Sports

The Hamptons Collegiate Baseball League's Sag Harbor Whalers are fortunate to have solid catchers on the roster of 27 this season, and one of them, Marika Lyszczyk, has notched a lengthening series of firsts in baseball.

After a concussion ended his high school baseball career, Jake Epstein became Bonac's biggest cheerleader. "I couldn't play sports, but there was nothing stopping me from waving a flag and screaming," said the class of 2021 president.

Rarely a week goes by when I don't receive a question from friends or readers about what to look for when buying fish. It's really a rather basic question to answer. Read on . . .

Want to get outside? Here are some upcoming activities that promise to satisfy your thirst for the outdoors. 

On Saturday, the East Hampton Trails Preservation Society invites hikers to explore the numerous trails of Amagansett’s hilly and shaded Stony Hill area, featuring glacial kettles and a mature beech forest. Those interested are to meet on Red Dirt Road (1/4 mile east of Accabonac Road) at 9 a.m. More information is available by calling 212-769-4311. 

Tom Cohill, the Y.M.C.A. East Hampton RECenter's aquatics director, thinks its youth swim team, the Hurricanes, is "the best pound for pound in the state," which was borne out in a meet with Huntington last week.

Walking along the weathered docks of Montauk Harbor on Saturday morning, it was nice to see that a great many boats, both of a commercial and charter/open craft nature, were out to sea on a warm, breezy day. Fishing is a tough business in good times, but it was an even greater challenge during the pandemic to secure much-needed income. Thankfully, that seems to have changed.

It was Noah Avallone's first time surfing in California, but he quickly got used to it on his 9-foot-3-inch Paul Surf longboard, taking the West Coast and Hawaiian surfers in his age group unawares.

Following a robust discussion during a June 15 meeting of the East Hampton School Board, the decision was made not to change a policy barring seventh-grade athletes from moving up to varsity-level teams in most sports.

The wind off the water felt good on a hot and humid Shelter Island 10K race day Saturday, more than one runner said, and it also felt good to be racing unrestrictedly again after the year-plus-long coronavirus-imposed hiatus.

The East Hampton High School softball team and the South Fork Islanders boys lacrosse team, on which seven Bonackers play, lost first-round playoff games in the past week. The boys tennis team and the girls and boys track teams also saw postseason action.

"Please help save our beautiful Mashashimuet Park!" said Diane Schiavoni, who is leading a fund-raiser to restore the park's grandstand. She announced on Facebook that she will kick off the initiative by offering a donation for a bundle of shingles worth $150; she hopes community members will do the same. Any amount is appreciated, she wrote, with hope for "many more years of watching our great school teams compete at our local park!"

Ryan Fowkes, a sophomore at George Washington University who set two school records this school year, and Paige Duca, a Boston College graduate student who ran cross-country and track there as an undergrad, won the Old Montauk Athletic Club's Montauk Mile with ease on Sunday.