By Gary Curreri

Host Deerfield Beach rallied from an early 5-0 deficit to pull out a 10-9 victory over Ft. Lauderdale and capture the District 10 Little League Junior Division Championship last week.

The Deerfield Beach Mets started their comeback with two runs in the bottom of the third and added four runs in the bottom of the fifth to take a 6-5 lead as Lorenzo Feliciano, Brock Buerosse, and Janelle Calvet all contributed in the big inning with RBIs.

After Deerfield added another run in the bottom of the fifth, Ft. Lauderdale rallied to take a 9-7 lead in the top of the six with four runs. Undaunted, the Mets pulled ahead for good, scoring three runs of their own and Feliciano broke the 9-9 deadlock with a fielder’s choice that scored Maxwell Thompson from third with what proved to be the winning run.

“It’s my first championship and it is really cool,” said Deerfield Beach Little League Junior Division manager Jason Siracusa, who also took over this year as the league president. This is his third year as an All-Star manager.

“It was like a six day a week, seven day a week ordeal between coaching a team, running the league, and also coaching T-Ball, I was all over the place.”

“In the end, it was worth it,” Siracusa said. “We made a lot of changes to the league and the league is shaping up and ending the year with a championship is pretty special.”

Calvet, who went 3 for 4 at the plate and threw out a runner stealing second to get the first out in the top of the seventh (her cousin is Colin Calvet), plays on an all-girls travel baseball team in addition to the All-Stars. Buerosse had two hits and a walk for Deerfield Beach.

Keanu Siracusa went 4-1/3 innings and allowed five runs – just two earned – on two hits while striking out seven for the Mets. Gio Caffro and Neile Thomas came on in relief and closed the door on the Indians to win the championship.

Manager Siracusa said the Junior Division tournament featured teams from Deerfield Beach, Parkland, Coral Springs and Ft. Lauderdale. Deerfield Beach had 12 players on its roster but played the final with just nine players due to conflicts.

Deerfield Beach opened district play with a 1-0, extra-inning win over Ft. Lauderdale and then cruised past Coral Springs American, 12-2, before falling 7-4 to Ft. Lauderdale to set up the winner take all matchup last Friday night.

“We had better depth in pitching,” Siracusa said. “It was really an across the board team effort.”

“ We had a team of players that have played together for several years and they all back each other up,” Siracusa added. “They have a want-to-win mentality. We dominated the league this year going 13-1 with the only loss to Ft. Lauderdale 13-1. We outscored our opponents, 179-24. Our pitching super dominated everyone. Obviously, it can’t get any better than this. From here on, the rest is icing on the cake.”

Deerfield Beach will next play in the Sectional competition on July 20 in Tallahassee.

By Gary Curreri

Deerfield Beach’s Jim Eddy doesn’t appear to be slowing down anytime soon. Eddy, 52, who plays shortstop for the St. Louis Cardinals team, is a perennial Liberty Hardball Coral Springs Men’s Baseball League all-star and has been a member of the team for about a decade. Eddy is hitting .437 with two home runs, seven RBI’s and 14 runs scored.

“One time a week is all I can get and that is all I need,” said Eddy, who is an athletic trainer at Highlands Christian Academy in Pompano Beach. “I still go to tournaments and stuff, but I still love playing ball and I still can. That’s the key. I am still healthy and able to run and throw and all of that stuff.”

Eddy has played in the league for nine years.

“I don’t feel it (being sore) after playing on a Sunday morning unless it is really hot or a game with 20 runs and you are running a lot,” Eddy said. “I probably get more sore lifting weights.”

If the St. Louis Cardinals are going to win a sixth straight baseball championship, and eighth in the past 10 years, they will have their work cut out for them. The defending league champions struggled out of the gate, starting off with a 3-3 record, but have since caught fire winning four consecutive games to move to a league-best 7-3 record. They have outscored the opposition 85-37 on the season. The league has made a few subtle changes to the rules and one in particular has stymied the team in the early going.

“They went to a wood bat league,” said Cardinals manager Jeff Young. “We used to average 30 home runs a season and that is going to be way down this year. Another thing they did was allow up to five players under the age of 28 per team. They allowed three players under 28 last season.”

