art program too, even a learning garden.”

    Kids from the age of 5, he said, “will play matches . . . my hope is that we can develop a junior tournament circuit among the clubs here. . . . I also want to link what we do with local charities. Our main ones are Fighting Chance, the East Hampton Day Care Learning Center, the Animal Rescue Fund, the Wounded Warrior Project, and the Retreat. When you sign up for a package of lessons, for instance, some of that money can be donated to a charity. It’s a way of giving back to the community, of bringing the community together.”

    “I want the club to be a centerpiece of play and learning,” Graham said in parting. “I want to combine the best tennis has to offer with summer experiences that last a lifetime. . . . My passion is tennis, my love is kids.”

   It was a celebratory week here soccer-wise, highlighted by the Under-16 Hurricanes’ Long Island Cup championship win Saturday, a first, and their 2-0 shutout of Auburndale-Bayside Sunday that crowned an undefeated Long Island Junior Soccer League Division 1 season.

    The Hurricanes, coached by Don McGovern, who helps Rich King with East Hampton High’s powerful program — the Bonackers have made it to the county finals in three of the past four years and are two-time defending county champions — thus finished the travel team spring season with a 13-0-1 record.

    The tie was with the aforementioned Auburndale-Bayside. In Sunday’s game that assured the Hurricanes the D-1 championship, Nick West, a star Bonac midfielder-forward, and Jack Fitzpatrick, the team’s lone representative from Sag Harbor, scored the goals.

    In Saturday’s 3-1 win in the Long Island Cup tourney’s final, West scored twice and Camilo Godoy once.

    “It’s a great group of kids,” said McGovern, who, before he became King’s assistant, coached Pierson’s varsity for a number of years. “They only conceded 4 goals all season and scored around 34. . . . The season’s over now, but they’ll continue to practice on their own to get ready for the fall.”

    Further evidence of East Hampton’s success in soccer was provided at Friday’s inaugural alumni game, which drew more than 30 players, who did battle on the high school’s turf field.

    The large turnout was a pleasant surprise for King and McGovern and their predecessor, Jim Stewart, who got a big laugh when he said anyone who’d forgotten to turn in his high school soccer jersey “can do so now.”

    The graduation dates of the alums ranged from 1997 (Alex Posada, who, along with the late John Villaplana, led East Hampton’s first notable team) to the present.

    Names on the sign-up sheet, besides Posada’s, included Brandon West (a national-champion goalie at Messiah College), Eddie Lopez (a former national-champion junior college player at Briarcliffe), Angel Garces, Danny Munoz, Alex Serna, Juan Olvera, Jefferson Ramirez, Carlos Chacon, Mattheu Ramirez, J.C. Barrientos, Esteban Aguilar, Ben McCarron, Brian Rojas, Erik Lopez, Erick Valdes, Efrain Valderrama, Tyler deVries-Wallace, Esteban Vargas, Andy Gonzalez, Rafael Zeledon, John Romero, Seth Barrows, Andy Rigby (a teammate of Posada’s in 1997), Daniel Londono, Duvan Castro, Rodolfo Marin, Alejandro Bolanos, Milton Farez, Denis Espana, Jerjes Alban, Camilo Ariza, Stiven Orrego, and Diego Palomo.

    “Coach Stewart and I have talked about this for a couple of years — we want the alumni to get more involved in the program,” said King, “and now that we know there’s such a strong interest, we’ll become more organized in the coming years and make it more of a community event, with predetermined teams, and food, and a big crowd of spectators. We’ll rely on you to spread the word.”

    “We’re also doing this as a fund-raiser,” the head coach continued. “There are a lot of budget issues at the moment — we have to buy our own balls and socks, for instance — and so we’re asking that each of you donate $25 to the program. . . . We’re looking to go upstate. Our goal is to win a state championship. We’ve got some exciting nonleague games lined up this year, one at St. Anthony’s, the third-ranked team in the United States, on Sept. 21.”

    King and McGovern’s soccer camp for youngsters ages 5 through 13 was to have begun Monday afternoon and to have ended today. McGovern said before the alumni game began that they were expecting “anywhere from 60 to 90 kids.”

   Boston, and the fatal terror attack there in April, was very much on everyone’s minds leading up to the 34th Shelter Island Overcoming Obstacles 10K Saturday, and consequently certain precautions, such as prohibiting backpacks and providing clear plastic bags for the collection of refuse at the start and finish lines rather than metal bins, were taken, but all, the race’s director, Mary Ellen Adipietro, said, went smoothly.

    “The weather was beautiful — hot, but not humid,” said Cliff Clark, the very popular road race’s founder. “At least I didn’t hear any of the runners complain of humidity.”

