As the start drew near for the Breakwater Yacht Club of Sag Harbor’s final Wednesday night race for the May Cup, Lee Oldak was asked about the pressure. He was loading up his sailing vessel, named Purple Haze.

    “No pressure,” he said, “we’re just out to have fun.” After the race, the Purple Haze crew took the cup, with Jim Vos’s Scoot in second place, and Gossip, owned by Gregg Ames and Steven Kenny, in third.

    Gordon Ryan developed the course for the sailors and serves as captain of the club’s green race committee boat, Sweet Pea. His wife, Diane, took charge of the pin boat, Cynthia, to mark the course in Shelter Island Sound, Smith’s Cove, and Northwest Harbor. Ryan has organized the race for the past eight years, and all essentials were on board Sweet Pea: a dry-erase marker board with the course mapped out, a radio, a foghorn, and flags of various colors. “It’s all about the flags,” he said.

    The race committee boat acts as first responders — for items blown overboard on up to spinnaker disasters, Ryan said. He has earned the appreciation of the sailors for his ability to evaluate wind and water conditions and offer on-the-spot changes of course, when necessary, to improve the race experience. He worked diligently and with a smile this day, continuously checking the wind and tides to get the sailors a broadside-to-the-wind 6 p.m. start.

    After the start, the winds shifted to the south and died down, and Ryan shortened the course from six to three leeward legs, as competitors enjoyed warm breezes and a scenic sunset before heading back to the club to celebrate their smooth sailing. The beautiful afternoon, that last Wednesday in May, ended with a much-anticipated chili cook-off.

    Unlike many traditional yacht clubs, Breakwater is a nonprofit, “non-elitist” organization with a focus on youth programs and charity work in the community. Started in May 1987 by a group of local businesspeople and sailors who enjoyed racing on Wednesday evenings, the club was founded with 75 original members. It now leases from Sag Harbor Village a waterfront property on Bay Street.

    In addition to lessons for kids and adults, the club offers a program for young sailors from East Hampton High School, the Ross School, and Pierson, who sail in the harbor on many weekday afternoons. The students also have opportunities to race other Long Island high school teams in regattas at Port Jefferson and Oyster Bay.

    Between May 1 and Oct. 1, the Breakwater Yacht Club’s Wednesday night races often have 30 or more boats at the starting line, with courses for novice and expert sailors. The club’s summer series consists of three racing classes — spinnaker divisions I and II and a non-spinnaker division — with races beginning at 6 p.m. in the area west of Majors Cove.

Saturday, June 9

MONTAUK TRIATHLON, one-mile lake swim, 22-mile bike, and 10K run, Star Island Causeway-West Lake Drive intersection, 7:30 a.m.

BASEBALL, New York State Class C Final Four, Johnson City High School, Binghamton, 10 a.m. and 4 p.m.

   Merle McDonald-Aaron said Monday that the former 10-time winner of the Montauk triathlon, Eben Jones, who’s the top-ranked 50-to-54-year-old triathlete in the United States, would help celebrate Montauk’s 30th anniversary on Saturday.

    She had tried hard to get another of Jones’s contemporaries, Chuck Sperazza, a multi-winner at Montauk himself, to come back too, “but he’s living in California now and I haven’t been able to reach him, which is disappointing,” McDonald-Aaron said.

    Laurel Wassner, who last year became the first woman ever to win Montauk outright, had not registered as of earlier this week, “but the top three men from last year, David Powers, Ryan Siebert, and Andrew Kalley, have.”

    McDonald-Aaron said she thought the last time Jones won here was in 2002.

    Last year, Wassner, a professional, won in a corrected time of 1 hour, 53 minutes, and 25.3 seconds. Her splits were 22:46 in the mile swim, 51:25 on the 22-mile bike, and 36:59 in the 10K run. “I’ve never broken 40 minutes on that course — I didn’t know I had it in me,” she said afterward.

    The three-part race is to begin on a beach owned by Peter Kalikow near the Star Island Causeway-West Lake Drive intersection at 7:30 a.m. Among its beneficiaries are the Lustgarten Foundation for Pancreatic Cancer Research, the Montauk Senior Nutrition Center, the Montauk ambulance squad, St. Therese of Lisieux Catholic Church, and Phoenix House.

