By Ron P. Coderre
The Congregational Church of Putnam, which renamed its tourney a few years back to the PCC – Steve Bousquet Memorial Golf Tournament, held its annual event recently at The Raceway Golf Club in Thompson. According to committee member Roger Franklin, there were many winners on and off the course again this year.
The mission of the tournament is to raise funds to provide scholarships for local high school students who are heading off to college. Thanks to a full field of golfers and the support of sponsors this year’s tourney awarded four scholarships. Devon Parker and Emma Guillot, two students from Killingly High School who have excelled in the classroom and on the athletic field were two of the recipients. The other two recipients were Dana Petre and Olivia Arsenault of Tourtellotte Memorial High School.
“These four students were not only outstanding scholars but they all demonstrated exceptional leadership qualities. We’re very proud to be able to support their academic endeavors as they move on to college,” said Franklin. On the course there was the usual battle for first place, which went to the foursome of Bob Hastings Sr. and Jr., Bob Logan and Mike Daley who carded a 12 under par score of 60 to take a one-stroke victory over the second-place foursome of Duke and Matt Parziale, Neil Bernier and Franklin. They came home with a card of 61. The show place went to the group of George Amenabar, Artie “Pina” Collada and Garro and Corey Coffin, who finished with a minus 10 score of 62. The consolation prize was awarded to the foursome of Tom and Mike LePine and Joe and Jay Matriani with a two over par 74.
Susan Malizia and Guy Lahaie were crowned female and male long drive champions. Closest-to-the–pin winners were Steve Finnegan (4th hole); Jeff Paglione (#9); Paul Balka (#14); and George Figerle (#17). Figerle was not only close to the hole, he actually watched his shot trickle into the cup for a hole-in-one, which won him an I-Pad Mini. All he could say was, “Wow.”
Richard Dalpe won the Par-3 Challenge on the 4th hole, while Tyler Gaudreau was the winner on the 9th and Bill Gardner and Bob Hastings Sr. were the winners on #14 and #17 respectively.
Franklin and his co-chairman Charlie Leach were very pleased with the results of this year’s tournament and are already looking forward to and planning for the 2015 tourney.
caption:
Addresses
John Iovino ,former baseball coach at Norwich Free Academy, addresses the audience at the TriTown American Legion Baseball Post-Season Banquet. Courtesy photo.
By Ron P. Coderre
The TriTown American Legion Baseball teams and the more than 100 guest at the Post-Season Banquett received a firsthand understanding of the game of baseball from the event’s guest speaker John Iovino. The 2008 Connecticut High School Coach of the Year shared his life philosophy July 25 at American Legion Post #67 in Thompson.
Iovino, who lives in Norwich and is the director of Student Affairs at Norwich Free Academy, held the audience in the palm of his hands as he delivered a poignant message to the players and regaled the group with baseball stories normally reserved for the Hot Stove League.
For 28 years, from 1979 to 2007 Iovino was the varsity baseball coach at NFA, where he developed a cadre of talented players. The culmination of Iovino’s coaching career occurred in 2003 when he and his assistant coach Duke Campbell guided the Wildcats to the Connecticut Class LL State Championship. That team posted a near perfect 23-2 record.
“Early in our season the team travelled to Trumbull for a game that would prove to be the test we had to take to see if we were a legitimate contender. Our kids put together a victory behind our number two pitcher, verifying the fact that we thought this team was legitimate,” said Iovino.
The proof that their assessment was correct is present today in professional baseball. Four former Wildcats are either in the Major Leagues or just one step away. Eric Campbell, a utility player with the New York Mets, has been proving his worth by his versatility and hitting prowess. Campbell has played every infield position and in two outfield spots for Manager Terry Collins. He’s currently hitting a lofty .324.
Dominic Leone is a relief pitcher with the Seattle Mariners. Since being called up early in the season he’s been a valuable member of the Seattle pitching corps. Leone has a 3-2 record and sports a minuscule 2.39 ERA. He’s struck out 47 batters in 43 innings pitched.
Andrew Carignan is playing at Fresno in the AAA Pacific Coast League, where he is 1-0 with a 1.08 ERA. Carignan previously had a stint with the Oakland A’s before he was sidelined by arm trouble, which forced him to have Tommy John surgery.
