An East Quogue man led Southold Town police on a chase after he was caught driving through a stop sign early Sunday morning, police said.

Police used lights and sirens to attempt to stop Richard Field, 24, at the intersection of Westphalia Road and Cox Neck Lane in Mattituck at about 4:30 a.m., but he continued driving all the way to Jamesport. He eventually abandoned his vehicle and led police on a brief foot pursuit.

After he was finally stopped, police found him to be intoxicated.

He was charged with DWI and held overnight for a morning arraignment.

GARRET MEADE FILE PHOTO | Golfer Marie Santacroce of Mattituck, shown here practicing at Island’s End Golf and Country Club in Greenport, was named to her conference All-Academic team.

Flagler College (Fla.) sophomore Marie Santacroce of Mattituck was selected to the Peach Belt Conference’s All-Academic Women’s Golf Team, as released by conference officials last Wednesday.

The team is part of a season-long program recognizing the outstanding accomplishments of PBC student/athletes in the classroom as well as on the field. To be eligible for the all-academic team, a student/athlete must participate in at least half of his/her team’s events and be either a starter or significant contributor, achieve a 3.30 cumulative grade-point average (on a 4.0 scale), and complete at least one full academic year at his or her current institution. The Peach Belt Conference sports information directors oversee and select the teams.

Santacroce boasts a cumulative 3.35 grade-point average and is a psychology major at Flagler. She led the team with a 77 strokes-per-round average and had one first-place finish, three top fives and eight top 10s. She finished fifth in the conference in strokes-per-round average.

Santacroce topped the field in a dual-match against the University of Missouri-St. Louis on March 27 with a 4-over par 76. She had a season-best 36-hole score of 2-over 146 at the Lander Bearcat Invitational that was held Sept. 29 and 30. Santacroce was a PBC Presidential Honor Roll President’s Scholar last year.

GARRET MEADE PHOTO | Sean Finnegan of Center Moriches upended Mattituck catcher Brian Pelan, but was thrown out at home plate by first baseman Ian Nish on a fielder’s choice in the fifth inning.

They’ll have to wait at least one more day.

The Mattituck baseball team’s Class B playoff game against Southampton has been postponed for the second time. The county final game will now be 4 p.m. Wednesday.

The game was originally scheduled for Saturday. It was then pushed back to today before rain forced it to be postponed again.

Southampton can clinch the championship with a win. The Tuckers, who lost once in the double elimination tournament, need to beat Southampton twice. A winner-take-all game would be played Thursday. Both games would be at Southampton.

The Tuckers have bounced back from a first-round loss to Center Moriches to win twice and extend their season. They defeated Center Moriches in a rematch Wednesday, 11-7.

The Tuckers played Southampton in a three-game series to close out the regular season and were swept.

GARRET MEADE PHOTO | Southampton’s Wyatt Schmidt is tagged out by Mattituck shortstop Marcos Perivolaris while trying to steal second base in the first inning.

A combination of two-hit pitching by Wyatt Schmidt and five errors proved too much for Mattituck’s baseball team to overcome on Wednesday. Alex Soyars drove in three runs and Eddie McLaughlin homered for top-seeded Southampton, which picked up its third Suffolk County championship in five years with a 5-1 defeat of the visiting Tuckers in the Class B double-elimination tournament.

The majority of No. 3 Mattituck’s self-inflicted damage came in the second inning when it committed three errors which, along with a two-run, ground-rule double by Soyars, led to three unearned runs and a 3-1 Southampton lead.

McLaughlin clocked a solo homer with two out in the fifth to make the score 4-1 in the game, which had been postponed twice.

Another insurance run was provided for the Mariners (19-2) in the sixth when Soyars singled through the infield, bringing home Henry Egan, who had led off with a flare to right field.

Mattituck’s sole run was unearned in the second. Ian Nish started the inning by shooting a stand-up double to center field. Two outs later, he was brought home when Brian Pelan reached base on a fielding error.

The only other hit Schmidt allowed was also a double, by Chris Dwyer in the third. Schmidt had two walks and six strikeouts.

The Tuckers finished the season with a 15-9 record.

ROBERT O’ROURK PHOTO | Mattituck pentathlon athlete Shannon Dwyer competing in the 100-meter high hurdles on Friday.

SECTION XI INDIVIDUAL CHAMPIONSHIP STATE QUALIFIER

Delina Auciello is headed upstate and while she is up there, she will undoubtedly enjoy a piece of cake.

Auciello and another Bishop McGann-Mercy junior, Danisha Carter, both qualified on Friday for the New York State Public High School Athletic Association girls track and field championships. The timing is interesting, with the state meet to be held June 7 and 8 at Middletown High School. June 8 will be Auciello’s 17th birthday.

“That’s why I really wanted to go,” she said. “Yeah, it’s a birthday present.”

Auciello was ninth over all and the top Division II finisher in the 3,000 meters with a time of 10 minutes 58.39 seconds on Friday in the Section XI individual championship state qualifier at Port Jefferson High School. It was only her third time running the 3,000 competitively, and she was emotional following her race.

“I’m going to cry,” she said, but she successfully held back tears during an interview.

Auciello went to the state meet when she was a freshman as an alternate on a 4×400-meter relay team.

Cater punched her ticket to the state meet in both the 100- and 200-meter events by virtue of her performances on Friday. She clocked times of 13.03 seconds, bringing her 12th over all in the 100 preliminaries, and 26.22, good for seventh over all in the 200, but also qualifying her for Saturday’s finals in that event.