    McDonald-Aaron said “650-something” have registered.

   Kelly McKee, who coached the Ross School boys basketball team to a county Class D championship two years ago and who made the playoffs this past winter, was fired recently by Ross’s athletic director, Jaye Cohen.

    McKee, who launched Ross’s boys basketball program “13 or 14 years ago,” said Monday he was “shocked” to learn, by phone, that Cohen was letting him go, “especially considering that the day before he led me to believe I’d be coaching again, patted me on the back, and gave me the practice schedule for next season.”

    Aside from the bad taste his dismissal had left in his mouth, McKee said, “Everything else has been positive. Ross is a great school, the kids are great, I was so fortunate to have had the time I did there. I have no idea why I was fired. He just said he’d decided to go in a new direction. I thought it was very, very unprofessional.”

    Cohen, when questioned, declined to go into what had been said at the meeting between him and McKee, saying only that he thought McKee was “a really good guy and was well liked,” but that he thought it was “time for new blood.”

    McKee’s successor, said Cohen, is to be Kevin O’Halloran, the longtime former Pierson coach, who has been coaching Ross’s junior varsity.

    McKee, who has been coaching basketball since 1974, said he would like to continue doing so.

    Going into the first game of the county Class A final series at Sayville on May 29, the top-seeded Golden Flashes had beaten the Bonackers both times the teams had met, 3-2 (in 10 innings) and 8-2.

    In the latter game, played here May 18 — the regular season’s finale, with a share of the league championship at stake — Casey Waleko, Bonac’s sophomore starter, was roughed up in the fifth, by the end of which the visitors led 7-0, while her opposite number, Merissa Selts, cruised, thanks largely to an effective drop that resulted in a lot of ground ball outs.

    But Tuesday, May 29, was a different day, the slate was clean, and this time it was East Hampton’s turn. Although nothing, said East Hampton’s coach, Lou Reale, who was seen exiting White’s Pharmacy the day after the 8-4 win, having bought some Tums, came easy.

    “We went down in order in the top of the first. The first kid up for them flied deep to Dana [Dragone] in left field — there’s no fence there, so we played deep. Their second batter [Emily Sel­litti] tripled, and Casey hit the next one [Selts]. That gave them runners at first and third with one out. They tried a suicide squeeze then. I hadn’t expected they would so early in the game. But the kid missed the bunt and Kathryn [Hess, the catcher] and Deryn [Hahn, the third baseman] did a great job catching her in a rundown. That was big — that failed suicide squeeze was a good pick-me-up.”

    Hess led off what was to be a huge second inning for East Hampton with a home run down the left-field line that she legged out, bowling over the catcher, Olivia Kaczmarick, who was illegally blocking her path to the plate.

    With two outs, Ali Harned, the shortstop, singled, and Shannon McCaffrey reached first base safely on an error by Sayville’s first baseman. Ceire Kenny, who hits ninth, drew a walk to load the bases.

    Then Dragone hit a little nubber toward the mound, but Selts couldn’t make a play as Harned crossed the plate with Bonac’s second run. Hahn followed with a hard ground ball that Sayville’s second baseman, Jackie Christensen, booted, allowing McCaffrey to score, and Waleko, swinging on the first pitch, doubled in Kenny and Dragone for a 5-0 East Hampton lead. Hess was intentionally walked, loading the bases again, this time for Ellie Cassel, who doubled in Hahn and Waleko to make it 7-0. Ilsa Brzezinski, East Hampton’s first baseman, grounded out to first to end what had been a very productive inning.

    Sayville wasn’t done, though. Waleko was greeted by a leadoff triple in the bottom of the third, a ball that got by Dragone as she tried to make a diving catch in left field. Then Hahn, rather than get the sure out, faked throws to first after gathering in a grounder hit her way, hoping, vainly, to catch the runner off third. Her rushed throw to first went wide, and Sayville was on the board, with a runner at second. Sellitti followed with a run-scoring double, and after Waleko recorded a strikeout, Kathleen Maehr, the tall right fielder, stroked a base hit to left for 7-3.

