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Charlotte Amalie
Thursday, March 28, 2024
HomeNewsArchivesCENTRAL HIGH WINS RUBY RUTNIK SOFTBALL TOURNEY

CENTRAL HIGH WINS RUBY RUTNIK SOFTBALL TOURNEY

The Central High School girls varsity team gets to take the brand-new Ruby Rutnik Memorial Softball Tournament plaque home for a year.
The two St. Croix squads, from Central and Educational Complex, were scheduled to meet in the tournament finals Sunday afternoon at the Winston Wells Ball Field in Cruz Bay. But the Complex students had to leave on a boat scheduled to depart too early for them to stay for the game. So Central, which was the defending champion and had won its two previous games, was declared the winner, Janet Cook-Rutnik, Ruby’s mother, said.
In the men’s modified slow-pitch contest, the Marlins — a St. Thomas team that includes several St. John players — won the final game, 21-6, against the Latinos to take away the championship trophy.
The junior varsity girls competition was canceled because several teams were unable to participate, Cook-Rutnik said.
This was the 4th annual softball tournament held in memory of Ruby Rutnik, a star pitching alumna of Antilles School who died in a car accident in 1996 on the mainland, where she was a student at American University. The tournament is a fund raiser begun by her family to raise money for college scholarships to be given each year to St. John young women.
At this fourth tournament, for the first time, a wooden plaque carved by Coral Bay artisan Avelino Samuel was presented to the winner. It will have the winning school’s name affixed on a brass plate, along with plates for those who won the three previous tournaments, and will stay at the winning school for a year.
The event was successful as a fund raiser, Cook-Rutnik said. "We sold all the innings, and we really want to thank tournament director Gayle Deller and her husband, George, an umpire." Gayle Deller, a coach at Eudora Kean High School, coached for many years on St. John at the Julius E. Sprauve School.

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