24 Photos
John Ward having a good time. RON ESPOSITO
The Bad News Bubs were champions of the "A" bracket.
The Jetty Grinders were champions of the "B" bracket.
Two of the eight scholarship recipients, Emma Terry and Hunter Eberhart, who threw out the first pitches on opening day of the tournament on Thursday, August 3.
Dylan Field brushes off home plate. RON ESPOSITO
Andrija Silich sends a ball into orbit. RON ESPOSITO
Kevin Farrell delivers a pitch. RON ESPOSITO
Anthony Dragone fires the ball to first base. RON ESPOSITO
Brian McGintee fields the ball while teammate Tommy Miller watches. RON ESPOSITO
Charlie Collins throws to first base on the run. RON ESPOSITO
Tommy Miller tosses to first. RON ESPOSITO
Tommy Miller fields a ground ball. RON ESPOSITO
Tommy Miller fields a ground ball. RON ESPOSITO
Will Darrell puts a charge into one. RON ESPOSITO
Emma Terry makes good contact with a pitch. RON ESPOSITO
Tommy Miller rounds second base. RON ESPOSITO
A player lines up a fly ball. RON ESPOSITO
Aryan Chugh takes in all the action. RON ESPOSITO
A runner beats the throw at first base. RON ESPOSITO
Aidan Arnone high-fives Tommy Miller. RON ESPOSITO
A player takes a knee to field a grounder. RON ESPOSITO
Tyler Hansen books it on the basepaths. RON ESPOSITO
Kevin Farrell coming in hot while Dana Dragone covers home plate. RON ESPOSITO
A batter gears up to take a cut. RON ESPOSITO
With 32 games played across four days, when the dust settled only two champions could be crowned at the 15th annual Travis Field Memorial Softball Tournament, which began Thursday, August 3, at the Terry King Ballfields in Amagansett.
When the final out was recorded by around 10:45 p.m. on Sunday, Bad News Bubs, for the third year in a row, and fourth time overall, won the “A” bracket, while Jetty Grinders won the “B” bracket. Both championship games went to deciding second contests since it was a double-elimination tournament and both Hampton Glass (A) and Action Irrigation (B) suffered their first losses in the first game.
Bad News Bubs won the first game, 9-4, then took the second game, 10-3, to win the tournament. Jetty Grinders won its first game, 10-7, then won the second game, 3-2.
“Tournament was great,” said Mike Graham, an organizer of the tournament. “The weather held off for us, which we were super lucky with, being what it’s been lately. We had strong attendance every day. Everything was amazing.”
Brian Turza has been competing in the tournament since its inception in 2008 as part of the dynasty that is the Bad News Bubs. He said even though he has since moved out of East Hampton — he now lives in East Quogue — the tournament is something he looks forward to every summer and one he makes a point to be available for.
"We’re a close-knit team and we’ve all been together pretty much since high school. We’re all a bunch of ballplayers,” he said. “But I do appreciate everyone coming together the way we do,” Turza added of everyone participating in the tournament. “A lot of us have moved away, have moved out of East Hampton, but we’re always looking forward to this tournament, and the Field family has been awesome. It’s just a great time and something to look forward to every single year.”
And participating every year is something Turza, and the Bad News Bubs for that matter, plan on doing.
“We’ll always be back now that we have a title to defend, again,” he said. “Everyone’s got that target on us and they’ll be looking for us.”
Graham said it was certainly a lot of work to put the annual tournament together, and that he was feeling a little sore as he woke up on Monday morning from having umpired a lot of the games — various community members and those on the committee for the tournament volunteer to umpire, adding to the overall community theme of the tournament. On Saturday night, a power surge at the nearby police department, Graham said, shut down some of the lights at the field, causing a lengthy delay leading to games not being finished until about 12:30 a.m., just adding to the marathon of the tournament. On Sunday, the East Hampton Fire Department came down to water the fields and make them look in pristine condition for the championship games. Three different local singers sung the national anthem throughout the tournament’s four days.
The tournament, named in memory of Travis Field, a 2006 East Hampton High School graduate who died in a car accident in May 2008, and the coinciding Bracket Bash which precedes the tournament a week prior, are both fundraisers for the Travis Field Memorial Scholarship Foundation, which is responsible for scholarships given to local East Hampton High School graduates each year. This year’s recipients included some of the top student-athletes from the school in Eric Armijos, Finian Byrnes, Jack Dickinson, Hunter Eberhart, Daniel Lester, Gabrielle Miller, Daniel Rossano and Emma Terry. Both Eberhart and Terry were on hand on the opening day of the tournament to throw out the first pitches.
Turza said he had only known Travis Field for about a year or so prior to his untimely death. He had met him through Vinny Alversa, who brought him onto their men’s amateur baseball team. They shared the outfield together and so, just like the many people who compete in the tournament, it has special meaning to him.
“He was a newbie, a young gun brought onto our team,” Turza recalled. “A strong kid, a quiet kid, but funny as hell, the king of one-liners we used to call him. He was very witty, always had that kind of smirk smile on. He was just an all-around awesome kid.”
