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TORRINGTON — The Steve Blass Northwest Connecticut Red Sox dropped a nailbiter 10-9 loss to Torrington Royal at Major Besse Park June 5.
The penultimate game of the AAA regular season came down to the wire with Torrington securing a walk-off victory in the final inning. The Red Sox, composed of players aged 9 to 11 from the six Region One towns, played a disciplined game and shook hands with their heads held high after the loss.
It was a calm spring evening as the game got underway, about 78 degrees with the sun comfortably beneath the tree line. Supporters for both sides dotted the foul lines to cheer on their teams.
Ben Young started the game on the hill for the Red Sox.Riley Klein
Torrington got out in front early with a 2-0 advantage after the first inning. The Red Sox responded with a comeback in the second. Teddy Kneeland, Lane Brooks, Quinn McNiff, Willa Lesch, and Henry Kneeland all reached home to bring the score to 5-2.
Torrington added another run, but the Red Sox tacked on two more in the third inning when Ben Young and Teddy Kneeland rounded the bases.
Berkley Karcheski played left field for the Red Sox June 5.Riley Klein
Quinn McNiff scored another in the fourth inning and the Red Sox’s lead peaked at 8-3.
Torrington caught fire in the bottom of the fourth with a whopping six runs. The Royals took a 9-8 lead going into the fifth and final inning.
Sam Norbit was a split-second away from tagging out the tying run at home.Riley Klein
Myles Shippa scored the tying run for the Red Sox, stealing home on a wild pitch. In the bottom of the fifth, Torrington mirrored the play and scored the go-ahead run in similar fashion. The Royals rejoiced in the infield after walking off with a 10-9 win.
The Red Sox’s record moved to 5-7 on the season while Torrington advanced to 3-4.
Kurt Hall safely reached first twice in the June 5 game at Major Besse Park.Riley Klein
Art sale to support new nonprofit
It has been said that living well is an art. For Keavy Bedell and Craig Davis, that art form doesn’t end in the so-called Golden years. The two Lakeville residents have created a new nonprofit organization called East Mountain House that will help make end-of-life kinder and gentler.
Bedell has been active in the community, providing access to all levels of assistance to people who are finding it hard to do the essential tasks and activities that bring meaning and joy to their lives. She is trained in contemplative care and is a certified end of life doula.
Davis is a contemplative care trained hospice volunteer who provided care for his late wife, Sandy Dennis, during her long struggle with cancer.
Both agree that there are many excellent organizations in this region that offer quality care at end of life; but they wanted to offer a special kind of care that includes warmth, kindness, and care of the spirit as well as the body.
East Mountain House will provide a residence and care for a small group of people, probably no more than three at any time, at a home in Lakeville. The home will also provide bereavement and caregiver support groups, as well as support and guidance with advance directives and living wills. To help raise funds and bring awareness to their mission, Keavy and Craig have teamed up with the extremely dynamic duo of Liz Macaire and Simon Kristoph for a weekend-long art sale at The White Hart Inn in Salisbury from June 14 to 16, with an opening party on Friday, June 14, from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m.
Macaire and Kristoph are partners in the new Macaire Kristoph Studio, which they describe as “specializing in interior design, staging, and event production as well as estate services.”
Their retail estate consignment store is part of the new Ivy’s Collective, at the intersection of Routes 4 and 7 in Sharon at the Cornwall Bridge border (right next to the modern bridge, not the West Cornwall Covered Bridge).
Both Macaire and Kristoph have degrees in art history and experience with merchandising and design.
They also seem to know everyone in three counties, including many of the talented artists who make this region their home. For the fundraising weekend, which they’ve dubbed the Arty Party, they’ve put together a collection of works by more than 20 area artists, with prices ranging from $40,000 for a large canvas by Sharon’s Tom Goldenberg, to small loose pieces that will sell for under $200 (the artists will receive 50% of sales of their work).
The sale at The White Hart begins on June 14 with a barbecue and live DJ on the Green in front of the inn, from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. Everyone is invited, donations are accepted but there is no entry fee. Space is limited, so anyone planning to attend is asked to send an RSVP to www.macairekristoph.com (where you can also preview and pre-purchase artwork).
The sale continues on Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. (and the work will remain on display throughout the weekend).
Learn more about East Mountain House during the weekend-long Arty Party; or go online to www.eastmountainhouse.org.
A Heroine’s tale at Hunt Library
On Thursday, June 20 at 2 p.m., the David M. Hunt Library in Falls Village, in collaboration with the Falls Village Equity Project, will host “Honoring a Heroine: The MumBet Story.” This event features storyteller and museum educator Tammy Denease, who will bring to life the inspiring true story of Elizabeth “MumBet” Freeman.