    “The next girl grounded to Deryn, who got the force there,” said Reale, “and the next one hit the ball 275 feet. It would have been over the fence at our place, but Dana, who was playing deep, as I said, caught it.”

    Each team went down in order in the fourth. Hess led off the fifth with a bullet down the third-base line, “but the girl made a great stop — it almost ripped her glove off — and threw Kathryn out.”

    Cassel then singled, but she was stranded there as Brzezinski popped out and Harned grounded out to short.

    Waleko hit the first batter to face her in the bottom of the fifth. The second one hit a shot to left that Dragone hauled in. Waleko hit the next batter, putting runners at first and second with one out, but Waleko retired the side on a flyout to Courtney Dess in center field and on a 6-3 groundout.

    East Hampton made it 8-3 in the top of the seventh. After Hahn had grounded out and Waleko had flied out to the shortstop, Hess ripped a double to left. Cassel fouled the first pitch off her foot and was in tears when Reale arrived from the coach’s box behind third base and told her to stop crying and get a hit.

    Therewith, Cassel “ripped a single to left that scored Kathryn. . . . Ellie had two singles, a double, and three r.b.i.s that day.”

    Kira Karl turned on a Waleko delivery to lead off Sayville’s last at-bat, but Dragone ran it down. After Sellitti singled, “we made a couple more mistakes,” said Reale. “Selts bunted, Casey fielded it, but hesitated, first looking to second before throwing weakly to first. That gave them runners at first and second with the heart of their lineup coming up. They were going nuts out there.”

    Maehr grounded out 6-3 as the runners advanced, and Cindy Griffen, the left fielder, drove in Sellitti with Sayville’s fourth run. Selts took third on the play, and Sellitti, with Nicole Petillo, Sayville’s dangerous designated hitter, up, stole second. But Petillo grounded out Harned-to-Brzezinski to end the game.

    “It was exciting,” said Reale. “Three of those balls they hit would have been home runs over the fence here. But we played good defense, and we got the hits when we needed them. Casey gave up six hits, walked two, struck out five, and hit three batters. We had nine hits — Kathryn had two, the home run and the double, Ellie, as I said, had three, and Ali had two. We only left four runners on base. They left eight, which is a lot. . . . The kids are believing in themselves. Every single one of them has to do their job for us to win. They’re making the plays. It’s fun, the kids are having a good time.”

    “No one gave us much of a chance against Sayville. Anything’s possible now.”

   “I love it — I want one,” Aliza Corder said the other day after trying out in the Reutershan parking lot the ElliptiGO outdoor elliptical bike that the irrepressible Khanh Ngo is selling out of his Park Place sports store in the village.

    “It’s so amazingly well thought out,” said Ngo, the sole seller of ElliptiGOs “between Brooklyn and Montauk. . . .  I haven’t used my road bike since I got it. There’s no impact and you get a total workout — legs, arms, core . . . by lowering the handle bars you can do push-ups! The more you lower the bars, the more of a workout you’ll get. I took it to Bridgehampton and back the other day and I was like, Oh my God. It’s got internal gearing, aluminum tubing, you can use it indoors too, on a stand. . . . It’s set up so you don’t get splashed when it’s raining. It gives me everything I need.”

    And apparently others have been captivated as well, for Ngo (pronounced ‘No’) was to have taken delivery of 16 ElliptiGOs this past Friday, eight of which, he said, had been spoken for.

    Before this writer put his right foot up on one of the platforms prior to a test ride (you stand up on an ElliptiGO, as you would on an elliptical trainer) Ngo said the “pedaling” movement should be thought of as similar to the slide and follow-through of cross-country skiing.

    “It’s great for everyone of all ages,” he said. “You can sprint, you can climb — this one has three gears, but there are other models with eight and 11 gears. . . . Even if you go at your leisure, you’ll be getting a workout, without even knowing it. . . . It’s been proved that you get 33 percent more of a workout than you would on a road bike. You can lose 20 to 30 pounds after working out on it for two months. It’s been proven.”

