Weekly sports roundup
Local golfers win championship, soccer team participates in festival, softball tryouts start
By Ken Powers Contributing Writer

Region - Longtime Marlborough Country Club member Frank Vana Jr. teamed with R.J. Foley and the duo captured its second straight Pleasant Valley Country Club Invitational Fourball championship.

Vana and Foley, both Assumption College graduates, used a final-round 6-under-par 66 to repeat as champs, their three-day total of 18-under 198 besting brothers Brendan and Kevin Hester, who finished at 15-under-par 201.

The victory was the third for Vana and Foley in the nine-year history of the event. The Hesters won the title in 2005, beating Vana and Foley to capture the crystal trophy awarded to the winners.

"This is a great tournament," Vana said. "There are a lot of very good golfers that compete here. To win it once is an honor. The fact that this is our third win is very humbling."

Vana and Foley sewed up the win with a strong showing on the back nine, an effort that included long birdie putts on holes 10 and 11 by Vana that allowed the tandem to take a twoshot lead over the Hester brothers.

Foley said the match swung in his team's favor on those two holes.

"Frank gave us the momentum back with those two putts," Foley said. "We had some momentum early, but we gave it back with a couple of bogeys on the front side. Frank's putt on No. 10 was huge; you could see them sag a little when it went in."

Marlborough soccer team participates at Lake George Tournament

The week of Aug. 11 through 17 is not one a group of 14 Marlborough Youth Soccer players will soon forget.

The players, all 11- and 12-year-old girls, traveled to Lake George, N.Y., and the Golden Goal Soccer Park, where they competed against other youth soccer teams from throughout the United States and Canada.

The park is an Olympicstyle village setting and the opening ceremonies included skydivers dropping soccer balls onto the playing field. The closing ceremonies featured each player getting inducted into the World Youth Soccer Hall of Fame.

Marlborough came in second in a skills competition among all the teams at the festival, finishing less than a second behind a team from Pennsylvania.

One Marlborough player, Sarah Purcell, won an essay contest held in conjunction with the tournament, and the entire team signed a shirt that will be put on display in the Soccer Hall of Fame.

Making this unique experience possible for the girls who attended was coach Terry Peltak, the driving force behind getting the girls interested in the event as well as coordinating and organizing the effort.

Shockers announce tryouts

Girls interested in playing softball this summer are encouraged to attend tryouts for one of three Shrewsbury Shockers softball teams.

The tryouts will be held Saturday Sept. 8 at the lower Dean Park softball field. Girls trying our for the Under-14 team will do so between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. Tryouts for the Under- 12 team will be from 1 to 3 p.m., while tryouts for the Under-12 team will be from 3 to 5 p.m.

Age guidelines are based on a player's age as of Jan. 1, 2008.

Girls who are interested in furthering their development in the sport of softball, as well as the possibility of experiencing the exhilarating pressure of tournament play, are encouraged to contact shrewsburyshockers@ hotmail.com for more information.

Send your team's news to kpthesportsguy@yahoo.com.