ORLEANS – Folding chairs lining Eldredge Park’s grassy hillside hours before the first pitch was thrown marked the first sign of Cape League baseball’s return to Orleans. The Firebirds faithful that arrived early were rewarded, as the team jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead against the visiting Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox in the first inning of Sunday’s season opener. Although the Firebirds and Red Sox ultimately f...

CHATHAM – Cape Cod baseball is back, but the Chatham Anglers are still waiting for some key contributors to arrive. The short-handed Anglers only mustered four hits in Sunday’s season opener, a 5-0 loss to the Cotuit Kettleers at Veterans Field. While the showing was not exactly what the team wanted, manager Tom Holliday said the roster is expecting reinforcements in the coming weeks as the majority of team...

HARWICH – It didn’t matter how far the fourth-seeded Monomoy girls tennis team advanced in the Division 4 state tournament, the team had already cemented itself as one of — if not the best — team in program history. Monomoy coach Bill Burke first recognized he had a great team when the group started preseason practices, and the players continued to impress their coach all the way until the state quarterfinals,...

Olivia Horton and Caroline Keeffe-Jones developed big sailing aspirations a few years ago. After competing together on Nauset’s sailing team as freshmen and then experiencing success at the Yarmouth Regatta during the summer before their sophomore year, the duo felt it was only a matter of time before they’d take the Cape and Islands League by storm. They saw the upperclassmen compete at the league’s fleet ...

CHATHAM – Welcome to the history books, Monomoy girls golf. The program reached new heights June 7 when it captured runner-up honors at the MIAA state championship held at Eastward Ho! Country Club. Monomoy finished with a team score of 394, only four strokes higher than state champion Ursuline Academy’s 390. Wellesley and Duxbury tied for third with matching 408s, while Notre Dame Academy of Hingham (422) ...

ORLEANS – If there was any doubt about whether Luke Keaschall would be able to continue the success he experienced last summer with Orleans, the versatile infielder from the University of San Francisco looked right at home in his return to the Firebirds’ lineup during Sunday’s season-opening 4-4 tie with Yarmouth-Dennis. After batting .321 last season, Keaschall began this summer with a 2 for 3 performance tha...

HARWICH — Andrew Clifford helped the Monomoy baseball team have one last celebration. Although the 28 th -seeded Sharks suffered a season-ending 9-6 loss to fifth-seeded Manchester Essex in Monday’s Division 4 Round of 32 matchup, Clifford helped the team earn a 7-0 victory over No. 37 Lynn Vocational-Tech in Sunday’s preliminary-round game at Whitehouse Field. While the offense was rolling early, the real ...

MANSFIELD – Even in defeat, the Nauset boys tennis team was able to recognize that the program took strides in the right direction this spring. Moments after his team suffered a 4-1 loss to Mansfield on Monday in a Division 2 state tournament Round of 32 matchup, Nauset coach Andy Lisle praised the 23 rd -seeded Warriors for the way they performed this season. “They’ve come a long way,” Lisle said. “They ju...

The Monomoy boys and girls tennis teams both advanced to the Round of 16 after earning victories in their respective Division 4 state tournaments. The fourth-seeded girls await the winner of Archbishop Williams-Ipswich after opening the tournament with a 4-1 victory over Winthrop. They’ll be at home in the Round of 32 at 4 p.m. Thursday. The fifth-seeded boys opened their tournament with a 4-1 win over Cape...

Although the Monomoy baseball team’s bats came alive Sunday in the team’s 7-0 victory over Lynn Vocational-Tech, the Sharks will always remember the way their starting pitcher, Andrew Clifford, performed during the Division 4 state tournament preliminary-round matchup. Clifford had some of his best stuff of the spring, as he struck out 17 batters and surrendered just one hit in a complete-game effort. The l...

Bob “BB” Hredocik was walking on the beach along Cape Cod Bay in February about four years ago when the idea came to him. A once-avid sailor who had sold his boat a handful of years earlier, Hredocik started thinking back to his sailing days after encountering strong winds on the beach. He then thought about replicating his sailing experiences on land. “It’s blowing like stink and I’m thinking, ‘You know, I...

The Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association is set to release the seedings for spring sports state tournaments this week. Baseball, softball and tennis seedings are scheduled to be released Wednesday, and boys and girls lacrosse seedings are set to be announced Saturday. Approximately 10 teams from the Lower Cape are expected to qualify for postseason play, according to the latest MIAA statewide pow...