Pine Island Little League wins Duel of the Islands again
The Sanibel Babe Ruth League team traveled to Pine Island for the annual Duel of the Islands Invitational Tournament. The winner of the games (they play two) takes home the Tarpon Bay Cup. Each year the two teams switch between the Sanibel field and Pine Island’s Bobby Holloway Jr. Field.
The first game was won by the Sanibel Babe Ruth League, 6-5. The second game was won by Pine island Little League, 9-8. When the two teams are tied after the two games, the total runs are counted and the team with the most runs wins the cup. In this case it was a tie, 14-14. A coin toss was the deciding factor.
“We called ‘tails,'” Bobby Gay said. “And it came up tails so we hold the cup for another year. It was a great contest and both teams represented their leagues well.”
“This (series) came about when a few years ago I was running the Sanibel League and I was approached by people here on Pine Island about possibly putting together a tournament between us (Sanibel) and Pine Island,” Sanibel’s co-manager Chuck Phoenix said.
“We are really well matched and the highlight was a couple of years ago when the two seasoned umpires addressed the entire crowd and said, ‘We’ve umpired hundreds of games and these are two of the best games we’ve ever umpired.'”
“This is the fourth year we’ve held this Dual of the Islands Invitational Tournament,” Phoenix said. “And we are going to try to regain the Dual of the Islands Cup. Pine Island won the first year, we won the second and then Pine Island came back to win again last year. We will pull out all the stops.”
The Sanibel Babe Ruth League roster includes AJ Aracri, 10; Othmane Sanchez, 10; Tye Phoenix, 10; Daniel Paul, 10; Diego Monteiro, 9; Noah Monteiro, 7; Johnny Quillin, 9; Samuel Paul, 9; Liam Deal, 12; Mike Damiami, 11; and Adam Belof, 10.
The Sanibel Babe Ruth League co-managers and coaches are Phoenix, co-manager; Anthony Aracri, co-manager; Chris Menzel, co-manager; Steve Belof, coach; and Mike Damiami, coach.
The Pine Island Little League roster features Joey Gay, 12; Zack Mills, 11; Robbie Gay, 11; Daren Phister, 11; Emily Davis, 11; Jacob Bollen, 11; Ethan Alvarez, 10; Ellis Ramming, 10; Evan Alvarez, 9; Matthew Bollen, 9; Gavin Mills, 8; and Cameron Frock, 9.
Pine Island’s coaches are Eddie Mills, Robin Ramming and Brian Frock
The Pine Island Little League is a non-profit athletic organization that relies on registration fees, team sponsors and donations from the community to pay for the day-to-day operation of the only organized sports organization for children on Pine Island. The league held its inaugural season in 1981 and many of the parents in the stands played on the ball field as children. This year Pine Island Little League had over 70 children on the roster, with seven teams spread between three divisions. The league chose an All-stars Minor and Majors team to compete in the tournament.
The tournament is played in honor of Francis P. Bailey Jr. and Bobby Holloway Jr. Bailey, who passed away two years ago, was a long-time Sanibel resident and mayor, and Holloway was one of Pine Island’s finest young men. Bobby tragically lost his life in a hunting accident when he was 11.