“We made it, yes,” Carter said. “I’m really, really excited, and it’s totally unbelievable.”

Carter said she was so amped up about the state qualifier that she “could not go to sleep last night at all. I was so pressured. I really, really wanted to do so good.”

Perhaps it shouldn’t come as a surprise that Carter did well in the 200. She said it’s her favorite and best event. “That’s my race,” she said.

Earlier this season, Carter broke the school record in the 200 with a time of 26.20, which is just 2/100ths of a second off the time she recorded on Friday.

Now the two Monarchs will get to run on an even bigger stage.

“That’s all we wanted from the beginning of the year,” Carter said. “It’s what we’ve been looking forward to.”

If nothing else, it should make for a memorable birthday for Auciello.

TRACK NOTES Riverhead junior Kyra Braunskill took sixth place in the long jump with a distance of 17 feet 6 1/2 inches, a personal record.

The second and final day of the state qualifying meet will be tomorrow.

bliepa@timesreview.com

ROBERT O’ROURK PHOTO | Mattituck junior Sal Loverde qualified for the state meet as the top Division II discus thrower at 135 feet 1 inch, a personal record.

SECTION XI INDIVIDUAL CHAMPIONSHIP STATE QUALIFIER

Looking for the names of double winners in individual events in the Section XI boys track and field individual championship state qualifier, one will find Christopher Belcher of Sayville (100 and 200 meters), James Burke of Port Jefferson (800 and 1,600) and John Stallworth of Connetquot (110-meter hurdles and 400-meter hurdles), but no Ryan Udvadia of Shoreham-Wading River.

Udvadia, who was seeded first in both the 3,200 and 1,600 meters, took care of the first half of business on Friday when he triumphed in the 3,200 in 9 minutes 17.27 seconds. On Saturday, the second and final day of the meet at Port Jefferson High School, Udvadia ran the fastest 1,600 he ever did before — and he had to settle for second place.

Udvadia and Burke, the top two seeds, were actually the last two runners among the section of 11 runners for most of the first lap of the 1,600 final. Udvadia, a junior, had moved up to fifth after 800 meters, and was then third around 1,000 meters. But Burke was on Udvadia’s right shoulder and moved ahead of him into second at the 1,200-meter mark. Burke took the lead on the bell lap as Udvadia moved in to second. But Burke held onto the lead despite a desperate effort by Udvadia, who couldn’t catch him.

The Port Jefferson sophomore took the race in 4:13.72. Udvadia was right behind him in second with a personal-best time of 4:14.73. Northport senior James Dickinson was third in 4:15.66. Those three times are the fastest in Suffolk County this season.

“That was a fast race,” said Udvadia, who lost a 1,600 race to a Suffolk runner for the first time this season.

Asked if he had any regrets, Udvadia replied: “I did everything I could. Maybe, looking back on it now, I say to myself now, ‘I could have kicked harder,’ but I know when I was doing the race I couldn’t. I couldn’t move my legs any more.”

ROBERT O’ROURK PHOTO | Riverhead senior Anthony Galvan made a splash in the 3,000-meter steeplechase, finishing fourth in 10 minutes 9.76 seconds.

Udvadia said he was taken aback when the purple-uniformed Burke passed him.

“I couldn’t believe it was him,” Udvadia said. “When I saw that it was him, I said, ‘Alright, it’s time to go.’ ”

The times posted were impressive, especially considering the heat the runners had to endure.

“Burke ran a great race,” Shoreham-Wading River coach Bob Szymanski said. “The weather also is not conducive to fast times, and those guys ran fast times.”

After the race, Udvadia shook Burke’s hand and told a reporter he was happy for the Port Jefferson runner.

Even before the race started, Udvadia had qualified for the state meet in both the 3,200 and the 1,600.

“I’m happy that I get to go for both,” he said, “but it would have been nice to go as a Section XI champ for both of them.”

TWO TUCKERS HEADED UPSTATE Two Mattituck athletes, junior Sal Loverde and freshman Darius Brew, qualified for the first time for the state meet that will be held June 7 and 8 at Middletown High School.

Loverde threw the discus a personal-record distance of 135 feet 1 inch on his first throw, making him the top Division II finisher and ninth over all.

“I pr’d, I’m going to the states now, too,” he said. “It was a good day.”

Mattituck coach Pete Hansen said Loverde was ready for a big day. “The last two weeks he’s been really focused,” the coach said. “There was a lot of mental preparation. He’s always had the tools to throw.”

Ironically, Brew’s good day in the triple jump can be traced to his bad day in the high jump. Despite his disappointment at finishing tied for 13th place in the high jump at 5-8, Brew triple jumped 41-9 1/2, good enough for No. 1 in Division II and 11th place over all, and a ticket to the state meet. It was the best triple jump of his young career.

Brew said he was angry over his performance in the high jump, his primary event, but transferred that anger in a positive direction in the triple jump. “The triple was basically like secondary,” he said. “It was like Plan B, something to fall back on, and it ended up working.”

Loverde dedicated his performance to Hansen, who will be leaving the team and the school after this season.

“Even though Coach Hansen isn’t going to be here next year,” Loverde said, “I want to wish him the best with whatever he does, and I did this for him.”