   When another onlooker, Tom Kaczmarek, expressed interest, Ngo, who delights in persuading people to try “new things,” told him he’d buy it back from him if he didn’t like it.     

   One of ElliptiGO’s endorsers is John Howard, the 64-year-old 1981 Ironman champion who helped the Mighty Hamptons Triathlon celebrate its 30th anniversary here last fall. “The ElliptiGO is the most innovative cycling concept since the mountain bike — I highly recommend it for cross-training cyclists and triathletes,” Howard is quoted as saying in an ElliptiGO brochure that Ngo hands out.

   “People see me on the roads and they stop me, wanting to know where they can get one,” said Ngo, who delightedly took photos as this writer made two circuits of the parking lot without incident, remarking in dismounting that even at a slow pace he could feel he’d exercised his muscles.

   “And you don’t always have to pedal,” Ngo said, following a series of figure eights. “You can coast with a drink in your free hand!”

    The backs of the Sayville High School softball team’s coaches’ T-shirts say, “Leave No Doubt,” and, indeed, their charges left none in the county Class A championship series with East Hampton.

    “They beat us four out of five times — they were a better team than we were,” Lou Reale, East Hampton’s coach, said after the Golden Flashes shut out the Bonackers 4-0 in the third and deciding game of the best-of-three series at Sayville Friday.

    Sayville had defeated East Hampton 3-2 and 8-2 in the regular season — a share of the League VI championship was at stake in that second one — and, in the final series, behind Merissa Selts’s strong pitching, shut out East Hampton 2-0 and, as aforesaid, 4-0, after losing the first game 8-4.

    Selts, a senior, had given up two hits through the first four innings of the decider and Casey Waleko, East Hampton’s sophomore pitcher, had allowed none, but, in the bottom of the fifth, owing to a combination of errors and two hits, one a 225-foot shot into the left-center gap by Selts, disaster, insofar as Bonac fans were concerned, struck.

    Three of those runs, which came after the third out should have been made, were unearned, but that, admittedly, is a cavil.

    Sayville’s catcher, Olivia Kaczmarick, led it off with a full-count single to center field, the Golden Flashes’ first hit of the afternoon, and Jackie Christensen, who had squared around to bunt, was hit by a pitch. With runners on first and second, Reale came out to talk it over.

    The next batter, Jess Griffen, the number-nine hitter, fouled off a bunt attempt, and, with the count 1-2, laid one down the third-base line. Deryn Hahn, who was playing in, fielded it and threw to Ali Harned, Bonac’s shortstop, who was covering third, but Harned dropped the ball and the bases were loaded.

    That brought up Kira Karl, Sayville’s leadoff hitter, who lofted a sacrifice fly to Dana Dragone in left field. Dragone’s throw to Hahn was in time to catch Christensen before she reached third, but Hahn, in making the tag, dropped the ball, leaving runners at second and third with one out.

    Then, after Emily Sellitti popped out to Harned, Selts, with the count even at 2-2, pulverized Waleko’s next delivery for two more runs. That triple upped the home team’s lead to 3-0, and the cleanup hitter, Kathleen Maehre, followed with a run-scoring single looped over the head of East Hampton’s second baseman, Ceire Kenny. Cindy Griffen popped out to the catcher, Kathryn Hess, to end the fatal frame.

    Waleko, who was leading off that day, Hahn, and Hess were retired in order in the top of the sixth. Ellie Cassel led off Bonac’s last at-bat with a hard-hit groundout to the second baseman. Harned then lashed a hard line drive to center that the center fielder caught as she slid onto her knees. East Hampton’s season ended as Ilsa Brzezinski grounded out short-to-first.

    “She did a good job,” Reale said of Selts. “She shut us out in those last two games, throwing two 2-hitters. She pitched her best in the final. . . . They deserved to win.”

    That having been said, East Hampton’s coach said he was “definitely pleased” with his young team’s improvement over the course of the season. To have gone that far into the playoffs had been a feather in its cap.

