April 17, 2009 — With the crack of the ball against the bat, the 13th annual Ruby Rutnik Softball Tournament kicked off Friday at the Winston Wells Ballfield in Cruz Bay.
"We want to win," said Antilles School student Lauren Sibilly, 14, as she and her teammates got ready to play.
Antilles won the tournament last year, an especially sweet victory because the late Ruby Rutnik was a star pitcher at the school. She died in a car accident in Washington, D.C. in 1996 while attending college.
Her parents, Janet Cook-Rutnik and Andy Rutnik, have organized the tournament every April since she died in her memory.
"We want our school to bring back a win in her honor," Sibilly said.
While most of the young women on the Antilles team hailed from St. Thomas, Julia Hogroian, 14, comes from St. John. In addition to knowing the Rutniks, she came out to play because it's fun.
Antilles faced off against the St. John All Star team.
"We have the mentality to hopefully win," Dia Otto, 16, said.
For the first time in tournament history, a St. John celebrity threw out the first ball. Miss St. John Razzilee Oquendo wanted to play on the All Stars team, but her schedule kept her too busy.
"I enjoy playing many sports so I wanted to do this," she said as she headed for the pitcher's mound.
The tournament continues through Saturday with the championship game scheduled for 8 p.m. St. Croix's Central High School dropped out of the tournament due to last-minute funding issues, but Elmore Stoutt High School from Tortola will join Antilles and the All Stars in vying for the championship.
The young women came to win, and parents and friends came to support them.
Dilsa Capdeville came over from St. Thomas to watch her daughter, Diandra Capdeville, play for Antilles.
"And St. John is a wonderful place," she said, sitting in the bleachers with St. John resident Nancy Stadnyk.
St. John resident David Trahan wanted to show his support because his daughter, Valerie Trahan, had received a Ruby Rutnik Scholarship. He said she was studying at Florida Southern College.
The money raised through the sale of innings and T-shirts goes to fund the Ruby Rutnik scholarship program. Since the tournament began, the fund has awarded $86,500 worth of scholarships to 23 students. Cook-Rutnik said the fund will give out four scholarships this year worth $2,500 each.
Two scholarships go to St. John young women to help pay for their college education. The third goes to a college-bound young woman from the winning team's school. The fourth goes to fund a one-year pre-school or lower school scholarship at Ruby Rutnik's alma mater, the Gifft Hill School. When she attended, the school was called Pine Peace School.
Ruby Rutnik's sister, Sophie Rutnik, is pleased to see that the island's younger generation supports the tournament.
"We see new faces every year," she said
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