The surprising player of the group is Zack Zaneski who was recently promoted to Salt Lake City of the Pacific Coast League. He’s a former four-year player at the University of Rhode Island. He was signed to a professional contract as a free agent by the parent organization Los Angeles Angels.
Iovino admits that one of the biggest thrills in his lifetime was watching Leone faceoff against Campbell in a televised game between Seattle and the Mets.
“Think of that, a former high school coach watching two of his players on TV playing against each other. How good does it get?” said Iovino.
The success that Ionino has experience in academia and in baseball can be attributed to the philosophy he espouses of “taking baseball one pitch, one out and one game at a time.”
He told the TriTown audience, “Remember you can’t do anything about yesterday. Today is today and do the best you can and don’t worry about tomorrow.”
In baseball and in life living each day to its fullest is the route to success according to Iovino.
By Ron P. Coderre
The 2014 American Legion baseball season officially came to a close for all the local entries as two local teams were eliminated from postseason play. Moosup and Danielson, which finished fourth and fifth in Zone VI respectively, were eliminated in American Legion Senior State Tournament in early round play.
Moosup managed to get by its opening game prior to exiting and Danielson lost a heartbreaker in its opening contest.
The TriTown Junior Legion team finished its season on a disappointing note, dropping its final two games of the regular season. The losses eliminated the Jr. Towners from any postseason consideration.
Moosup Advances Then Falls
It took 12 innings for #9 seed Moosup to get past its first round opponent, 16th-seed Newington, but Post #91 prevailed 3-2 over the visitors. Jeff Nicolosi’s walkoff single drove home Jason Biesadecki with the winning run to give Ryan Pambuku the victory. Garet Griffin had four hits for Moosup.
Next up for Moosup was #8 seed Windsor Locks, who proved to be too much for Post #91 as they won 8-1. A five-run, eighth-inning uprising by Windsor Locks broke open a close game and was Moosup’s undoing. Kyle Boarman absorbed the loss for Moosup, which closes the season at 22-10.
In another first round game Danielson lost to Enfield 2-1 to close out its season at 18-13.
TriTown Juniors Go Out on Losing Note
The TriTown Junior American Legion Baseball team lost its final two games of the season, much the way many of their defeats went throughout the 20-game regular season. The Jr. Towners were shut out by Ledyard-Pawcatuck 2-0 to open the week. Despite striking out 10 opposing hitters, losing pitcher Nick Foucault couldn’t catch a break. A fluke L-P hit off the lip of the infield grass proved to be the difference, scoring the only two runs of the game.
In the finale of the season Jewett City bested TriTown 5-4 in eight innings. Rookie Tyler Shanley pitched six terrific innings. Alex Leveille was 2-for-3 and Ryan Gadoury contributed a double to the TriTown offense.
Coach Dan Durand’s Junior unit finished the season at 8-12 and just out of contention for the postseason.
By Ron P. Coderre
This week’s RPC sporty shoutout is sent along to old friend Dick Loomis. A former Putnam High School football lineman, Loomis restricts his current athletic endeavors to fishing, hiking and an occasional round of golf. Loomis blew out an unknown number of candles on the cake on July 30.
A contingent of 43 golfers from Pomfret and the surrounding area trekked to Keene, N.H., for the 12th Annual Red Robbins Memorial Tournament. The group was treated to a beautiful, fun-filled day on the South Course at Bretwood Golf Club according to the contingent’s unofficial scribe Mary Thomas.
It’s an understatement to say that the foursomes were evenly matched as five teams finished with identical scores of 11 under par. Based on matching cards the foursome of Bob Willis, David Perron, Glenn Ellsworth and Paula Cathell was declared the winner. Second place went to Greg Pike, Dan Ledogar, Stu Cathell and first time participant David Smutnick. The show place went to the group of John Smutnick, Justin Loura, and Skip and Chris Ayers.
Closest-to-the-pin winners were Derrick Renaud (3rd hole); Ellsworth (#7); Jason Smutnick (#12); and Stu Cathell (#16). The skins pot was divided by the foursomes of Don Pike, Jim and Donna Bartolomei and Jason Smutnick and the group of Ryan Willis, Ryan Auger, Ed Perron and PJ Smutnick.