TRACK NOTES Medals were presented to the top four finishers in each individual event. Shoreham-Wading River junior Jordan Wright grabbed a pair of fourth-place finishes in the 100 (11.09) and the 200 (22.65). Riverhead senior Anthony Galvan finished fourth in the 3,000-meter steeplechase in 10:09.76.

bliepa@timesreview.com

In an effort to foster dialogue with residents, Town Board members will travel to each hamlet in Southold to host open-ended public discussions. Individuals are encouraged to bring up any topic they wish to discuss with board members.

Meeting dates, times and places are as followed:

• Mattituck and Laurel residents Thursday, June 13 at 6 p.m. at Mattituck-Laurel Free Library
• Cutchogue and New Suffolk residents Tuesday, June 25 at 6 p.m. at Cutchogue-New Suffolk Free Library
• East Marion and Orient residents Saturday, June 29 at 10 a.m. at Poquatuck Hall
• Greenport Village and Greenport Hamlet residents Tuesday, July 9 at 6 p.m. at the Floyd Memorial Library
• Southold & Peconic residents Thursday, July 25 at 6 p.m. at Southold Free Library
• Fishers Island residents Wednesday, August 7 at 1:30 p.m. at Fishers Island School

In addition, Peconic Landing will host a “Mobile Town Board Meeting” at their facility, providing a different venue for the board to engage the public.

The board’s work session scheduled for Tuesday, June 18 at 9 a.m. will be held at Brecknock Hall.

ROBERT O’ROURK FILE PHOTO | Riverhead senior Dan Normoyle.

NYSPHSAA CHAMPIONSHIPS

Before the proceedings began, Dan Normoyle dubbed the occasion “Big Pole Saturday.” It was appropriate enough, with the 29 best high school boys pole vaulters in the state competing in the New York State Public High School Athletic Association Championships at Middletown High School.

The theory is that the longer the pole, the higher it will propel pole vaulters through the air. Normoyle, though, actually used two poles of the same length: 15 feet, one a little thicker than the other. Afterward, he acknowledged that, in his case at least, it wasn’t “Big Pole Saturday.” Normoyle didn’t quite go as high as he would have liked, but the Riverhead senior still turned in the third-best performance in the competition, and that’s not bad at all.

Normoyle cleared 14 feet 6 inches, finishing behind Justin Farrenkopf of Ellenville (15-0) and James Steck of Shaker (14-6). Another Riverheader, junior Charles Villa, was ninth at 14-0.

“It was tough today,” Normoyle said. “It wasn’t my best, but I put my all into it. There was nothing else I could have done. It wasn’t the best day for a lot of people.”

That includes the meet favorite, Warwick Valley junior Todd Uckermark, one of two pole vaulters who failed to clear a height.

Normoyle, the Section XI champion who broke his own school record by reaching 15-0 in a state qualifying meet eight days earlier, complained afterward that he lacked confidence. Then, using a phrase Yogi Berra would have appreciated, he said pole vaulting is “90 percent mental, and the rest is in your head.”

Because of heavy rain on Friday, the scheduled two-day meet was condensed into one day. Normoyle said he was in a better mental state to compete on Friday. Instead, he went to lunch with his parents and saw a movie that day.

Villa entered the competition at 13-0, and Normoyle started at 13-6. They both made heights without missing to be among the 12 pole vaulters still standing after reaching 14-0. For some of the athletes, that height represented a ceiling.

“That’s the dividing line right there,” Villa said. “That’s where it starts to really get hard.”

Both Riverheaders passed on 14-3, going straight to 14-6. That’s when Villa ran into trouble, fouling on his first two attempts and then failing on his third and final one. Normoyle made good on his first attempt at 14-6, but he couldn’t handle 14-9, although he came awfully close on his final try, just nipping the bar.

“I just didn’t have the rhythm today, I guess,” said Normoyle, who gave up playing football to devote himself to pole vaulting.

Normoyle may have been disappointed, but his coach, Steve Gevinski, wasn’t disappointed in him.

“I thought he was amazing, just the strength and the speed he showed was unbelievable,” said the Riverhead coach.

Friday’s postponement made life difficult for Shoreham-Wading River junior Ryan Udvadia, who had to run two long-distance finals on Saturday as a result. Udvadia clocked a time of 9 minutes 10.24 seconds to take sixth place in the 3,200 meters, which saw Nick Ryan of Fayetteville-Manlius triumph in 8:58.28.

“I dozed off during the race,” Udvadia said. “I wasn’t paying attention. I let the front pack get too far ahead.”

Ryan nearly pulled off an impressive double later in the day, with only a few hours to recover. He was nipped at the finish line by Eric Holt of Carmel in the 1,600 final. Holt’s winning time was 4:07.00, just 55/100ths of a second faster than Ryan. Udvadia was eighth in 4:17.11.

“I’m not disappointed,” he said. “Honestly, anything under 4:20 I’ll be happy with.”

Two Mattituck athletes made their first appearance in the state meet. Darius Brew, a freshman and the youngest competitor in the triple jump, came in 23rd place with a distance of 40-3 1/2.

“I feel I did O.K,” Brew said. “It’s acceptable because I’m young, but I feel I could have done better.”

His teammate, junior Sal Loverde, did not have one of his better days, throwing 126-0 for 28th place. The winning throw was 181-9 by Jericho’s Noah White.

“It was unreal,” Loverde said. “The amount of competition is great.”

CARTER SETS HER BEST TIME IN 100 Bishop McGann-Mercy’s Danisha Carter posted a personal-best time in the 100 meters. The junior was 16th in the 100 in 12.89. She was 13th in the 200 in 26.32.