Elizabeth Freeman, also known as MumBet, was an enslaved African nurse, midwife, and herbalist. Born around 1744 in Claverack, New York, she spent 30 years enslaved in the household of Colonel John Ashley in Sheffield, Massachusetts. Ashley was one of the creators of the 1773 Sheffield Declaration which stated that “Mankind in a state of nature are equal, free, and independent of each other, and have a right to the undisturbed enjoyment of their lives, their liberty and property.” This same language was used in the United States Declaration of Independence of 1776 and in the Massachusetts Constitution of 1780. Evidence suggests that MumBet overheard these ideas when Colonel Ashley held events in his home and when the documents were read aloud in the public square. Seeking freedom, she turned to Theodore Sedgwick, a prominent attorney who helped draft the Sheffield Declaration with Colonel Ashley. MumBet, along with an enslaved man named Brom, began the process of fighting for their freedom. Historians note that Sedgwick, along with many of the lawyers in the area, decided to use the case as a “test case” to determine if slavery was constitutional under the new Massachusetts Constitution.
After gaining her freedom, MumBet took the name Elizabeth Freeman and worked as a nurse, healer, and midwife for the Sedgwick family. Her courageous legal battle and subsequent life story are testaments to her resilience and determination.
This all-ages program is free and open to the public. Don’t miss this opportunity to learn about an important figure in American history and her lasting impact on the fight for freedom and equality.
Knees creak by wee creeks
This spring I have spent more time than usual creeping around the “little blue lines,” those streams that show up on good maps as, yes, little blue lines.
This is where to find wild trout. Often brook trout, occasionally browns or rainbows.
The first thing to do is get used to kneeling. The fish are generally aggressive, but they are also incredibly spooky.
Once they catch sight of an angler, or even a rod going back and forth, they will zoom off to their hidey holes and sulk.
If you don’t believe me, go to one of these streams and wade right on in. Watch as the little dark shapes whizz around.
When I was a callow youth of 45, kneeling was no big deal. At my advanced age, I have gone to knee pads, as worn by roofers and the fellows who restock potato chips at the grocery store. (It was one of the latter who kindly took his pads off and showed them to me.)
Reading the water is more important than ever in this context. What you want is “soft water.”
Imagine a pool that has a chute or plume of water coming in from above. As the faster-moving water enters the pool, it creates white water. On either side of the chute, there is calmer water. That’s soft water.
You’ll read about finding the seam. The seam is the line between slower and faster moving currents, or white water and soft water.
Trout like to hang around somewhere that offers protection from predators, not too much current to battle against, and adjacent to faster current, which brings food.
Finding the balance of these elements is what trout do all day, except once a year, when they have what passes for sex in the fish world.
It’s a depressing prospect for an ambitious fish, so don’t dwell on it.
So when approaching a likely pool, identify the different currents, areas of soft water, and the seams. Do this from a kneeling or crouching position, of course.
Soft water flows down the little blue line.Patrick L. Sullivan
Now you have figured out where to stick the fly. Pausing briefly to savor the lower back pain, try a dry fly first. A bushy dry fly that floats well and that you can see.
Park it in the soft water. It will bounce around. Don’t let it sit more than a second or two. Flick it in, wait and flick it out.
Sometimes they’ll whack it right away. Other times they will want to see it a few times.
Next hit the seam. Sometimes it will disappear in the foam. Maybe it will sink. Don’t worry about it. Keep flicking.
When you do this often enough, you’ll get good at making miniscule adjustments from cast to cast. On big water, this is a matter of feet or a few inches. On a little blue line, it’s an inch or two tops.
None of these casts are going to be long. Use water loads, bow-and-arrow casts, even roll casts if you’re good at them. (I am not.)
You’re probably not going to be rearing back with a standard forehand cast too often. Not enough room, and no point to it either, since you’re sneaking around in kneepads and peering around boulders.
Whatever you do, don’t get stuck at one pool just because the big one flashed your fly but did not take it.
A good rule of thumb is: Show the fly to them six times. After that assume you are boring them, and move on.
When do you go subsurface? As usual, it depends.
One of my favorite tactics is to use a Chubby Chernobyl or any foam-bodied dry fly, really. It serves as an indicator 90% of the time.
I tie a piece of fluorocarbon tippet, usually 4X, to the bend of the dry fly hook with a clinch knot. The tippet piece is usually between one and two feet.
I start with a wet fly or an unweighted nymph. If that doesn’t work, I go to a brass beadhead nymph, which sinks some. And if that’s a bust, I go to a nymph with a tungsten bead that really sinks.
And if all that fails I cuss a bit and chuck a Wooly Bugger in there, just to show them who’s boss.
What rod to use?
I have a number of small stream rods, ranging in length from five and a half feet to eight feet, and in line weights from one to five.
More often than not I grab a Cabelas CGR six and a half foot four weight. It’s a slow action fiberglass rod, quite inexpensive. I have a discontinued CGR click and pawl reel for it, and a double tapered line.
For fixed line fishing in small streams my favorite is Dragontail’s Kaida, a zoom rod that fishes at nine feet and a bit, and 10 and a half feet. This is considerably longer than the fly rod, but the extra leverage allows me to keep most or all of the line and tippet off the water. The extra length is also helpful if I latch onto one of the little blue line Leviathans.
About that: Little blue line fishing is extra-crazy. You have to accept this.
After all, you are expending considerable energy in difficult terrain, performing a highly technical task, in pursuit of quarry you are not going to kill and eat.
And even if you did, a creel full of six-inch trout will yield only enough meat to cover a few Saltine crackers.
You wouldn’t be fishing for dinner, but for hors d’oeuvres.