The Cards return most of their core players from their title years. The team started their championship run in 2009 and then in 2011. The Cards then began their streak of five in a row in 2013 and haven’t tasted defeat in the league championships since.

Crockett camp moved to July 7

Zack and Henri Crockett will host their 13thannual football and cheerleading camp a little later than usual. The free camp was originally slated for this Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Mitchell Moore Center, 901 NW 10 St. in Pompano Beach. The field is not ready yet, so the event has been moved to July 7.

Henri Crockett, 43, who played linebacker for the Atlanta Falcons, Denver Broncos and the Minnesota Vikings, along with his brother Zachary, 45, a former fullback for the Indianapolis Colts, Jacksonville Jaguars, Oakland Raiders, Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Dallas Cowboys, are expecting between 300 and 400 local children to attend.

Both men grew up in Pompano Beach, and graduated from Blanche Ely High School, before they both played at Florida State University in their path to the NFL.

The free clinic is designed to introduce children, ages 4-16, to football by teaching basic skills in a fun and energetic environment and is supported through a grant from the NFL Foundation. The camp includes T-Shirts and autograph signings from the professional athletes.

By Gary Curreri

Melcher Feliciano Jr. said the key to winning games in the District 10 Little League baseball playoffs is how you fare on the mound.

“You have to have five to seven pitchers,” said Feliciano Jr., who is the manager of the Deerfield Beach Little League Senior All-Star team. “Most of the guys can play all of the positions, but it’s very tough if you don’t have a lot of pitchers and catchers. It comes down to pitching.”

Deerfield Beach opened the Senior Division playoffs with an 8-1 setback against host North Springs Little League at North Community Park in Coral Springs. Shane Garner scored the lone run off a base hit from Anthony Davilla. North Springs won the United States National Championship last year in the Senior Division.

Feliciano Jr., who coached the Deerfield Beach Little League 50/70 team last year, said there is an adjustment between coaching the younger players and the Senior Division squad.

The Deerfield Beach Little League program features a little more than a dozen teams and just two teams in the Senior Division. In addition to playing each other, they also played against other area programs.

“Obviously we are trying to get a win in every game we play,” Feliciano Jr. said. There are five teams from the local league playing in the All-Star competition in the various divisions. “We spend a lot of time at practice working on communication and other things. Sometimes it’s very difficult because the kids can’t make the practice or something comes up at the last minute. We ended our season just one week before the All-Stars and that is a lot to go through in a week.”

Feliciano Jr. said they selected the best players from the two Senior Division teams in the Deerfield Beach Little League.

“The best ones make the cut,” Feliciano Jr. said. “We are trying to win the whole series and go to sectionals and make it to states.”

Feliciano Jr. said the speed of the game is a little quicker with the 50/70s because the bases are closer and the mound is closer.

“The ball comes faster to you in the field and the pitches are faster and you have to adjust to that,” Feliciano Jr. said. “With the Senior Division, the ball is pitched faster than the 50/70s, so I will throw mostly fastballs when I pitch batting practice. I will also hit the ball harder to the infield. We will also go (practice) four times a week.”

He said he would push the 50/70s as well.

“Sometimes I try and push them a little harder,” Feliciano Jr. said. “You can’t baby them. They get that feeling when they get to the next level, I don’t want them to crash and say, ‘I can’t do this anymore because it is too hard or too fast for me.’ I try and do the same thing with the seniors, the same method, and make it competitive.”

When Feliciano Jr. and his squad walked in the gate at North Community Park, they passed the national championship banner from 2017. He said it was not intimidating.

“This is a challenge for us,” Feliciano Jr. said. “I liked the kids’ attitude, work ethic and how they treat their teammates. They show good sportsmanship. There is nothing negative, and everything is positive.”

Lenore Nolan Ryan

Lenore’s World Class Catering and Cooking School is in Galt Ocean Mile.

Muffaletta sandwich.