“I think I did [well] for the competition that I was up against,” Carter said. “My back has been killing me, so I came in thinking I wasn’t going to do [well] at all.”

McGann-Mercy was represented by another athlete at Middletown’s sparkling Faller Field. Delina Auciello, a junior celebrating her 17th birthday, was reportedly not feeling well with a stomach ache, but still competed in the 3,000 finals. She finished 25th in 11:28.73.

Competing in the state meet can be a humbling experience. Even top runners can find themselves near the back of the pack.

McGann-Mercy coach Ben Turnbull said, “New York State is a big state.”

bliepa@timesreview.com

KATHARINE SCHROEDER PHOTO | Our Lady of Mercy’s production of Alice’s Adventures continues at North Fork Community Theater today at 2 p.m.

Our Lady of Mercy Theatre Group presented its first performance of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland at the North Fork Community Theatre Saturday night.

Written by Lewis Carroll and adapted by Christine Watts, the play follows Alice as she discovers the strange world that exists down the rabbit hole.

A second performance is scheduled for Sunday at 2 p.m.

A Cutchogue woman was arrested Wednesday afternoon for leaving her 7-year-old son unattended on the side of Route 25 in Mattituck, Southold Police said.

Christina Scartha, 44, was highly intoxicated while lying on a sidewalk near the bus stop on the north side of Main Road, according to a report. Police said they were alerted by an anonymous tip.

Following her arraignment in Southold Justice Court on a misdemeanor count of endangering the welfare of a child, Ms. Scartha taken to the county jail in Riverside in lieu of $1,500 bail, according to a report.

Police said the boy was brought to headquarters and then turned over to his father.

BILL LANDON PHOTO | Mattituck striker Abigail Graeb scored the Tuckers’ lone goal Tuesday night against John Glenn.

Abby Graeb admits she is competitive by nature. She demands a lot of herself.

“I hate losing,” she said. “I hate tying. That’s a loss for me, personally. I just give it my all.”

So it should not be surprising that the soon-to-be high school junior was disappointed in the result of Mattituck’s 1-1 tie with John Glenn in the opener of the Town of Brookhaven Summer League Tuesday night at the Patchogue-Medford Youth Complex.

Graeb and her teammates realize that the summer league will be the first step in rebuilding the Tuckers for the fall season. They lost 13 seniors from last year’s team, which reached the Suffolk County Class B semifinals.

“My philosophy is that there’s always room for improvement, and clearly there is,” Graeb said. “It’s summer soccer and we lost half of our varsity team due to the seniors graduating. We’re still getting familiar, trying to build our new team. We’ve had only three practices. I think we need to work together. Hell week [pre-season in August] will always be a good time for that. Right now this is just a good starting point to see where we are.”

Graeb, who scored the lone goal for Mattituck, will be battling for a starting spot this fall. Last year she had a senior playing in front of her at her position, although she did start a few games.

“If I didn’t start [coach Peter Hansen] put me in and I played more than half of every game,” Graeb said.

So getting a good jump start during the summer league is important to Graeb and her teammates.

“I’m looking forward to this upcoming year, but I lost a lot of friends, lost a lot of solid players,” she said. “All our seniors were basically starters except for two. I feel this year will be more of a defensive year, it looks like. But that’s also giving us something else to work on — offense.”

The Tuckers had an opportunity to work on attacking Tuesday and Graeb tallied past goalkeeper Rachel Rosenberg in the eighth minute to take a 1-0 lead. Graeb chipped Rosenberg, a field player who was tending goal because the team did not have a regular goalkeeper.

“I have a problem of keeping my head down,” Graeb said. “I just picked my head up. I saw an opportunity to try to beat a girl. I kind of chipped it over the goalie.”

The summer league allows players to start working on match fitness for the season, which kicks off in September, while playing the game they love. Mattituck is a combination of players from Mattituck, Greenport and East Hampton. The league is an informal competition in which players have to provide their own transportation to games. Depending on where they live, East End players might have to drive up to an hour to get to games.

Sometimes getting a full starting 11 is an achievement. Glenn began with 12 players as two more participants showed up during the match.

Even though the Tuckers had five substitutes, not all players were interchangeable. When one of the coaches asked a player whether she had ever played midfield, she replied, “If you really want me to, I can figure it out.”

The Tuckers are guided by a pair of Mattituck alumni — Kaitlin Graeb (class of 2008), Abby’s older sister, and Veronica Stelzer (2011). This is their first coaching gig.

“We take it seriously,” Stelzer said.

“We’re Mattituck alumni, so we want the girls to do well,” Kaitlin Graeb said. “That’s been a tradition in our school.”

Something the Tuckers want to continue this fall. Tuesday was just the unofficial starting point.

ROBERT O’ROURK PHOTO | Mattituck guard Eugene Allen drives to the basket against Mount Sinai Thursday in the Town of Brookhaven Summer League.

BROOKHAVEN SUMMER LEAGUE  |  TUCKERS 38, PANTHERS 37

Sure, it was only summer league.

But as Eugene Allen headed to the free-throw line with 8.2 seconds left and the Mattituck Tuckers down by a point, he could still feel the pressure.

“I was really nervous,” Allen said. “I looked over at coach and I was like, oh God.”

The nerves hardly bothered him. Allen calmly stepped to the line and sank both free throws to lift the Tuckers to a 38-37 win over Miller Place at Eastport-South Manor High School Thursday night. The Tuckers improved to 2-0 in the Town of Brookhaven Summer League.

