TimesLeader20190726E001

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Little League: Greater Pittston Area suffers first loss at Major Baseball state tournament

<p>DALLAS &#8212; When it was time for Keystone State Games medals to be handed out in the 60-69-year-old men&#8217;s doubles division, Bill Berrier posed with his dog Kobe.</p><p>&#8220;Kobe gets his picture taken every time I win,&#8221; Berrier said.</p><p>That may explain why Kobe was so comfortable for the cameras.</p><p>&#8220;He gets his picture taken a lot,&#8221; Berrier&#8217;s partner, Ron Rowe said.</p><p>Officially, there are not state senior games being held in conjunction with the Keystone State Games this summer, but events &#8212; like pickleball, being held at Newberry Estate &#8212; are popular with the senior crowd.</p><p>Tennis, bocce ball and darts will also be contested at Newberry Estate.</p><p>&#8220;Newberry Estate is an excellent location for our senior athletes because it provides a multitude of sports in one location and provides fantastic shade,&#8221; Keystone Games executive director Jim Costello said.</p><p>Pickleball was the only event being contested when the Luzerne County portion of the Keystone Games, which makes up the bulk of this year&#8217;s activities, got underway Thursday. Two dozen sports will be contested at multiple sites around the county during this weekend and next weekend.</p><p>A total of 14 doubles teams showed up at Newberry Estate Thursday. All but one uncontested Open Division men&#8217;s team was made up of players 50 or older.</p><p>The field of participants was a blend of local players taking advantage of a chance to play in a tournament close to home and more serious players traveling to the area in pursuit of titles.</p><p>Stu Kirkwood lives in the condominium community at Newberry and plays pickleball there a couple times a week along with playing at the YMCA in Wilkes-Barre when weather is not conducive to outdoor play.</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s a good social activity,&#8221; said Kirkwood, who plays with Joe Kotsur from Shickshinny at the YMCA and partnered with him Thursday in the 60-69 division. &#8220;It&#8217;s fun to get out and get you going in the morning and play for a couple of hours.</p><p>&#8220;You get a good workout and meet a lot of great people.&#8221;</p><p>Kirkwood played in the Keystone Games for the first time two years ago and assisted event coordinator Jack Monick during last year&#8217;s Senior Games. Kirkwood will be back at Newberry Estate Friday, not to play but to see if Monick needs any assistance during the singles and mixed doubles play that will conclude the pickleball competition.</p><p>Like Kirkwood, Don Kalina from Clarks Summit, a competitor in the 70-79-year-old division, just picked up the game in 2017.</p><p>&#8220;I just started two years ago and now I&#8217;m addicted,&#8221; said Kalina, who also plays at Birchwood Racquet Club in Clarks Summit and the YMCAs in Wilkes-Barre and Dunmore. &#8220;It&#8217;s very social. I get to meet a lot of people and I don&#8217;t like going to a gym and standing on a treadmill.&#8221;</p><p>Both Kirkwood and Kalina enjoy the game while appreciating the time and practice it has taken others to reach the championship level.</p><p>&#8220;It takes a lot of playing and playing a lot of the better players,&#8221; Kirkwood said. &#8220;There are some very, very competitive people and you really have to be playing them to see how they&#8217;re playing and what kind of shots they&#8217;re making and what they&#8217;re doing.</p><p>&#8220;There&#8217;s a commitment to it. I look at it as more of a social activity.&#8221;</p><p>Rowe, who took up the game eight years ago, and Berrier, who started two years later, described their interest the same way originally.</p><p>They each started playing as a couples activity with their wives, Sheri and Madaline.</p><p>&#8220;As you start getting better, you start wanting more competition and start being more competitive,&#8221; Berrier said.</p><p>Berrier and Rowe won the most contested division of Thursday&#8217;s competition, going 3-0 in the four-team, double-elimination division. After a pair of 11-2, 11-2 wins, they defeated Edward Greth from Gilbertsville and Ray Gillen from Montrose, 11-4, 11-5, in the final. They have won tournaments as partners &#8212; including last year&#8217;s Keystone Senior Games at Newberry &#8212; and separately.</p><p>The 50-59 and 70-79 men&#8217;s doubles divisions each had three teams in the double-elimination format.</p><p>After a first-round bye, Daryl Rosidivito from Hatfield and Greg Costas from Newtown went 2-0 to win the 50-59 title.</p><p>George &#8220;Skip&#8221; Alexander from Telford and Hank Halat from Port Charlotte, Fla. were 3-0 to claim the 70-79 title.</p><p>Hennie van den Hengel from Springville and Alicia Ross from Throop swept two matches in a head-to-head battle to win the 50-59 women&#8217;s title.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Edward Greth (near left) and partner Ray Gillen take on champions Bill Berrier and Ron Rowe in the 60-69-year-old men&#8217;s championship match of Thursday&#8217;s pickleball competition of the Keystone State Games at Newberry Estate in Dallas. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/web1_IMG_0869.jpg</photo0><caption0>Edward Greth (near left) and partner Ray Gillen take on champions Bill Berrier and Ron Rowe in the 60-69-year-old men&#8217;s championship match of Thursday&#8217;s pickleball competition of the Keystone State Games at Newberry Estate in Dallas. </caption0><photoCredit0>Tom Robinson | For Times Leader </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/web1_IMG_0874.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Ron Rowe (left) and Bill Berrier, with his dog Kobe, won the gold medals in the most contested division of Thursday&#8217;s pickleball competition of the Keystone State Games. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/web1_IMG_0874.jpg</photo1><caption1>Ron Rowe (left) and Bill Berrier, with his dog Kobe, won the gold medals in the most contested division of Thursday&#8217;s pickleball competition of the Keystone State Games. </caption1><photoCredit1>Tom Robinson | For Times Leader </photoCredit1></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Tom Robinson</p><p>For Times Leader</p></bylineMeta></div>

Social and competitive: Keystone Games open with pickleball event