By Rachel Galvin

Walking into Lenore Nolan-Ryan’s location on Galt Ocean Mile is like a breath of fresh air. There is a sense of openness and intimacy at the same time. Filled with high and low tops and decorated in different shades of blues and whites, this locale is home to her Bubbles & Brunch, and Live2Travel, Love2Eat pop-up dinners, her cooking classes and other events.

This reporter “headed to the Bayou” last month for her Destination: New Orleans dinner. Seated with people I had never met, the experience was not only one of enjoying great food and getting a sense of the culture gastronomically, but also imbued with friendship and the creation of a culture of our own. Each item Lenore served up was inspired by her favorite restaurants in The Big Easy. The first brought to the table was the Central Grocery’s Muffaletta Sandwich. Now, I am not an olive fan, but something about the olives in this sandwich really made its flavor pop. The richness of the meat and cheese had a tangy kick that I could not stop eating. Next was Willie Mae’s Scotch House fried chicken, which was cooked well and left with a crispy skin. It was sided with red beans that tasted like they were flavored with sausage, a slightly sweet rice and some tomato and corn topping, as well as Upperline Restaurant’s fried green tomatoes and shrimp remoulade. At the end, she handed out some Cafe Du Monde beignets. Of course, she offers up specialty drinks as well, which make a nice addition to the meal. Every dinner she has has a different theme. Now, besides these dinners, she also has Bubbles & Brunch every Sunday. Want to learn how to cook up some of her specialties? She offers cooking classes as well.

If you are not up for meeting new people, bring some of your own to her next event. It is the perfect place for everything from a mother and daughter meet-up or date night, to a girls’ night out, a birthday party, bridal shower and more.

As I sat chatting with the people at my table, people kept coming over wanting to meet me and tell me about how much they love Lenore and the events she creates… one, right after another… saying they come again and again, each time bringing new people.

“We have a wonderful group of customers and friends,” explained Lenore, adding that she also does catering… People can have events within her space or she will come to them.“Catering is about me catering to you. It is my job to make you the hostess look like a million bucks, whether it is here or in your home. It is all about food, fun and friendship.”

Lenore is a force to be reckoned with. In addition to catering, cooking classes, dinners and brunches, she does cooking classes on a cruise ship and, off season, she heads to the Pacific Northwest to work on a charter yacht manned by all women.

Her history is just as interesting as her present. Her father owned the Cal-Neva Hotel and Casino in Reno, Nevada and went on to operate several casinos in Havana, Cuba. Lenore spent time there, as well as in her birthplace – Miami– before moving to Indiana with her mother following her parent’s divorce.

She did not start out thinking she would end up in the culinary world. She studied voice and piano at Butler University. But she asked the owner of a small restaurant if she could start doing brunch because she loved it so much and he obliged. She was only 19 years old. She brought in her own food and staff and ended up also starting her own catering business. She ended up moving to San Francisco and working at a friend’s restaurant doing the same thing before opening her own locale, Ryan’s, in 1980. This three-level location had not only a restaurant with lunch, dinner and weekend brunch, but also a charcuterie selection, gourmet take-out market, wine bar and cooking school.

Eventually, her heart took her back to South Florida shores and here to Ft. Lauderdale to be with family in 1998. She turned an Italian take-out location into Gina Lenore’s in Lauderdale-By-The-Sea and two years later started Lenore Nolan Ryan Catering & Cooking School. Of course, now, she is in this new location (at 3311 N. Ocean Blvd. In the Galt Ocean Plaza in Galt Ocean Mile, and is busier than ever.

For more information, call 954-491-2340 or visit www.lenorenolanryan.com.

Fried chicken, red beans, rice, fried green tomatoes and shrimp remoulade.

Don’t forget to add a cocktail!

Deerfield Beach Chamber After Hours

Wondering what the Deerfield Beach Chamber is all about? Head out to the After Hours and meet some of the Chamber members. Bring business cards because this is an excellent time to share what you do and network with others. The After Hours will be held at Duffy’s, 401 N. Federal Hwy., in Deerfield Beach on June 21 starting at 5 p.m. Have a drink on the Chamber and try some appetizers provided by Duffy’s. $15 members, $20 non-members. For more information, visit the Chamber’s Facebook page or www.deerfieldchamber.com.