Fittingly, it was Allen who had the ball in his hands at the end.

Allen torched Miller Place for 17 first-half points, nearly outscoring the Panthers by himself. A varsity player since the end of his freshman season, Allen (21 points) is part of a core of returning players for Mattituck who have their sights set on taking a big stride forward in the upcoming varsity season.

To continue that improvement, the Tuckers are playing in two separate summer leagues together, where they’ll play about 25 games.

The Tuckers were shorthanded against Miller Place with only two bench players.

So Allen stepped up to carry the team early, showing why he’ll be an impact player for the Tuckers come November.

Now standing 6-foot-1, Allen has grown about two inches since last year. And he’s packed on about 25 pounds to fill out his muscular frame.

He showed off his athleticism in the first half with two fast-break, one-handed dunks.

While he’s yet to get a dunk in a varsity game, Allen said it won’t take much longer.

“That’s going to come the first game, no doubt,” he said. “I’m going to be feeling it that game.”

The summer league is the start of a busy schedule for Allen over the next few months. He’s playing on both Mattituck summer league teams, an AAU team and working out with the football team to prepare for the upcoming fall season.

“It’s a busy, busy summer,” Allen said.

Allen is hoping to play either basketball or football in college. The summer, particularly in AAU, is a chance for him to showcase his basketball skills to some college coaches.

One of his biggest goals for the summer is improving his shooting skills.

“Just shooting the ball a lot,” he said. “My handle, free throws, everything.”

Allen showed off his jump shot against Miller Place early on. He sank two long jumpers to start the game.

“That gets me going if I see my shot falling,” Allen said.

Allen scored 11 straight points at one point in the first half, capped by a one-handed fastbreak dunk to put Mattituck ahead 19-13.

The Tuckers took a 27-18 lead into halftime and grabbed their biggest lead early in the second half when Parker Tuthill sank a free throw to make it 34-20.

But the Tuckers did not hit a field goal over the final 18 minutes of the game and Miller Place came storming back with a 15-0 run to regain the lead with 43 seconds left.

Mattituck regained the lead when Tuthill sank a pair of clutch free throws. The Panthers answered back with two points with 16 seconds left and the Tuckers called a timeout.

Mattituck got the ball into Allen out of the timeout and he was fouled in the corner as Miller Place attempted to double team him.

With most of Mattituck’s roster back from last season, Allen said the future is bright for the Tuckers.

“We’re going to have a successful season,” he said. “I think we’ll have a real special season.”

joew@timesreview.com

A Riverhead woman with a prior DWI was arrested for driving drunk along Route 48 in Mattituck Saturday night, Southold Town police said.

Jamie Walsh, 29, was stopped for traffic violations shortly after 10 p.m. when she was found to be intoxicated, police said.

She was taken to police headquarters and held for a Sunday morning arraignment. Her vehicle was seized due to a prior DWI conviction, police said.

COURTESY PHOTO | Joseph Tandy and Tara Buczak, both Air Force veterans from Mattituck, will have a free wedding at Brecknock Hall in Greenport this Veteran’s Day.

A country-chic wedding is in the works for a Mattituck couple, both active members of the armed services, this year’s winners of Peconic Landing’s third annual Veteran’s Day Wedding Giveback.

Joseph Tandy and Tara Buczak, both serving in the Air Force, are busy planning their November nuptials after being named the winners of a contest rewarding deserving couples that have served or continue to serve in the U.S. Armed Forces by providing a free wedding at historic Brecknock Hall building in Greenport around Veterans Day.

“Before I was deployed my mom and I looked at Brecknock Hall and I fell in love with it,” Ms. Buczak said. “I thought we couldn’t afford it. We are so happy.”

The bride-to-be said she’s already picked out the theme.

“We are very country,” she said, explaining that the couple got engaged while listening to country music and watching the sunset over a field in Mattituck.

“I just knew he was the one,” she said. “I can’t imagine life without him.”

Seven years earlier the couple barely knew each other, despite graduating from Mattituck High School just a year a part.

Sparks began to fly in 2007 when Ms. Buczak, a senior airman, attended St. John’s University and worked at Legends Restaurant in New Suffolk.

“We would talk when he came into the restaurant, but then he left for basic training and I thought that was that,” she said.

In August 2008 Ms. Buczak got the surprise of her life when Mr. Tandy, now a staff sergeant, walked into Legends in his uniform and ask her out on their first date.

“I’ll never forget it,” she said. “He just got home from basic training in Texas wearing his military blues. He was trying to impress me. It worked!”

The couple has been inseparable since. Last year. They were deployed to Afghanistan together, along with Mr. Tandy’s younger brother, Michael. Their service bought them all closer as a family, she said.

“Even on days when I was nervous I knew he was there,” Ms. Buczak said.

In Afghanistan, their mission was to support helicopters flying casualty evacuations. Their efforts saved 85 lives.

They returned to Mattituck in February 2013 and are currently full-time technicians at the 106th Rescue Wing in Westhampton Beach. Ms. Buczak is an aviation resources manager and Mr. Tandy is a jet engine mechanic.

A panel of Peconic Landing resident veterans unanimously chose the couple as this year’s recipients.

“Peconic Landing is proud to be a part of the Veterans Day wedding for a third year,” said facility president and CEO Bob Syron. “The contest is especially meaningful to Peconic Landing because so many of our residents are veterans and the wedding is a great opportunity to give back to those brave individuals who serve our country.”