    “Considering how we started, I thought it would be a stretch just to make the playoffs — we didn’t even know where to throw the ball,” said Reale, whose squad included three seniors (Hess, Hahn, and Dragone), two juniors (Courtney Dess and Sam Mathews), five sophomores (Waleko, Brzezinski, Cassel, Kenny, and Cecelia Fioriello), and two freshmen (Harned and Lia Makrianes).

    “The girls did a great job to get that far — it was fun,” he said, adding, in answer to a question, that he would continue coaching. “I’m still having fun,” he said. “I know it doesn’t look that way at times, but I am.”

    Looking toward next year, Waleko can be expected to come back even stronger given the fact that she’s going to continue to work with Jessie Stavola, who recently finished her college career at Dowling as an athletic and academic all-American — a singular feat.

    Stavola, who broke records and made the all-state team when pitching for East Hampton, was among a number of former Reale protégées — Molly Nolan, Amanda Thompson, Kelsey Bodziner, Meghan Hess, Catherine Curti, Maysie Makrianes, Emily and Meredith Janis, Brynn Maguire, and Emma Shilowich were others — who followed the Bonackers’ playoff run.

    Reale, who was touched when he heard that Stavola had said he was the best coach she’d ever had, said that “we’ll have to update our Hall of Fame plaques . . . the O’Brien twins, Kristen Carroza . . . Molly’s going to play softball at Cornell, Curti is going to play at Cortland, Kaylee Titus is an assistant coach at Ohio Wesleyan. . . . It’s great to have these girls doing so well in college, staying in touch, and coming back. It’s about more than softball.”

    Back to softball, Reale said he was looking forward to some good eighth graders, from Montauk and the middle school, and behind them, he said, were some very good seventh graders.

    East Hampton wasn’t able to field a junior varsity this spring, but he thinks it will next year.

    In signing off, he said that Hess, Hahn, and Waleko had made the all-county team, and that Cassel had been the league’s rookie of the year. Harned was the runner-up to Cassel in that category, he added.

    It had all come down to this: Bottom of the seventh in a scoreless game, two outs, base runners at the corners, the count 1-2 on Pierson’s ace and number-two hitter, Colman Vila.

    And heeeere’s the pitch . . . a change curve into the dirt, Vila waves at it in vain, the umpire signals strike three . . . and Pierson wins the Long Island Class C championship 1-0!

    Inasmuch as Ben Gilberti, East Rockaway’s catcher, had let the ball get by him, and, as it rolled toward Dowling College’s backstop the joyous pinch-runner from third, Jack Fitzpatrick, a freshman recently brought up from the junior varsity, and his whooping teammates who had emptied the dugout rushed to greet one another at home plate.

    It was the first Long Island championship for the Sag Harbor school since 2006, when Andrew Mayer pitched the Whalers, then coached by Sean Crowley, to a 5-2 victory over, yes, East Rockaway.

    Jon Tortorella, who coaches the baseball team now, said afterward that it was his prize left-hander’s “best performance of the season.”

    Vila, an impressive pitcher who exudes confidence, thus improved his personal record to 10-0, and was to have gotten one day of rest before facing either Haldane or Tri-Valley in Westchester County yesterday. A win in that regional final would enable the Whalers to play in the state Final Four in Binghamton on Saturday.

    Monday’s Long Island championship clash was tense throughout, for East Rockaway’s ace, Billy Humes, a lefty like Vila, was also effective. Even though he was to give up five walks that day, he limited the Whalers to two hits — a single by Forrest Loesch to lead off the bottom of the sixth and a single by Michael Heller to lead off the bottom the seventh.

    Meanwhile, Vila, who had to work himself out of several jams, aided by his teammates’ largely sharp defensive play, pitched a four-hit shutout, striking out six, walking two, and hitting two batsmen.

    East Rockaway had runners in scoring position in the first, the fourth, the fifth, the sixth, and the seventh, but each time the Whalers kept the Nassau champs at bay.

    Following two errors in the top of the sixth, one by Hunter Leyser, the left fielder, who dropped the ball in trying to tag out a runner at second in a rundown play, and one by the first baseman, Emet Evjen, who dropped Jake Bennett’s subsequent throw across the diamond, putting runners at the corners with one out, Vila struck out Humes and the Whalers caught Mikey Lores, whom Vila had earlier hit with a pitch, in a rundown between third and home.

