Sports

Just over the lip of the dune bordering the lot at Scott Cameron Beach is one of the most important habitat areas for shorebirds on the entire East End: Mecox Inlet.

Red Devil Swims of one-quarter, one-half, or one-mile distances start from Amagansett’s Atlantic Avenue Beach on Saturday at 5:30 p.m. East Hampton Ocean Rescue is the beneficiary.

The fall season has already begun or soon will for a number of East Hampton High School's teams. Presumably, given the fact that eight of the 11 made the postseason in 2022, the prospects are likewise promising this year.

The weeklong Hampton Classic, an International Federation of Equestrian Sports’ five-star-rated show, with more than 200 classes in six rings on showgrounds off Snake Hollow Road in Bridgehampton, is to begin at 8 a.m. Sunday with leadline classes for children 2 through 7 in the Grand Prix ring that are to be judged by Joe Fargis, a three-time Olympic medalist.

“When I created Lifted, I really wanted to use what I learned as a pro athlete,” said Holly Rilinger, a former professional basketball player turned trainer and all-around inspiration to a largely middle-aged female crowd aspiring to get, and stay, in shape. The workout and wellness studio that she created with her life partner and business partner, Jennifer Ford, occupies a space on Montauk Highway in East Hampton.

The Kraken, the Hamptons Adult Hardball team seeking a three-peat in that over-30 baseball league’s playoffs, was soundly defeated 10-5 in game two of the final series by the Sag Harbor Royals at Bridgehampton High School’s field last weekend. The decisive game in the playoff final was to be played Thursday or Sunday.

A large crowd showed up Sunday to run and walk in the 28th Ellen’s Run at Southampton’s Intermediate School, a 5K that benefited the Ellen P. Hermanson Foundation’s breast cancer prevention, treatment, and research efforts. Sergey Avramenko of Hampton Bays topped the field in 15 minutes and 38.79 seconds, presumably his best 5K time this summer.

Playing against type, the Writers pretty much went by the book in the 75th Artists and Writers Softball Game at East Hampton’s Herrick Park Saturday as the Artists, who used to cite the big picture whenever asked about their annual defeats in the past, brushed the Scribes off 15-9, thus extending their lead to 18-15-1 in the Clinton era, and to 6-4 in the past decade. 

A cooler of blue-claws for a new friend in cardiac rehab might mark the first time the tasty shellfish have paid a visit to Stony Brook Southampton Hospital.

The Hampton Lifeguard Association’s entry in the national lifesaving tournament at Virginia Beach wound up with the locals, from East Hampton and Southampton beaches, finishing ninth among the 26 teams. Meanwhile, Hoops 4 Hope’s 3-on-3 basketball tournament in Amagansett drew 18 teams.

The 75th Artists and Writers Softball Game and Ellen’s Run are coming up this weekend — the Game at Herrick Park in East Hampton on Saturday afternoon, the run at the Southampton Intermediate School on Sunday morning.

The East Hampton School Board at its meeting Tuesday night rehired Bill McKee to coach the high school’s varsity boys basketball team and brought in Matthew Shimkus to coach the varsity girls tennis team.

John Rooney, East Hampton Town’s superintendent of recreation, told the town board on Tuesday that the popularity of the Montauk Run for Fun race each Thanksgiving Day, proceeds of which are donated to the town’s food pantries, has caused logistical difficulties and increased costs, thus decreasing the amount that can be donated.

The direction you want to go during the August heat is east. “Whether it’s striped bass, bluefish, fluke, porgies, sea bass, or tuna, the fish now prefer to be in cooler, deeper waters,” said Ken Morse of Tight Lines Tackle in Sag Harbor.

East End Land Planning, led by Katie Osiecki, has once again hoisted the East Hampton Town women’s slow-pitch softball playoff trophy.

Paddlers for Humanity and Hoops 4 Hope, two stalwart nonprofit organizations that work to better the lives of children here and abroad, are to have fund-raising events this weekend.

The Bad News Bubs, for the third straight year, and the Jetty Grinders, coming out of the losers brackets, won the A and B championships in the four-day Travis Field memorial coed slow-pitch softball tournament held from last Thursday through Sunday at the Terry King ball field in Amagansett.

Two East Hampton High School coaches, Dan White and Kevin McConville, whose teams handily won league titles in the past school year — boys basketball in White’s case and boys tennis in McConville’s — are bowing out.

I had done some fishing a few days earlier at Jessup’s Neck, and the bluefish were hungry, taking full advantage of my four-ounce diamond jig. I had my fill of fish, so I got on my motorcycle.

East Hampton Town’s men’s and women’s teams won the Hampton Lifeguard Association’s invitational tournament last Thursday at East Hampton Village’s Main Beach.

The heroism of Lance Cpl. Jordan C. Haerter was remembered Sunday morning as more than 400 runners and walkers, some carrying United States and Marine Corps flags, looped through Sag Harbor.

“It’s been a great season thus far,” Harvey Bennett, former owner of the Tackle Shop in Amagansett, said of blue-claw crabs. “They are large and plentiful. More people need to take advantage of it. Blue-claws are the best to eat.” 

A repeat was not to be for the Sag Harbor Whalers in the Hamptons Collegiate Baseball League this year, given their semifinal-round series loss last week to the South Shore Clippers of Bellport.

After coaching East Hampton High School’s boys basketball team for the past seven years, Dan White resigned last week to coach at Pierson High in Sag Harbor, where he teaches.

A benefit softball game between the staff and members of the South Fork Country Club last month raised $30,000 for the East Hampton, Springs, and Montauk food pantries.

If I truly wanted to catch a fluke, for all practical purposes I would need to hop aboard one of the several fine party boats that set sail from Montauk, which are significantly closer to the more productive fishing grounds.

For years, the East Hampton Town summer sailing program was beloved by many, giving people 12 and older a fun and affordable way to learn to sail on Gardiner’s Bay, but for the second summer in a row the popular program is off the calendar, leaving people to wonder if it will ever return. “The town intended to continue offering the program last summer and this summer, but was unable to fill the program director position," said the recreation superintendent.

The defending-champion Sag Harbor Whalers have been in a playoff fight this week with the South Shore Clippers, losing the deciding third game Thursday at Mashashimuet Park.

The invitational East Hampton ocean lifeguard tournament is to be held Thursday, July 27, at East Hampton Village's Main Beach and will be bigger than it's ever been, what with 14 men's and nine women's teams. Distance swims, landline rescues, rescue board relays, beach run relays, run-swim-run relays, and beach flags are to be contested.

Cole Brauer, a 2012 graduate of East Hampton High School, recently became the first female ever to win the Bermuda One-Two sailing race, which began with a single-handed 668-nautical-mile leg from Newport, R.I., to St. George’s, and ended with a double-handed St. George’s-to-Newport leg.