    The race committee was not complaining either, Adipietro said, that no records were broken this year, meaning that more money, rather than being paid out in bonuses, would go to the beneficiaries — the 10K Community Fund, the Timothy Hill Children’s Ranch, a farm home in Riverhead for troubled boys, East End Hospice, and Reach Within, the latter an organization that helps children in Grenada.

    Once again, the chief participants were Bill Rodgers, who sold and signed numerous copies of his autobiography, “Marathon Man,” and Joan Benoit Samuelson, who ran a 2:50 at Boston this year, thus achieving her goal of finishing within 30 minutes of her record 2:22, which she did there 30 years ago.

    The race director’s husband, Dr. Frank Adipietro, interviewed Samuelson and Rodgers over radio station WLNG the day before. “Definitely we touched on Boston, no question,” he said. “We spent about a half-hour on that. . . . Thankfully, everything really came together for us on race day. It’s a big day for Shelter Island, you know. Everything worked out beautifully, it was all good.”

    Ayele Megersa Feyisa, 25, a native of Ethiopia who lives now in New York City, was the winner, in 28 minutes and 59 seconds, 22 seconds shy of Simon Ndirangu’s record, which was set last year.

    It’s not often — certainly not in recent years — that an American tops the female division at Shelter Island, but this time Katie Di Camillo, 26, of Providence, R.I., did, in 34:19. She was ninth over all.

    Samuelson and Rodgers served as pacers — Samuelson for those wanting to run the rolling 6.2-mile course in about 40 minutes, and Rodgers for those wanting to do it in around 50.

    Presumably, Chris Reich, East Hampton High’s cross-country and boys track coach, was in that group, for he crossed the line in 39:58, in 38th place among the 972 finishers. Samuelson crossed the line in 40:39 with 11-year-old Liam Adipietro, who was doing the 5K. “It was awfully nice of her to do that,” Mary Ellen Adipietro said later. “Liam was trying to beat a classmate of his.”

    Reich was bested by one of his standout long-distance runners, the 15-year-old Erik Engstrom, who was 28th in 38:23. Clark, who in 1972 competed in the Olympic (3,000-meter) steeplechase trials, is pleased to know that Engstrom began competing in that event this year as a freshman, placing 12th in the county. “Kevin [Barry] calls him ‘Little Pre,’ for Steve Prefontaine,” said Clark.

    Chris Koegel, 29, a cousin of the late Lt. Joseph Theinert, for whom Shelter Island’s last mile is named, placed 15th, in 36:10.

    Local place-winners included Jacqueline McGarvey, 32, of East Hampton, the female 30-34 division’s runner-up; Jennifer Cave, 37, of Sag Harbor, who topped the female 35-39 division; Jason Kaplan, 44, of Montauk, who won among the 40-44 men; Fiona Moore, 42, of East Hampton, who won among the 40-44 women; Sarah Stenn, 46, of Sagaponack, the first woman in the 45-49 division; John Nelson, 55, of Bridgehampton, second in the men’s 55-59 group; Jeff Yennie, 64, of Sag Harbor, who was the second 60-to-64-year-old man, and Blaire Stauffer, 80, of Sag Harbor, who topped the 75-to-99-year-old men, in 1:01.29.

    In writing in The Shelter Island Reporter’s pre-race supplement, Adipietro, who was in the grandstands at Boston’s finish line when the bomb planted there went off, said near the end of her article, “One thing I know about our running community is that it takes its heart from the organizers, the runners, volunteers, police, firemen, medical personnel, and mostly from our spectators. We will never be stopped. Our spirit will never be broken. I say a prayer for all our Boston friends and wish that all future runs be safe and fulfilling and always filled with great stories. . . .”

Thursday, June 27

GOLF, U.S. Women’s Open, Sebonack Golf Club, Southampton, from 6:45 a.m.

BEACH VOLLEYBALL, opening night with informal play, Gurney’s Inn, Montauk, 6 p.m.

Friday, June 28

GOLF, U.S. Women’s Open, Sebonack Golf Club, Southampton, from 6:45 a.m.

Saturday, June 29

GOLF, U.S. Women’s Open, Sebonack Golf Club, Southampton, from 6:45 a.m.

RUNNING, Miracle Mile, Neighborhood Road, Mastic Beach, 9 a.m.

RIDING, Stony Hill Stables Foundation benefit cocktail party, with dressage exhibition and pony drill team performance, 268 Town Lane, Amagansett, 6-8 p.m.

Sunday, June 30

GOLF, U.S. Women’s Open, final round, Sebonack Golf Club, Southampton, from 6:45 a.m.

Wednesday, July 3

MEN’S SOCCER,  7-on-7 league, Maidstone Market vs. the Hideaway, 6:30 p.m.; F.C. Tuxpan vs. Hampton F.C.-Bill Miller, 7:25, and Tortorella Pools vs. Bateman Painting, 8:20, Herrick Park, East Hampton.