    Loesch, as aforesaid, led off Pierson’s sixth with a base hit to right field, the first hit of the game for the home team. Aaron Schiavoni, the catcher and cleanup hitter, followed with a flyout to right. Paul Dorego then hit a ball to John Neckles at third that looked as if it might result in a 5-4-3 double play, but Neckles threw wide of second and Loesch went on to third, with Dorego reaching first base safely on the fielder’s choice.

    That brought up Sean Hartnett, who lofted a high fly ball to left. Loesch tagged up as Cameron Ralph wound up to throw home and, in passing inside the baseline, avoided Gilberti’s diving attempt to tag him up the line on his way to the plate.

    Amid the cheers, Loesch, who had returned to the dugout, was told to go back and step on the plate just to make sure. After he’d done so, however, it was East Rockaway’s turn to cheer, its players having been assured that the umpires had ultimately ruled that Loesch — who seemed not to be outside the three-foot-wide basepath when Gilberti tried to tag him — was out, apparently because in running inside the baseline he had impeded the play.

    Tortorella and one of his assistants, Henry Meyer, a former catcher with the East End Tigers, Pace University, and East Hampton High School, went out to get some clarification from the plate umpire. That night, when questioned further, Tortorella said, “It was confusing. . . . I’m glad the game didn’t hinge on that play.”

    So, on to the seventh. After Dan McClure popped out to Evjen to lead it off, Vila walked Joe Lores on a 3-2 pitch, but struck out Gilberti with a 1-2 fastball at the knees. A base hit followed, however, putting runners at first and second for Ralph, East Rockaway’s leadoff hitter.

    “Outfielders, you’re coming home!” Benito Vila, Colman’s father and another of Tortorella’s assistants, called out to Leyser, Hartnett, and Dorego. But they didn’t need to, for after fouling off several 0-2 offerings, Ralph took a called third strike.

    Tortorella said he had been inclined to pinch-hit for his seventh batter, Michael Heller, when the bottom of the seventh began, but Heller, a senior, who had struck out in the second and walked in the fourth, would have none of it, assuring his coach that he would come through.

    And, wonderful to tell, he did, singling to right on a 3-2 pitch. Fitzpatrick was brought in to run for Heller. Bump Hemby, who had won a county championship in basketball this winter with Bridgehampton’s Killer Bees, came in to pinch-hit for Bennett, and, with Hemby up, Humes, in trying to pick Fitzpatrick off, threw way wide of first, allowing the alert freshman to go all the way to third.

    He had to stay there for a while, however, as Hemby grounded out to first unassisted and as Tim Markowski, pinch-hitting for Kyle Sturmann, fouled out to the right fielder not far behind first base.

    After Humes fell behind 3-0 on Leyser, Leyser was intentionally walked, bringing up Vila and the strikeout heard ’round the South Fork.

   Twelve athletes, two teams, two coaches, and an honorary member make up the first class to be inducted into East Hampton High School’s Hall of Fame at the homecoming football game with Southampton on Sept. 22.

    The announcement was made May 23 by Jim Nicoletti, the president of East Hampton’s Hall of Fame committee, and Joe Vas, the school district’s athletic director, who suggested that such a committee be formed last summer.

    “We’re really thrilled about our inaugural class — it’s a great one,” said Nicoletti, who not long ago retired following a very successful baseball and tennis coaching career at the high school.

    “There were many nominees, from coaches, teammates, family members . . . and many nominees who were worthy but did not get in this year will in time get in. Those who remain on our list will continue to be considered for the next 10 years, along with future nominees. We’re hoping that this will spark an interest in the community.”

    Nominees must have been out of the high school for at least 10 years, “and what they did while here is the chief consideration,” said Nicoletti.