The Mayor’s Award in honor of Bobby Ellsworth was presented to Don Pike, while the Anchor Award was won by the foursome of Fran Baranski, Bob Auger, John Rogers and Donna Lefevre.
The entire group paid tribute to a pair of its regulars, Milt Rollinson and Stan Sheldon who died this year.
The group is so enthused about the trip; they’ve already planned the 2015 trek to the northlands for July 9th.
Aces in the Hole
It may be the recent hot weather or maybe there’s something in the drinking water but the local golfers are enjoying an unusual streak of holes-in-one. Two more aces were reported this week.
Adam Shaw, one of the finest young men to ever graduate from Putnam High School, recorded the first hole-in-one of his golf career.
Playing golf since he was 9 years old, Shaw added a little pizzazz to his ace. In typical Shaw fashion it wasn’t a routine ace on a par three.
“The shot,” as it was described by those who witnessed the historic event, was made on the par-4, 8th hole at Harrisville Golf Club, which measured 250 yards. He used his driver for “the shot” that took place on Thursday, July 17.
Shaw’s playing partners, who witnessed the event, were Treavor Smith, Colt Foley and Michael “Artie” Artiaco. As Artiaco said, “Shaw is in an elite group of golfers who can say they have made a double eagle or an albatross.”
Another young man (ahem), A. David Babbitt who’s been playing in the Thompson Lions League for well over 40 years, also recorded the first hole-in-one of his career. His ace took place on the par-3, 17th hole at Raceway Golf Club in Thompson, which was playing 145 yards.
Babbitt used his trusty 4-utility club and was hitting a Titleist NXT for his historic shot. Witnesses to Babbitt shot were his partners Ron LaFleur, Ron Brissette and Steve Smith.
Babbitt gave credit for the success of the league to the late Jim Naum and to Dave Johnson who is currently running the operation.
Former St. Joe’s Hoop
Standout Visiting Area
A recent visitor to northeastern Connecticut was Jack McDermott, former basketball standout at the now shuttered St. Joseph’s High School in N. Grosvenordale.
During his high school hoop career McDermott helped to lead tiny St. Joe’s to many upset victories over opponents with much larger enrollments.
Today McDermott resides in California outside the San Francisco area, where he’s retired from an enjoyable and rewarding lengthy career in education.
The 1965 St. Joe’s graduate is enjoying retirement playing golf and volunteering at non-profit organizations. Every year he mans the 17th hole at scenic Pebble Beach for the annual PGA Pro-Am event, which he describes as “fabulous duty.” Look for him on television next year.
Happy Anniversary
If you see former Putnam Police Chief Ed Perron or his wife Caroline Perron in the next week jot yourself a note to wish them a Happy Anniversary. The Perrons will celebrate 53 years of wedded bliss on Tuesday, Aug. 5.
“The Chief,” who has been retired eight years, is a 1960 co-captain of the Putnam High School Clipper football team. He is remembered as one of Putnam’s fiercest linemen ever. Mrs. Perron has been a fixture in the Mayor’s office for many years. She’s often referred to as “Mrs. Mayor.”
Fathers and Sons on the Links
The 78th Connecticut State Golf Association Father & Son Championship was played on Wednesday, July 9 at Lyman Orchards Golf Course in Middlefield. The one-day event was won by Chris and William Simone with a 2-under par 70.
The local father-son twosome of William MacNicki Sr. and Will MacNicki Jr. represented the Northeast well with a score of 83. William, Sr. plays out of Mohegan Sun at Pautipaug and Will, Jr., who can be found in the kitchen at Someplace Special Restaurant in Putnam, is a member at Harrisville Golf Club.
Field Hockey Revolution at Pomfret School
Revolution Field Hockey Camps will hold a pre-season camp at Pomfret School from Sunday, Aug. 3 to Wednesday, Aug. 6. The program for players ages 10 through 18 is run by elite coaches. The residential camp is $535 and the day program is $435.
Jaime Ginberg, head coach at Smith College, is the program director. Pomfret School coach Louisa Jones is the site director.
Anyone wishing more information should contact Jones at 860 963-5295. To register, call 800 944-7112 or visit www.FHcamps.com.
RPC’s Closing thought For The Day: Along the way, remember to have fun.
(If you have news worthy sports information email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. )
..