Sports

For years I’ve noticed numerous symmetrical holes measuring about an inch in diameter in the sand near where I dock my boat in Sag Harbor Cove. Who created and resides in such dwellings?

When beaches are closed because of nesting plovers, people get pretty riled up. The birds, which are endangered in the country and New York State, may seem to be prolific here, but in fact nest on only a handful of beaches on the East End. They're also site-specific, returning year after year to breed in the same spots.

Although East Hampton High School’s varsity baseball season ended last week with two playoff losses, Coach Vinny Alversa is pleased by the big step forward this spring and looks forward to the coming years.

Four singles and four doubles players on East Hampton High School’s boys tennis team, which recently finished the regular season at 15-1 in league play, achieved all-county status last weekend in the Division IV tournament at William Floyd High School.

Three East Hampton High School senior student-athletes received $1,000 scholarships and two adults were honored by the Old Montauk Athletic Club at the Clubhouse in Wainscott last Thursday.

Dense, foggy conditions over the weekend caused some anxiety for boaters and fishermen alike. The fishing was good in many locales, however, as the waters continue to warm up.

Catbirds are neither rare nor shy. Work in your garden and you may soon have a catbird working alongside you. They're charming, excellent company, and release a seemingly infinite number of sounds when they open their black bills.

When the Sagaponack Village Board offered an amendment to a local law on April 13 that stated that construction of new pickleball courts would be subject to various setback regulations, based on a noise-attenuation study the board had carried out, the people of the village sounded off.

Monday's basketball game between East Hampton High School and Patchogue-Medford — the first home contest for Bonac's unified basketball program — had all the thrill of a varsity playoff game and all the heart a community could muster, showcasing the meaningful moments that can happen when players with developmental disabilities are given the same opportunity to do what many of their non-disabled peers do.

Pierson High School's baseball team, playing before a large and appreciative hometown crowd at Sag Harbor's Mashashimuet Park Friday, swatted Bridgehampton's Killer Bees 13-2 to finish the regular season at 13-5. The Bees gave the Whalers a better go in the first two games of the series, losing by scores of 4-2 and 5-3, but finished Friday at 6-12. 

Postseason competition looms for East Hampton's girls track team, which finishes its regular season at Westhampton Beach Monday. East Hampton headed into the meet at 3-2, Westhampton at 4-1, a record that included a win over Hauppauge, which defeated East Hampton 83-66 here on Wednesday.

East Hampton High’s girls tracksters faced off against powerful East Islip last week, while the 2-10 girls lacrosse team was unable to overcome slow starts and lost to John Glenn and Port Jefferson.

Paul Dickinson, a top teaching golf professional at the Atlantic and Montauk Downs clubs here, realized a dream recently, qualifying, at the age of 45, for the P.G.A. Championship, which is to be played in Tulsa, Okla., next week.

The northeasterly blow starting Friday was unfortunate, as the action on porgies, fluke, striped bass, weakfish, and even squid was on the upswing in many locations.

Last Thursday was a very good one sportswise at East Hampton High School, a day in which Bonac’s boys tennis team and its baseball team grappled with league champions — Ward Melville in tennis’s case and Sayville in baseball’s.

The eastern towhee breeds in Montauk, and if you go to Oyster Pond this weekend you can hear them calling and singing everywhere.

For the first time in a month, since the spring season began, on April 28 the Bonac boys tennis team played a home match, on redone courts to which the final touches had been added just a day or two before.

It wasn’t just bread baking or pet ownership that Covid refugees turned to once they had alighted here during the pandemic. Many also embraced horseback riding, observed Natalie Mattson, who owns Brennan’s Bit and Bridle in the Bridgehampton Commons.

A few weeks ago, Sebastian Gorgone, the gregarious and always welcoming proprietor of Mrs. Sam’s Bait and Tackle in East Hampton, explained to me that the local fishing season will get in high gear only once the daffodils begin to wilt. I had not heard of this local proverb before, and I wondered, was it true?

Over the next two weeks, spring bird migration will peak. Hundreds of millions of birds will fly up the country, largely south to north, in sync with blooming trees, flowers, and insect hatches. Many are attempting to reach the green attic of North America, the boreal forest of Canada, where they will breed and raise their young before reversing course in the autumn.

The East Hampton High School baseball team played two nonleaguers last week with Westhampton Beach, losing 7-0 there on April 26 and winning 10-4 here the next day.

More than 600 runners and walkers turned out at East Hampton's Main Beach Sunday for the May Day 5K, the brainchild of Dylan Cashin and Ryleigh O'Donnell, East Hampton High School sophomore long-distance runners. The event raised raised $18,000 for the Family Service League.

The first May Day 5K Run and Walk will set off from Main Beach on Sunday at 9 a.m., rain or shine, and the good news for participants and spectators alike is that the weather is expected to be perfect for the occasion.

To make your backyard bird-friendly, you'll need to think like a bird when making landscaping decisions.

Though East Hampton lost two to Miller Place, with Colin Ruddy on the mound Bonac blanked the Panthers 1-0 here on April 20, a pitching gem that topped a story on Suffolk’s mound aces in Saturday’s Newsday.

As I perused the selection of seafood on display at Schiavoni’s in Sag Harbor the other day, an elderly gentleman peering into the saltwater holding tank with about a dozen lobsters in it said to me, “I’d love to buy one, but not at this price.”

East Hampton High’s softball team busted out here on Saturday, pummeling Harborfields 27-1 in a league game that was foreshortened by “the mercy rule” after five innings of play.

Lona Rubenstein of Amagansett may be better known in recent years as a world-class poker player, but long before she took up that game, she was a champion in table tennis, competing nationally and internationally.

All three high school varsity baseball teams in this area — East Hampton, Pierson, and Bridgehampton — were doing well going into this week.

Sheaugh Costello can hit her targets with ease, dominating in team tournaments regionally and both team and solo play in New York State and the eastern United States.