Sports

The wrestling match that was held here Friday between East Hampton and Eastport-South Manor High Schools began early, as the Sharks had no junior varsity competitors, and ended early, as seven of the 11 matches wrestled ended in first-period pins, owing in large part to cross-wrist tilts.

The East Hampton High School boys basketball team may have lost its league opener with Kings Park last Thursday, but an even worse loss was that of Luke Reese, the stellar junior guard.

And the Turkey Trot winner was . . . Samantha Whitmore!

New baseball and softball fields, a competition-size track, new bathrooms and field lighting, maybe even a concession stand — that’s what may be on the horizon at Sag Harbor’s Mashashimuet Park.

Love birds? Love someone who loves birds? These gift ideas from The Star's "On the Wing" columnist will help to nurture that passion, support bird habitat, and perhaps spark a deeper understanding of our avian neighbors.

The East Hampton High School boys swimming team evened its League 11 record at 1-1 by winning at Deer Park last week, while the winter track teams got around a Section XI insurance snarl by hitting the track outdoors at Southampton.

The Frank (Sprig) Gardner tournament made an appearance here Saturday for the first time in three years, and, because of a new round-robin/scramble format, every wrestler from the six schools that vied was guaranteed four matches.

The East Hampton High School boys basketball team won a season-opening tournament at Mattituck High School over the weekend, and the boys swimming team, while it lost its season-opener by 3 points at Hauppauge last Thursday, would have won if diving had not been one of the events. East Hampton has no divers.

In baseball parlance, the fishing season is now formally in the bottom of the ninth inning. There are two outs and two strikes on the batter at the plate, or in this case a fisherman with a rod and reel in hand. For my part, I did not want to strike out by not fishing one last time before the end of the year.

The Carolina wren, not six inches in length, is a skulky bird that wants to hide out in a log or a pile of sticks, but its song distinguishes it immediately, and can be heard all year long.

Sas Peters, a 65-year-old Amagansetter who has persuaded this country’s Ultimate disk governing body over the past years to add divisions for 40, 50, and 60-year-olds in officially sanctioned national and international play, contended last month in the first 60-and-over Legends world championship tournament in Sarasota, Fla.

Cami Hatch, an East Hampton High School junior, swam close to her best time in the 100-yard freestyle at last week’s state girls swimming meet, and showed "a level of mental toughness and maturity beyond her years," her coach said.

The 847 participants in the East Hampton Town Recreation Department’s 3 and 6-mile races around Montauk’s Fort Pond on Thanksgiving Day constituted a record. That was the good news.

East Hampton High’s boys basketball team scrimmaged impressively twice last week, while the wrestling squad will have 22 competitors on the mats at the Frank (Sprig) Gardner tournament here Saturday.

The other night, I came across my first fishing logbook, started back in 1978, in which I began to inscribe my saltwater exploits when I was 15 years old. Back then I considered it a chore to take time to make notations of success or failure in my fishing excursions and wondered how it would ultimately serve me. But now I finally know.

In a new column about birds, The Star's Christopher Gangemi discusses the "spark bird," that bird that first makes you notice birds in general, sparking a deeper curiosity about the many birds around you. His, in December of 2001, was the tufted titmouse.

Besides the good right arm that recently won him a full athletic scholarship to play baseball at George Washington University, Colin Ruddy, a personable 17-year-old East Hampton High School senior, has a good head on his shoulders, which very well may be the most important thing when it comes to success in athletics.

East Hampton High School’s winter sports teams, namely boys and girls basketball, boys and girls indoor track, boys swimming, bowling, and wrestling — which was scratched last season because of the coronavirus pandemic — began practicing here Monday.

With my boat prematurely out of the water for the season with various and costly engine issues, I have to find other vessels to fish on. Many friends have already hauled out their crafts, so I’m resigned to fishing on open boats, and that’s just fine with me. Two weeks ago, I took passage on the Peconic Star 3 out of Greenport for blackfish. It is skippered by the ever-youthful Capt. Speedy Hubert, he of the age of 84. Spry and energetic as ever, he anchored us up on a wreck off Horton’s Point in Long Island Sound. I had not fished that area in probably over 35 years. It was nice to be back.

Two teams, Maidstone Market and the East Hampton Soccer Club, which had twice played to draws in the regular season, met for the men’s soccer 7-on-7 fall championship at East Hampton’s Herrick Park on Nov. 15, with the Soccer Club winding up a 4-1 victor.

It was the first time that the Soccer Club, the league’s youngest, had won a playoff title, said Leslie Czeladko, the league’s manager.

As a response to the growing concern about the lasting impact of the pandemic on children's well-being, I-Tri, the East Hampton organization whose goal is to empower middle school girls through fitness, and the Center for Healing and Justice Through Sport, a national organization, offered a free trauma-informed coaching session.

Rick Pickering, the owner of Ship Ashore Marina in Sag Harbor, broke the bad news: “The turbocharger on the engine of your boat needs to be rebuilt, or we can get you a new one.”

Sienna Salamy, a freshman at East Hampton High School, has inherited a nonprofit organization called Play It Forward, which her older sister started when she was a three-sport athlete here.

The idea that East Hampton High School’s teams ought not to have to travel so far afield to play games has been around for a while. Now Section XI finally may have come around to that way of thinking.

A home field advantage wasn't enough to help the Pierson Whalers overcome the onslaught that was the Whitney Point Eagles in the state Class C field hockey semifinals Saturday. The Eagles advanced to the finals on Sunday.

The East Hampton High School boys volleyball team may have lost last Thursday to Eastport-South Manor, but the Bonackers’ first-round win over East Islip here on Nov. 2 is well worth reporting.

Cami Hatch, a junior who anchors East Hampton High’s girls swimming team, qualified for the state meet in two events, the 100-yard backstroke and the 100 freestyle, at last weekend’s Suffolk County meet at Stony Brook University.

After a few weeks of incessant gusty winds, the weather gods who rule from the clouds high above finally provided anglers with a much-welcomed reprieve for several extended days of very fishable conditions, a rare occurrence by November marine weather standards.

East Hampton High’s golf and boys cross-country teams may have been runners-up last week in county competition, but each will send at least one athlete to state meets.

The Islanders clinched the title in four sets, earning the right to play today for a regional championship at Longwood High School in Middle Island.