These days there are far fewer folks fishing from their boats or from shore in Sag Harbor than there were 30 years ago. This year I’ve probably seen around five boats fishing all season from my vantage point on Shelter Island Sound.

“We’re not about to lose to those guys three years in a row,” a delighted Mike Lupica said in the joyous — for the Writers — aftermath of Saturday’s Artists and Writers Softball Game at East Hampton’s Herrick Park.

This year’s Ellen’s Run on Sunday in Southampton was up for grabs, and Karl von Sanden, a 23-year-old Uruguayan, took full advantage, leading wire to wire, while Penelope Greene of Noyac, a recent Geneseo grad, was tops among females.

For the fifth year in a row, Northbar Properties (formerly East End Land Planning) won the East Hampton Town women’s slow-pitch softball playoff trophy last Thursday, this time defeating Montauk Dental 15-3 to complete a two-game sweep at the Terry King ball field in Amagansett.