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Date of Issue: April 02, 2008

Little League;s Bonefish 'grills' Islanders on diamond

William Brusso delivers a pitch for his Islander major league baseball team during Little League action at G.T. Bray.

The score of a particular game doesn’t always show whether or not a team is improving its level of play. The Islanders 30-1 defeat at the bats of league-leading and still undefeated Bonefish Grill on March 27 was such a game.

Don’t get me wrong. Bonefish Grill isn’t undefeated by accident. They have an extremely good hitting team as evidenced by the 26 hits and 30 runs they put on the scoreboard. They utilized two pitchers for two innings apiece and both threw strikes fairly consistently.

The improvement for The Islanders came with the fact that Bonefish Grill earned most of its runs by hitting the ball, not by walking and running around the bases because of multiple errors. Bonefish Grill smacked home runs and extra-base hits seemingly at will.

The Islanders still have things to improve upon without a doubt. Islander pitching walked seven batters, which is too high, and had too many errors of omission such as missing signs and not hitting cutoff men.

Yet, the fact is that those totals are improved from earlier in the season.

Friday’s game began well enough when starting pitcher Philip Dudevoire induced leadoff man Derek Paparella to ground out to shortstop Hunter Parrish, who made a nice play. Caleb Katzenberry doubled to right-center in front of Jarod Paparella, who parked one deep over the right-center field fence for a 2-0 lead. A pair of walks and a pair of singles ended Dudevoire’s tenure on the mound and brought in William Brusso.

Brusso retired the next two batters to end the inning with the Islanders trailing 5-0. The first two batters in the bottom half of the inning struck out against hard-throwing pitcher Jonah Hunt, but Brusso lined a two-strike pitch into left field for a single. Justin Gargett followed with a double off of the left-field fence, but Brusso had to stop at third and the next batter struck out, ending the inning.

The second inning did the Islanders in for good as Bonefish Grill sent 23 batters to the plate and scored 18 runs. Derek Paparella, Caleb Katzenberry and Jarod Paparella each had three hits in the inning, while Zack Callahan had two hits including a home run.

The Islanders best effort came in the third inning when Parrish led off with a walk. He took off at the crack of the bat, but Max Moneuse’s line drive got snagged by the pitcher, who calmly threw to first to complete the double play. Brusso then lined a two-out double to left and came around to score when Gargett launched his second double of the game.

Brusso and Gargett led the Islanders with a pair of 2-for-2 performances, while Lee Bergeron managed an infield single.

Bonefish Grill was led by Jarod Paparella, who finished the night 5-for-5 with a two-run homerun, a grand slam, a double and 10 RBIs, while brother Derek went 4-for-4 with four runs scored. Caleb Katzenberry went 4-for-4 on the evening with a pair of doubles and five runs scored. Other strong hitting performances came from Seth Katzenberry (4 for 4), Hunt (3 for 5, three runs), Daniel Schroeder (2-for-2) and Callahan, who finished 2 for 2 including his first homer.

Next was a March 24 matchup where The Islanders led ELS 5-3 in the third inning, but couldn’t hold on It ended with the Islanders on the short end of an 11-6 score.

Parrish went 2 for 3, including a double and two runs scored to lead the Islanders, which also received a double and a single from Moneuse and doubles from Bergeron and Trevor Albers. Justin Gargett added a single and one run scored while also pitching five innings for the Islanders.

Ryan Stephens led ELS with a 4-for-5 performance that included a triple and three runs scored. Jacob Titsworth added a triple and three runs scored for ELS, which also received a pair of hits from Shane Rocklein and Jason Colon in the victory.

The Islanders are more than likely off for the rest of spring break and will look to break into the win column soon.

Keep the faith Islanders!

Horseshoe news

Fifteen teams became three teams after pool play during March 26 horseshoe action at the Anna Maria City Hall pits. Two of the three teams that advanced to the elimination round probably wished they hadn’t after running into the buzz saw that was the team of Gene Bobeldyk and Dean Rowe. They delivered a 22-2, “out by the wood shed whoppin’” to Adin Shank and Art Kingstad in the first semifinal. Bobeldyk and Rowe followed that up with a 22-4 thumping to Bob Lee and Marvin Gangemi in the finals.

The March 22 horseshoe games saw 16 teams enter the pool play fray, but only two teams emerged unscathed. Ron Pepka and Dave Long opened up an 18-8 lead, only to see the team of Debbie Rhodes and Greg Schut reel off 11 points in succession to take the lead. Pepka calmly threw a ringer to end the match with Pepka and Long on top by a 21-19 score.

Play gets under way at 9 a.m. every Wednesday and Saturday at the Anna Maria City Hall pits. Warmups begin at 8:45 a.m. followed by random team selection. There is no charge to play and everyone is welcome.

Key Royale golf news

The Key Royale Club men played an 18-hole, low-net-of-partners game on March 26 and the team of Dave Plat and Jim Helgeson came out on top by four shots. Their 126 total put them in first place ahead of Vince Mercadante and Jim Mixon, who carded a 130. Ernie Hauser and John Sagert matched the 130 total to tie for second, while Chris Collins and Bob Kelly were two shots back at 132.

The men played a nine-hole, low-net-of-partners game on March 24. Bob King and Blake Graham carded a 4-under-par 60 to finish two shots ahead of Earl Ritchie and Neal Hammer. There was a tie for third place with Ed Holby and Jon Lindwall matching the 64 carded by Art Duudera and Hugh  Holmes.

The coed match on March 21 was a throw-out-the-worst-hole game. Jane Winegarden, Gordon McKinna, Joyce Brown and Jerry Brown fired a 117 to edge the team of Frankie Smith-Williams, Matt Behan, Warda and Dorothy McKinna by one stroke.

Joyce Brown, Winegarden, Warda and Behan all had chipins on the day.

Center to offer tennis and golf instruction

Tennis instructor Wayne Sewall will be teaching a youth tennis class on Saturdays noon-2 p.m. starting April 12. Center members can check it out free of charge this month, while non-members can try it for $5 per lesson.

The center is also looking for donations of racquets and tennis balls.

Back by popular demand is the Bud Stokes junior golf program for boys and girls ages 7-18. The Bud Stokes junior golf program will meet on Wednesdays and Saturdays at Pinebrook Ironwood Golf Course. The center will provide transportation for those in need.

Bayshore High School golf coach will be the instructor for the five-week program which costs $50 for members and $65 for non-members. Registration deadline is April 16 and the program gets started on April 19.

For more information on the tennis or golf programs, call the center at 778-1908 or stop by and ask about it.

Anna Maria Island Little League Schedule

Juniors

7 p.m.April 10Islanders vs. JR1@GT Bray

10 a.m.April 12    JR5 vs. Islanders@Birdie Tebbetts 

Majors

7:30 p.m.April 7Horizon Bank vs. Islanders@AMICC

Minors