The wedding will take place Sunday, Nov. 10, the day before Veterans Day. The supporting sponsors encompass a wide array of wedding services, all donated to the bride and groom in appreciation for their service to their country.

cmurray@timesreview.com 

A 49-year-old Mattituck woman was arrested for driving while intoxicated Saturday morning in Peconic, Southold Town Police said.

Kim Bokina was stopped for failing to maintain lane of travel about 2:49 a.m. on Mill Lane. Police determined she was intoxicated and she was arrested, transported to headquarters and held overnight for arraignment, police said.

Did you know that there are two Mattituck-Laurel Libraries?

There’s one in the real world, but also an exact replica in the virtual world of Minecraft, an online video game that has grown tremendously in popularity over the last few years. On June 20, the library launched its own server for the game, on which an exact digital version of the building exists for the Minecraft world.

The idea was sparked by an article in the monthly magazine School Library Journal, said Karen Letteriello, the library’s co-manager of children’s services. The article encouraged libraries to start Minecraft clubs and use the game as a learning tool.

“I read the article and thought, ‘Wow, a virtual 3-D world that’s similar to Legos. We have to have it.’ ”

Still, Ms. Letteriello wanted to ensure that game was a viable learning tool. As she researched Minecraft, she came across the studies of Dr. Susan Ambrose, director of Carnegie Mellon’s Eberly Center for Teaching Excellence.

Dr. Ambrose found that game-based learning in virtual environments makes learning more fun for kids, motivates them, immerses them in material so they learn more effectively and encourages them to learn from their mistakes.

The library then enlisted the help of Elizabeth Grohoski, who processes all materials for its children’s room collection, to bring the Minecraft library world to life.

Ms. Grohoski, an avid player of the game since it launched in 2009, painstakingly photographed every part of the library to create the virtual version online.

Players enter through the library doors, which look just as they do in real life, and “walk” up to the circulation desk. They can turn right to go into the children’s room or left to go downstairs. Everything appears exactly as it does outside the game.

Ms. Grohoski has created scavenger hunts and quests throughout the virtual library that introduce young players to literature without their even realizing it.

Throughout the virtual library, she placed “treasure chests” full of books — the same books found in the library’s real collections. One of the books in each chest holds a clue to the location of the next chest.

“It’s cool looking through all of the books,” 13-year-old Minecraft fan Collin Kaminsky said while gaming. “It still has descriptions of all of the real books in the library even if you don’t need them for the quest.”

Library director Kay Zegel said the digital library is the first of its kind. Although other players have created general libraries in the game, this is the first representation of an actual public library designed exactly like the real thing.

The library did a test round to see how children played and the response was said to be overwhelming. During one of the test rounds, four boys with their faces glued to their computer screens were asked what they thought about the game and the virtual library.

“Awesome!” they all screamed.

“I’m just glad they enjoy it,” Ms. Grohoski said. “I was rather surprised by the amount of enthusiasm. I was not expecting that intensity.”

Children who already own the online game (Minecraft costs $26.95) can download the library world and play at home. Those who don’t own it are welcome to play for free at the library, which has four gaming computers and an iPad.

Every Friday throughout the summer there will be four one-hour gaming sessions — but be sure to call and reserve a spot; the computers fill up fast.

“The librarians are always on the cutting-edge of resources and they’ve done a great job of bringing them to the kids,” said Lori Connolly, whose son, Ian, is a big fan of Minecraft and plays at the library.

“My son loves it,” she said, “and I’m told it’s a great teaching tool as well, even though it might not appear to be. I’d love for the library to have a ‘Minecraft for Parents’ seminar now.”

intern@timesreview.com

JENNIFER GUSTAVSON PHOTO | The state recently posted a stop-work order at the North Fork Bagel Company in Mattituck. The bagel shop opened last year.

About a year after opening its doors, the North Fork Bagel Company in Mattituck has locked its doors and was issued a stop-work order by the state.

According to a flyer posted at the bagel shop dated June 20, the company and owner, JJ Madison, failed to secure Workers’ Compensation coverage.

A phone call to the state’s Workers’ Compensation Board wasn’t immediately returned Thursday. Donielle Cardinale of Cardinale Group-Daniel Gale Sotheby, whose company owns the shopping center, wasn’t immediately available for comment.

The bagel shop opened a few months after the North Fork Bagel Cafe closed in January 2012. That cafe had been in business for nearly 15 years.

jennifer@timesreview.com

GARRET MEADE PHOTO | Mattituck’s Chris Dwyer (35) tangling with Southold’s James Penny and Patrick Mejsak (40) for a rebound.

It was a typical scene for a summer league basketball game. Just moments before the opening tipoff, Chris Dwyer rushed into the sticky Patchogue-Medford High School gym and dropped off what looked like a small lunch box onto the Mattituck bench before heading onto the court. His coach, Paul Ellwood, joked about how Dwyer is a blue-collar player who literally brings a lunch box with him to the game.

The truth is, the container held a blue ice pack that Dwyer has been bringing to games this summer to give him some cool relief in hot gyms that could double as saunas.

Of course, that is not to say that Mattituck doesn’t have blue-collar players — not to mention talented players, improved players, up-and-coming players. In short, the Tuckers have a lot, and a lot to look forward to. The team has remained largely intact since the last school season. Mattituck players are refining their skills by playing in two summer leagues (Brookhaven and Southampton), and the results on the court have been encouraging.