(5 p.m. is the correct start time, which is different than what was published in the paper… please make note. Thanks).

By Gary Curreri

While this year’s senior class at Highlands Christian Academy may have been small in numbers, it didn’t lack for outstanding young student-athletes.

“It was one of our finest (signing classes),” said Highlands Christian Academy Athletic Director Jim Good. “It was one of our smaller classes as we graduated only 30, but a quality group of young people.”

Eight student-athletes are moving on to the next level and it is something that is not lost on Good, who is also the schools’ varsity basketball coach.

“As an Athletic Director, it’s always rewarding to see our high school kids get the opportunity to play at the next level,” Good said. “For many, it has been a dream since they were younger to continue playing the sport they love at the college level.

“I know that our coaching staff stresses the importance of using their talents to honor and glorify Christ while competing,” Good added, “Years of hard work, effort, and persistence pays off and its always exciting to see the pride and joy in the parents eyes as they sign their name on that letter of intent.”

Good said this year’s graduating class truly exemplified being a student-athlete.

“All eight of them excelled in the classroom as well as on the court or field,” Good said. “Many have been involved with earning top community hours and are the recipients of many class awards.”

Ryan Szklany and Matt Veynovich were among the student-athletes that excelled both on and off the field.

Szklany, who is headed to Embry-Riddle University in Daytona Beach where he will run cross country and track was the school’s 2018 Valedictorian.

He was also named first team All-County for his junior and season year for cross country and track. In addition to being named the Sun Sentinel Runner of the Year for cross country in his senior year, he was also the recipient of the 2018 Reg Cook Scholar-Athlete Award.

Szklany is considered a “Lifer” at HCA as he began in Kindergarten. He is planning to study Engineering.

Veynovich, who is headed to Geneva College in Beaver Falls, PA, where he will play basketball, was the school’s Salutatorian.

Veynovich earned first Team All-State for the Sunshine State Athletic Conference and set the HCA career record for three pointers made in his career with 191. Veynovich is also a “Lifer” and started at the school in Kindergarten. He is planning on studying Psychology.

Other athletes from the 2018 senior class heading off to college include Erin Allen, volleyball, University of North Greenville in Greenville, SC; Sawyer Lawhon, basketball, Crown College in St. Bonifacius, Minnesota; Chad Allen, baseball, Keiser University in West Palm Beach; Giancarlo Edwards, baseball, Keiser University in West Palm Beach; Jurden D’Arnault, baseball, North Central Missouri College in Trenton, Missouri; and Richard Silva, soccer, Newbury College in Boston, MA.

The Memorial Day events scheduled for the Old School House on Saturday, May 26, have been canceled, including the outdoor and indoor events. The “52 moments” display will be rescheduled.

Emily Lilly, from the Historical Society, said, “After checking several resources regarding Saturday’s weather, it is in our best interest, unfortunately, to CANCEL THE ENTIRE SATURDAY MEMORIAL DAY EVENT (Outdoor Ceremony and Indoor Photo Exhibit).  We sincerely appreciate all the planning and preparation you have done for the event, especially the DFB High School JROTC and Jazz Band, and thank you on behalf of the Society for your sacrifices and continued support.”

There is no word if any other event is canceled.

By Gary Curreri

There will be no Class 5A state title for Pompano Beach High School this season.

The Golden Tornadoes, which had won back-to-back District 14-5A titles and fell in last year’s state championship game, came up short in this year’s district final to North Broward Prep (9-4) and followed that loss up with a 3-2 setback on the road against Ft. Pierce Lincoln Park.

Two days following the loss, Pompano High School Manager Joe Giummule announced he was stepping down after four seasons at the helm. Giummule went 76-29 over four seasons leading Pompano to two district championships, three regional appearances – one which led to a state appearance and another to regional finals.

The year before Giummule took over, the Golden Tornadoes were 8-15. They went 14-10 in 2015; 20-7 in 2016, 24-4 last season and 18-8 this past year.

“I’d like to thank Coach (Jason) Frey for giving me the opportunity to coach at Pompano,” Giummule said. “We turned an academic magnet program where kids applied because of school to a school kids applied to be part of state-ranked baseball program.”

