By ERIC RUEB
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EAST PROVIDENCE – Nick Leandro didn’t get to see all of Metacomet Country Club Wednesday.
It was fine by him.
The West Warwick High School golf star didn’t mess around with his first round match at the 88th Rhode Island Junior Amateur Championship Wednesday morning, beating Wannamoisett Country Club’s Tim Rogers 5 and 3.
Leandro, the No. 3 seed in the Championship Division, wasn’t the only Wizard to leave Metacomet with a win Wednesday; teammate Travis Sadler came from behind to beat Rhode Island Country Club’s Zachary Hess on the second playoff hole in the First Division.

For more, read Friday's Courier

By BRANDEN MELLO
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COVENTRY — When eight-year-old Troy Osterhout’s third-grade teacher asks the class what they did during their summer vacation, there is little doubt Osterhout will have the best story to tell the class.
Osterhout, for the second year in a row, was Coventry’s representative at the Rhode Island Aquafina pitch hit and run competition at McCoy Stadium. Osterhout won the competition, which allowed him to compete at Boston’s fabled Fenway Park. Osterhout finished fourth in the regional competition.
“All the boys were on the field and it was just amazing to see him out there, hitting from home plate,” said Tracy Osterhout, Troy’s mother. “He does understand what he got to do. He’s so into sports. He watches the Red Sox every single night. He watches the Bruins and the Celtics.

For more, read Friday's Courier

By BRANDEN MELLO
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WEST WARWICK — West Warwick Jr. Post Two coach Doug Haynes knew his young team would learn plenty of lessons during the grueling Jr. Legion season.
In their final game of the season, a 10-3 loss to Tom’s Lawn & Garden in the losers’ bracket final of the Final Four, Jr. Post Two learned that it takes more than just showing up to play to win at this level.
Jr. Post Two went through the motions in the first two innings and they paid for it as the Portsmouth based squad shelled Coventry’s Kyle Tuchon for six runs in 1 1/3 innings of work. Tuchon’s defense didn’t help him because Post two committed two errors in the first inning.

For more, read Friday's Courier

By PAUL J. SPETRINI
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KINGSTON - The new coach, the savvy veteran, the promising newcomer.
On any football team, there are countless roles to be filled in a given year, countless stories to be told. One moment can mean a million different things to the 50 or 60 people lined up on one sideline.
Training camp is no exception.
For the players and coaches of the University of Rhode Island football team, this summer’s three-week long training camp means different things.
For some, like tight end David Wilson, it’s about finding their spot or role on the team. For others, like senior running back Joe Casey—who missed the vast majority of last year with a leg injury—it’s about redemption and proving they belong.
Some, like veteran full back Anthony Ferrer, view it as a means to an end, just another road block to overcome before the real actions starts the first weekend in September. Others, like Strength & Conditioning coach Liz Proctor, believe it’s an important part of the process.

For more, read Friday's Narragansett Times

By ERIC RUEB
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EAST PROVIDENCE – One thing’s for certain.
Matt Costaregni certainly doesn’t like to take the easy road.
It started at Tuesday’s qualifier for the 88th Rhode Island Junior Amateur Championship, where the Wakefield native bounced back from a tough opening nine holes at West Warwick Country Club and score low enough to make the 16-player Second Division.
And at Metacomet Country Club Wednesday, in his first RIGA match of his life, Costaregni came from 2 down with three holes to play to a 1 up winner over North Kingstown’s James Scanlan.

For more, read Friday's Narragansett Times

By ERIC RUEB
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SOUTH KINGSTOWN  - Nerves? What nerves?
After winning the Rhode Island Junior Legion state title last weekend, South Kingstown Post 39 is ready to show what it’s made of this weekend when it travels to Linden, New Jersey for the Mid-Atlantic Regional.
Watching the team practice Wednesday, it’d be tough to tell this team was getting ready for the biggest tournament of the summer.
“They know they’re in a great position to go down there and win some games, have some fun and show not just Rhode Island what they can do, but a bigger part of the country,” Post 39 coach A.J. Sherman said. “They’re starting to feel it I think.”
This definitely isn’t your normal Junior Legion team.

For more, read Friday's Narragansett Times

By ERIC RUEB
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WEST WARWICK – Through nine holes, it looked like Jamestown’s Ryan Southworth was on the fast track out of the championship flight at Tuesday’s 88th Rhode Island Junior Amateur qualifier.
Playing West Warwick Country Club for the first nine, the North Kingstown High School senior to be struggled to find a groove, misplaced tee shots and couldn’t get that one big putt to drop as he shot 41 over the first nine holes.
“I definitely knew after I shot that that I would have to go a lot lower on the back,” he said. “I came in here knowing I wanted to make the champions division and after coming in I knew I’d have to post something in the 30s.”

For more, read Thursday's Standard

By Eric Rueb

If you can find five good, legitimate reasons to do anything, it’s probably a good idea to do whatever it is.
Ask my fiancée. If she asks me to perform a task I think is unnecessary, I ask for five good reasons.
“Don’t put the pots and pans in the dishwasher.”
Why? Five legitimate reasons.
“The dishwasher ruins them. They only take a minute to clean. The other dishes get cleaner in the dishwasher when they’re not cluttered. You used dirtied them. Because it will make me happy.”  
Pots and pans, here I come.
URI football, consider the Five Reasons Theory your saving grace.
For years there have been more bad reasons than good ones to see the Rams play on Saturday afternoons.

For more, read Thursday's Standard Times, Chariho Times or Friday's Narragansett Times or Coventry Courier

By ERIC RUEB
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WEST WARWICK – Two good friends, two excellent golfers, both with something to prove.
John McCarthy and Tyler Cooke were both focused at Tuesday’s 88th Rhode Island Junior Amateur, both with their eyes on winning a title.
And while qualifying wasn’t much of a problem – Cooke shot 38-36-74 to qualify fourth at the nine-hole West Warwick Country Club; McCarthy went 39-38-77 and earned the No. 8 seed – match play at Metacomet Country Club in East Providence will be a different beast.

For more, read Thursday's Pendulum

By PAUL J. SPETRINI
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EAST GREENWICH—Tuesday afternoon, while the sun set slowly on Main Street in East Greenwich, Michael Phillips lay in the middle of a dark 20-foot cage with a pair of legs around his neck and the only thing on his mind was trying to escape.
To the vast majority of people, this would be a nightmare scenario straight out of Tales From The Crypt. For Phillips, it was something he not only welcomed – it was something he looked forward to all week.
Phillips is a mixed martial artist. To him, the octagon is about more than fighting and hurting someone, it’s his chance to relax, his chance to have escape from the everyday hustle and bustle of the real world.
And at the Battleground Training Center, he gets all this and much, much more.

For more, read Thursday's Chariho Times, Pendulum, Standard-Times or Friday's Narragansett Times or Coventry Courier