“We’re looking good,” said Gene Allen.

That certainly includes Allen himself. The 6-foot-1 guard, who is Mattituck’s marquee player, looks taller and stronger as he prepares for his senior season.

Allen’s transition even caught Ellwood by surprise. “He just turned into a man overnight,” Ellwood said. “Unbelievable. I didn’t see him for like two weeks, and I couldn’t believe how much he changed.”

Allen’s above-the-rim game is undoubtedly coming along, too.

GARRET MEADE PHOTO | Mattituck’s headline player, Gene Allen, looks taller and stronger this summer.

“He’s the role model of this team pretty much,” Dwyer said. “He’ll find everybody [with passes]. He makes other players look great.”

But Allen is only one of many familiar faces that seem to have given Mattituck a head start against many of its summer league opponents. Will Gildersleeve, Joe Tardif and Dwyer were also regular starters during the last school season. Twin brothers Ian and James Nish, who are both 6-2, have athleticism that helps the team defensively.

Of the younger players, though, sophomore point guard Parker Tuthill might be the one that raises some eyebrows.

“Parker’s going to be a sensational player,” Ellwood said. “He needs to get physically just a little stronger, but he’s got the skill set, a tremendous point guard.”

Of course, the one person who will not be surprised by any of the Tuckers is their coach. “I know I have a lot of good players who are going to step up, and they’re getting better,” said Ellwood.

With Allen pouring in a game-high 17 points, Mattituck brought its Brookhaven League record to 5-0 with a 50-32 romp over Southold at Patchogue-Medford High School on Thursday night. Allen also accounted for seven rebounds, three steals and two assists, but he lamented his 1-for-7 free-throw shooting.

Dwyer may have played his best game of the summer. The junior forward put up 11 points and grabbed a game-high nine rebounds.

Southold’s talented junior guard, Liam Walker, played well, too, supplying his side with 11 points while Alex Poliwoda added nine.

Mattituck shot 48.7 percent from the field, but what Dwyer liked best was its passing, which he raved about. All but one of Mattituck’s 19 baskets were assisted. “It looks good,” he said. “We’re flashing to the ball more. We’re driving.”

Allen explained: “You trust the person you’re passing the ball to. You know they’ll do something good with it.”

Despite the undefeated record in Brookhaven, Ellwood said he is even happier about how Mattituck is doing in the more competitive Southampton League, where it has to tangle with tough teams like Southampton, William Floyd, Riverhead, Bridgehampton and Center Moriches. The Tuckers were 3-3 in that league through Thursday.

By playing in both leagues, the Tuckers have the opportunity to play as many as four times a week. Ellwood said they will play a minimum of 25 games this summer, and as many as 29.

Allen said it amounts to “a lot of laundry.”

Not to mention playing experience.

Ellwood said the Tuckers have things to work on. He noticed that sometimes the team’s play gets stale when it settles for too many jump shots. Improvements need to be made, he said, in defensive toughness and interior offense. Still, all in all, it’s hard to complain about how things look in the middle of July.

“It’s encouraging,” Ellwood said. “I’m not so concerned about the record. We are 5 and 0. That’s nice, but you just want to see us taking steps in the right direction.”

bliepa@timesreview.com

JULIE LANE PHOTO | A settlement calls for the driveway on Gardiners Bay Drive belonging to Melissa Ko and S. Daniel Hahn to stay as is and Mattituck landscape contractor Matthew Daly gets an undisclosed amount of money for his work.

Details aren’t being made public, but there’s a settlement in the case between a Shelter Island couple and a Mattituck landscaper over the costs of a $400,000 driveway and courtyard.

Matthew Daly of MGD Horticulture insisted he was authorized to have his team build the driveway and courtyard paved with Belgian blocks and lined with Georgia granite at 34 Gardiners Bay Drive. Homeowners Melissa Ko and her husband, S. Daniel Hahn, insisted they were out of town when the work was done and never approved it.

Lawyers for both sides said Friday morning the settlement was in line with suggestions from Suffolk County Supreme Court Justice Emily Pines in June.

“It’s more or less and more than less” of what the judge had suggested last month, said Robert Zausmer, attorney for Ms. Ko and Mr. Hahn.

Last month, he had said his clients agreed with the judge’s compromise except for one aspect.
Edward Boyle, Mr. Daly’s attorney, said last month that rejecting one aspect meant there was no acceptance by the couple of the proposal.

But Friday morning, Mr. Boyle said, “People tend to get serious as they get close to judgment day.”

Both he and Mr. Daly expressed their pleasure with the final resolution. “You know the expression, ‘Happy wife, happy life?’” Mr Boyle said. “Happy client, happy lawyer.”

At stake was a bill for $405,595 that included some landscaping and the driveway and courtyard work. The couple had already paid $225,811 for a previous landscaping bill. Judge Pine had ordered them to pay $276,000 of the $405,595 bill for the additional landscaping. That left $129,595 in question. How much was paid is part of the sealed settlement. But Mr. Daly said it enabled him to pay back money he had borrowed on credit cards to tackle the job and pay his crew.

“I feel that it was very acceptable,” he said about the settlement. “I’m happy that it’s behind us. I’m pleased for everybody involved.” At the same time, he said he learned “a life lesson” that in the future he needs to follow: “I will spend more time looking into local coding and certainly dot my ‘i’s and cross my ‘t’s.”