     The inaugural class includes five who were named posthumously: Frank Jewels, a member of the class of 1929; Walter Sheades, a 1930 graduate; Rich Balnis Sr., of the class of 1963, a three-sport athlete (football, basketball, and track) who played football at New Mexico State and did graduate work at Ohio State before opening a physical therapy business and working generously with youth here; Bill McDonald, a 1966 graduate who was a second-team high school all-American in football and who later went on to captain Vanderbilt’s team, and Kendall Madison, a 1991 graduate, a three-sport athlete who won a football scholarship to the University of Connecticut. The high school’s weight room is named in his memory.

    The other athletes to be inducted individually are Leroy DeBoard, Howard Wood, Margaret Dunn, Ed Budd, Kenny Wood, Ross Gload, and Ellamae Gurney.

    DeBoard, a 1951 graduate, was a four-sport athlete here (football, basketball, baseball, and track), and in 1994 was named to the Benedict College football Hall of Fame.

     Howard Wood, a 1977 graduate, led East Hampton to a state basketball championship and later, following a stellar career at the University of Tennessee, played in the National Basketball Association and in Spain’s premier leagues.

    Margaret Dunn, a 1979 graduate, was a four-sport athlete (field hockey, basketball, volleyball, and softball), and for a number years held the single-season scoring record in girls basketball.Ed Budd, a 1983 graduate who went on to UConn, was named to all-county teams here in football, wrestling, and baseball.

    Howard Wood’s younger brother, Kenny, led East Hampton to a state basketball championship in 1989, his senior year, played for the University of Richmond team that upset highly-seeded Syracuse in the first round of the N.C.A.A. tournament, and went on to a professional career in Spain and South America. He was named to the University of Richmond’s Hall of Fame in February 2011.

    Ross Gload, a 1994 graduate who played soccer, basketball, and baseball, and who was the Carl Yastrzemski Award winner in his senior year, an award given to the best baseball player in Suffolk County, went on to set records at the University of South Florida and to a Major League baseball career with a half-dozen teams, most recently, in 2011, with the Philadelphia Phillies.

    Ellamae Gurney, also a 1994 graduate, was a three-sport athlete (field hockey, basketball, and softball). She played on the 1993 county championship field hockey team, which advanced to the state tournament’s semifinals. At Brown University she played varsity softball.

    The two coaches to be inducted are the 100-year-old Fran Kiernan, who coached football, basketball, and baseball here from 1945 to 1960, after which he served as athletic director for the better part of a decade, and Ed Petrie Sr., who, over a 52-year career, oversaw numerous championship teams and became the winningest public high school boys basketball coach in New York State. A member of the Frank McGuire Foundation Hall of Fame and Suffolk’s Hall of Fame, Petrie was last honored here in January 2011, when the high school’s basketball court was named for him.

    The two teams to be inducted are the undefeated, untied 1952 football team, which Kiernan coached — the only undefeated, untied team in East Hampton football history, which dates to 1923 — and the 1989 state-finalist field hockey team.

    The ’52 football team included, among others, John Tilley, Jim Clark, George Cafiso, Fred Yardley, Bob Yardley, Rich Cooper, Dave Cheney, Fritz Schenck, Charlie Gould, Bob Taylor, Don Bovie, Billy DeBoard, Augie Dragotta, Bob Lynch, Charles Kaiser, Russ Peele, Joseph Brubaker, David Kerstein, and Joe Green.

    On the ’89 field hockey team, its coach, Ellen Cooper, said, were Jen Vish, Megan Barnett, Dawn Da Costa Faro, Meredith Diefendorf, Renee Grau, Michelle Hammer, Paula Hatch, Rebecca Libath, Diana Lys, Shana Menu, Bridget McSweeney, Carolina Vargas, Danielle Ficeto, Nicole Ficeto, and Andrea Wyche.

    “That team was a terrific bunch,” Cooper said. “They gave girls sports here a big boost.”

    The honorary inductee is this writer, who took over The Star’s sports beat in 1979.

   The last time out against Islip, the East Hampton High School softball team made six errors in the final two innings, frittering away a 2-0 lead on the way to a 4-2 loss.

    This time, on Friday, it was the Buccaneers’ turn to play fumbleitis, and the Bonackers took full advantage, pulling out the county Class A semifinal 6-5 in the 10th inning.

