Hilton Head Monthly Connecting the Lowcountry 
The Hilton Head Island All-Stars had a remarkable run through the Dixie Youth Baseball AA Machine Pitch World Series.
The team of 7- and 8-year-old all-stars from the island came within one win of claiming the Dixie World Series title in July, finishing their run through the district, state, and World Series tournaments with an 18-3 record. The team was led by coaches Johnny Carr, Alvin Espinoza and Pete Fontana and manager John Ontal.
Hilton Head Island High School inducted six former student-athletes and coaches into the school’s Athletics Hall of Fame and Hilton Head Preparatory School added six former student-athletes and two former coaches to its Athletics Hall of Fame in September.
International Junior Golf Academy students took 11 Top 10 finishes in the International Junior Golf Tour’s Florida Junior tournament, held Sept. 15-16 at Falcon’s Fire Golf Club in Kissimmee, Florida.
“We made up less than 25 percent of the field but recorded a slew of top- 3s and a win,” said IJGA director of golf Jonathan Yarwood.
INTERNATIONAL JUNIOR GOLF ACADEMY FINDS NEW LIFE
Andrew Summers had big dreams when he bought Bluffton’s Old Carolina Golf Club: The club and golf course would become home base for an academy for junior golfers. The dream is closer to fruition thanks to a recent $2 million renovation that has reimagined the International Junior Golf Academy and set it apart from the competition.
RENOVATED ISLAND REC HOSTS FIRST BASKETBALL GAME
Hilton Head Island Recreation Center hosted the first basketball game Aug. 18 in its newly renovated facility, when deputies with the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office challenged firefighters from Town of Hilton Head Island Fire Rescue. The sheriff’s deputies won the “Guns vs. Hoses” basketball game — the final score was 65 to 31 — but a rematch is planned for next year. Hilton Head Island town manager Steve Riley received the game basketball and many thanks for his hard work on the Island Rec Center expansion project.
The Hilton Head Island-based Professional Tennis Registry announced that Peggy Edwards, director of communications and editor of TennisPro Magazine, was presented a 2018 Award for Publishing Excellence.
The Big 10 coalition will host its sixth annual kick-off picnic from 4 to 6:30 p.m. Sept. 23 at Indigo Hall in Indigo Run Plantation. Coach Sharon Versyp, the women’s basketball coach at Purdue for the past 12 years, will be the speaker. She was inducted into both the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame and the New England Basketball Hall of Fame.
Colleton River Club member Neal Morrison narrowly missed a spot at the 2018 U.S. Senior Amateur Championship in a qualifier on the club’s Nicklaus Course.
The best tennis players on two wheels are back on Hilton Head Island this month, when Professional Tennis Registry hosts the Wheelchair Tennis Championship at Chaplin Park Tennis Center and Hilton Head Motorcoach Resort. Cash donations, bottled water, food for lunches, and other items for the players are needed, as are scholarships to help players with entry fees and travel. To donate, contact Julie at 843-785-7244 or email julie@prttennis.org. To volunteer during the championship or for more information, contact Paige at 843-785-7244 or paige@prttennis.org.
Fall is a popular time for charity golf tournaments on and around Hilton Head Island, and there’s a full slate lined up for September:
• Weichert Realtors-Coastal Properties will host the 12th annual Weichert Charity Golf and Tennis Event in Wexford Plantation on Sept. 10. This year's event will benefit Family Promise of Beaufort County. For more information, call 843-341-3700 or go to www.weichertcp.com/events.