He cited teaching and coaching at different schools as the primary reason for resigning. Giummule teaches middle-school reading at Cross Creek, a K-12 emotional behavioral disability school in Pompano. He would commute after school to coach the Golden Tornadoes. He would still like to coach baseball in Broward County if he can find a school with a teaching position.

“I’ve made some great friends, coached some great players and I can leave knowing I left the Pompano baseball in a better place,” Giummule added. “Unfortunately, Pompano was unable to get me a teaching job during my four years as a coach.”

The Tornadoes were unable to overcome injuries to their top two pitchers – ace Trevor Kniskern (Pepperdine signee) and Chase Costello (LSU) down the stretch. Kniskern battled a back injury, while Costello injured his pitching hand sliding into second base.

Mike Schuler (FAU signee) stepped in and filled the void down the stretch and fared well. Schuler tossed a complete-game in the loss to Lincoln Park. He gave up three unearned runs in the game and scattered four hits.

Schuler also went the distance in a complete-game, one-hit win over Coral Springs Charter School. Schuler fanned eight and didn’t allow an earned run in the 3-1 win over the Panthers.

Shuler finished the season with a 4-2 record with two saves and a 1.35 ERA with 45 strikeouts in 41.1 innings. He led the team with three complete games. He led the team with 12 stolen bases and 32 runs scored to go a long with a .337 BA.

Kniskern led the team with a .400 BA, was second in stolen bases and third in runs scored with 26. He also had a team-leading 27 RBI and was second in HRs with three. Kniskern was 5-1 this season with a 1.51 ERA and 64 Ks in 37 innings.

By “Cinema” Dave

http://cinemadave.livejournal.com

The production history was a disaster. An Oscar Winning director was called to save this much anticipated anthology film. Given the scant marketing, one wonders if Walt Disney/LucasFilm had plans to cut their losses with their first Star Wars bomb. But, surprise, surprise! Solo A Star Wars Story captures the spirit of Saturday matinee popcorn-eating fun and will be a big hit this Memorial Day Weekend.

The best Star Wars movies are those that recall the glory days of yesteryear before computerized special effects. The plot and situations are outrageous; yet, there is a good spirit that motivates the entertainment value of the franchise. There are some thrilling moments of danger, but the loudest crowd reactions featured the budding relationship between Han Solo (Alden Ehrenreich) and his future co-pilot, Chewbacca (Joonas Suotamo), a 7 ft. Wookie from the Planet Kashyyyk.

Before the title character and Chewbacca meet, we witness Young Han and his girlfriend Kira (Emilia Clarke). The two run street scams, but seek a better life full of adventure and romance. In an attempt to leave the planet, Han and Kira are separated. While Kira’s fate becomes a mystery, Han becomes a soldier in the Emperor Army.

Not one to blindly follow orders, Han becomes a rebel and joins a band of mercenaries headed by Tobias Beckett (Woody Harrelson). Through a series of mishaps, Han demonstrates aviation skills and the ability to problem solve. As he climbs the hierarchy of a criminal empire, Han travels the far reaches of the galaxy in search of fortune and glory.

Solo: A Star Wars Story works. The film opens in film noir darkness and, through science fiction narrative, becomes a cowboy movie featuring wide open spaces and a good old-fashion showdown. Musical Composer John Powell does a commendable job keeping the audience energy in light speed and appropriately repeats the music from John Williams classic Star Wars rousing score.

Like Avengers: Infinity Wars, Solo: A Star Wars Story should be seen on the big screen with a movie theater that honors audience participation.

The film will be playing at the Ft. Lauderdale Museum of Discovery & Science (MODS) until June 13, when it will be replaced by Incredibles 2.

Terry the Otter arrives

MODS welcomed Terry the Otter. Named after Real Estate Developer Terry Stiles, the otter is an animal rescue from Louisiana. Unlike Solo: A Star Wars Story, Terry the Otter will be a permanent resident at the Museum of Science & Discovery. Videos of Terry frolicking with his new friends can be seen on my blog, http://cinemadave.livejournal.com .