    “I didn’t even want to look at the book afterward,” said Lou Reale, East Hampton’s coach, who added that it was a good thing he was 90 feet away when his pitcher, Casey Waleko, served up an 0-2 meatball in the sixth inning that was transmogrified into a three-run home run over the fence, a shot that put the home team ahead 4-2.

    But then, wonderful to tell, Reale’s crew came back.

    Courtney Dess, the eighth hitter, led off the top of the seventh, but was replaced by Shannon McCaffrey after falling behind 0-2 in the count. McCaffrey lined a shot to short, but Islip’s shortstop snagged it, diving flat-out.

    Ceire Kenny, the second baseman, then grounded toward third, but the third baseman threw the ball away, an error that allowed Kenny to reach first base safely. Dana Dragone, the leadoff hitter, was walked, which put runners at first and second for Deryn Hahn, whose double plated one run.

    With runners at second and third, Waleko popped out to the pitcher for the second out of the inning, and it looked initially as if Kathryn Hess, the senior catcher, who lofted a routine fly ball to right, would make the third — the out that would end Bonac’s season. “But their kid dropped it,” said Reale. “A two-run error — we were up 5-4.”

    “Wait, it gets worse,” he added, looking back at the scorebook. “They tied it 5-5 in the bottom of the seventh. Their ninth hitter bunted for a single, stole second, and then Casey got a strikeout. With that runner on second and one out, the next kid hit an r.b.i. single for 5-5. Casey got the next two on infield popups.”

    “Ellie [Cassel] lined to the fence to lead off the eighth for us, but it took her forever to get to second and she was thrown out. I’m getting sicker. . . . Ilsa [Brzezinski] popped out, Ali [Harned] singled, and Shannon struck out to end the inning.”

    “They threatened again in the bottom of the eighth. Casey walked the first batter, which isn’t good, and then, after a strikeout, the girl who hit the home run singled, putting runners at second and third with one out. A popup to Casey and another strikeout took them out of the inning.”

    “In the top of the ninth, Ceire popped out to the first baseman, Dana flied out to third, Deryn singled, and Casey was thrown out third-to-first.”

    “With two outs in the bottom of the ninth, Ali made an error and Casey walked the next one on four straight pitches. So there were runners at first and second. The next girl hit a catchable foul fly behind first, but Ceire didn’t­ get it. It wasn’t an error, but she should have caught it.” A subsequent 6-3 groundout ended the inning.

    With the 10th, each team began its at-bat with a runner on second, Waleko in East Hampton’s case. And there was a new pitcher on the mound for the Buccaneers.

    Waleko advanced to third on a 5-3 groundout by Hess, Cassel struck out, and, with the count 1-1 on Brzezinski, a wild pitch enabled Waleko to come across with what proved to be the winning run. Brzezinski then grounded out third-to-first, but East Hampton had, without a hit, managed to wrest the lead back, at 6-5.

    There was, of course, more to come. With a runner on second in the bottom of the 10th, Islip’s first batter popped out to Hahn at third, “and then came the defensive play of the game for us,” said Reale. “The runner on second went to third on a passed ball by Kathryn, and the next batter hit a little fly between Casey and Ilsa that was trouble. Ilsa dove, and caught it inches from the ground. The girl stayed at third. Casey struck out the next one on a 2-2 rise. . . . It was unreal. It’s not over ’til it’s over. This time it was their turn to make the costly mistakes.”

    Waleko, in recording the big win, gave up six hits, hit a batter, struck out 14, and walked four.

    “We only had seven hits,” said Reale, “but, somehow, we got it done.”

    And so, for the first time since 2008, East Hampton was to have begun playing for a county championship Tuesday, at Sayville, the first game of a best-of-three series. The second game is to be played here today, and the third, if necessary, is to be played at Sayville tomorrow.

    Sayville defeated East Hampton twice in the regular season, by scores of 3-2 (in 10 innings) there and 8-2 here, the latter loss largely the result of a five-run fifth inning during which Waleko was hit hard.

    “We’ve been in a lot of close ones, so we’re used to the pressure,” said Reale, whose team was 16-5 going into the finale. “Hopefully, all the hard work the girls have done will pay off.”