Mr. Daly, a licensed landscaper, lacked a home improvement license required for the driveway work, which opened the door to the suit. Mr. Daly thought that since the work wasn’t part of a home improvement but related to original construction, he didn’t need the license.

“Peace has been restored to the world — or at least to Shelter Island,” Mr. Zausmer said. “We had a very good judge and she did her job. That’s what good judges do.”

Whenever he’s involved in similar cases, Mr. Zausmer said he advises clients to weigh financial settlements with lifestyle issues.

“I think they’re happy to get this over,” Mr. Zausmer said about Ms. Ko and Mr. Hahn.

j.lane@sireporter.com

GARRET MEADE PHOTO | Mattituck sweeper Nicole Zurawski, left, battling with Casey Luongo of Center Moriches for possession of the ball.

The lucky 13 (as in uniform number) in the Mattituck lineup belongs to Nicole Zurawski, not that luck can be attributed to the sort of soccer player that Zurawski has become. Her progress is the result of athleticism, commitment, dedication and hard work, not chance.

Zurawski, a junior sweeper, may be regarded as Mattituck’s best player. In years past, when the Mattituck soccer factory was churning out one player after another and the Tuckers were richly stocked with talent, the team might have had eight, nine or 10 Nicole Zurawskis at a time.

Now, there is only one.

The absence of a club team for girls to play for in Mattituck and a downward trend in program numbers have taken their toll. No longer are the Tuckers as dominating a presence as they once were. One only needs to look to the last school season to see that times have changed. Mattituck barely scratched into the playoffs — something that had been routinely taken for granted — and did not have enough players to carry a junior varsity team.

“It’s sad to say, but I feel like we used to have a solid 11 on the team,” said Veronica Stelzer, a former player for the Tuckers (Class of 2011) who coaches Mattituck’s summer league team. “Now we’re getting a solid four or five because there are no travel teams in Mattituck any more so they don’t have the chance to play together. And everybody’s putting 110 percent on the field, but they only play in the fall.”

GARRET MEADE PHOTO | Center Moriches’ Emily Fey, left, and Mattituck’s Jasmine Fell have their eyes on the same prize.

But the Tuckers do have Nicole Zurawski, and for that they are thankful.

Stelzer was a high school senior when Zurawski was brought onto the varsity team as an eighth-grader.

“She’s amazing,” Stelzer said. “She’s my little MVP, and I’m always telling her to keep her head up because it’s hard to be the sweeper and have all the pressure on you, but I’m so proud of her. She’s just awesome.”

Still, these are trying times for the Tuckers. Aside from Zurawski, the only other two Mattituck players who play club ball are juniors Abby Graeb and Courtney Murphy.

With a few other exceptions, such as Kyle Freudenberg, Kellie Stepnoski and Isabel Torgrove, there isn’t a whole lot of experience to draw from. Even some players who were on the school team last year didn’t get much playing time. For instance, Val Hommel, a senior goalkeeper, didn’t play in a single game.

“It’s crazy. We’re just not experienced,” Zurawski said. She added: “It’s definitely sad to see because … Mattituck soccer has always been [competitive]. There’s tryouts to get on the team, and each year there just seems to be less and less girls going out” for the team.

Zurawski was introduced to the varsity scene as an eighth-grader on a senior-laden team. “I learned so much from them,” she said of those seniors. “… Eighth grade, that’s definitely when I blossomed because I had so many people to look to.”

A defender for virtually her entire soccer life, Zurawski was converted to forward as an eighth-grader and played there for part of her freshman season before being moved back to her more familiar sweeper position, which she also plays for Brentwood United’s under-16 team.

“It’s where I’m most comfortable, definitely,” Zurawski said. “It’s a lot of pressure, which I like. I play better under pressure.”

Zurawski takes many of Mattituck’s free kicks. She said her distance and accuracy on free kicks over the past few years has improved dramatically.

Scoring isn’t normally part of a sweeper’s game, but Zurawski did score a goal during the last school season — directly off a corner kick!

But because Zurawski is the last defender playing in front of her, Hommel may appreciate Zurawski’s speed and physical presence more than anything else.

“She’s awesome,” Hommel said. “I can definitely trust her. … If I miss a ball, I know she’s there. She’ll try her best. She’ll go dive for the ball, just like I will. Definitely, Nikki leaves it all out on the field.”

A sign of how much work Mattituck has ahead of it was seen Friday when it was beaten, 5-0, by Center Moriches in a Town of Brookhaven Summer League game that was played in a torrential downpour at the Patchogue-Medford Youth Soccer League Complex. All of the goals were scored in the opening 27 minutes, including two apiece by Emily Fey and Claire Brady. Casey Luongo also scored.

Meghan Ricci made three saves for Center Moriches’ fourth shutout in six games, four of which were wins.

The Red Devils had the game in hand, outshooting Mattituck by 18-8.

Mattituck played shorthanded, starting the game with only nine players. The Tuckers dropped down to eight players late in the first half after Stepnoski came off the field with an injury, and then found themselves with 10 players by the start of the second half after Stepnoski returned to action and the late-arriving Graeb entered the game.

The result left Mattituck’s record at 1-3-2.

Stelzer said the level of play has dropped a couple of notches since she last wore a Mattituck uniform, but she has noticed some positives.

“We have been improving with every game,” she said. “Our first game we were a little rusty; fitness-wise, we weren’t there; teamwork-wise, we didn’t know each other’s names. Now we’re starting to work together, call each other out, be there for each other, be an option, and it’s really looking up.”

bliepa@timesreview.com