Summer is finally here and the Greenville Recreation Department, under the able leadership of Director Sally Tornquist, has many offerings to make this special time of year adventurous and fun.

On June 23-24 the Mid-Maine Rec Softball League held it playoffs at the Sangerville Veterans Memorial Park. Over 150 youth participated in the league this season. The grades 3-4 winner was Tri-Town (Palmyra) and the runner-up was Pirate Rec (Guilford/Sangerville). The grade 5-6 winner was Corinth and the runner-up was Dexter.

Once again the Maine Whoopie Pie Festival kicked off on the Saturday morning with the Piscataquis Regional YMCA’s Earn Your Whoopie Pie 3K and Kids’ 1K Fun Run, with both races starting on River Street on June 23.

Rico Portalatin, 47 of Milo, turned in one of the top times at the 2018 Shipyard Old Port Half-Marathon on June 23. Portalatin covered the 13.1 miles in 1 hour, 17 minutes and 27 seconds, placing him seventh overall in a field of 2,825 finishers.

Before the trip down the East Outlet of the Kennebec River even began, guide Dan Legere offered a warning to Bangor’s Michael McCarthy.

Foxcroft Academy is embarking on a fundraising campaign for the construction of a new field house on campus, boosted by a lead commitment of $2 million from the Libra Foundation.

Two summers ago ultrarunning legend Karl Meltzer broke the Appalachian Trail thru-hike speed record with a time of 45 days 22 hours and 38 minutes, and it was documented in the film “Karl Meltzer: Made To Be Broken.” The 42-minute documentary has just been added to Netflix, right as many thru-hikers have set off on their own journeys through the nation’s most iconic trail this summer.

The search for competitiveness within Maine high school football has taken several routes in recent years, from the addition of a fourth class in 2013 to crossover scheduling and a new developmental fifth class last fall.

Among the area combatants who could land on the Sept. 8 card are two fighters from The Outlet in Dexter who both won amateur bouts at NEF 34 last weekend. Angelo Rizzitello improved his record to 2-1 with a first-round victory by D’Arce choke over Clifford Redman in their lightweight bout, while bantamweight Sarah Matulis defeated Carol Linn Powell by rear-naked choke in the first round.

In three consecutive innings from the bottom of the fourth to the home half of the sixth South top seed Greenville High School softball escaped bases loaded jams against North No. 2 Penobscot Valley High School of Howland in the 2018 Class D championship on the afternoon of June 16 at Brewer High School’s Coffin Field. The defending state champion Howlers would cut a 4-1 deficit to 4-3 in the seventh, but Greenville kept the potential tying run stranded at third to win the first state championship in program history

Baseball and softball players from the region’s high school earned postseason recognition from the Penobscot Valley Conference for their performances during 2018.

Outdoor track and field athletes from four area high schools received postseason honors from the Penobscot Valley Conference.

Mr. Baseball finalists include pitcher Jacob Bickford of Dexter, the Penobscot Valley Conference Class C player of the year who will attend the University of Maine in the fall;

The life Angelo Rizzitello leads would be too busy and out-of-the-ordinary for most of us. His work schedule is four weeks on, then four weeks off. That might sound appealing or achievable, until you consider that “work” means being sequestered on a drill ship in the Gulf of Mexico.

Athletes from area high school tennis teams were among those receiving 2018 honors from the Penobscot Valley Conference.

A week after winning both events at the Class C championship, Penquis Valley High School junior Cymeria Robshaw took part in the long and triple jumps, along with the other top performers from the six states, at the 73rd New England Interscholastic Outdoor Track and Field Championship on June 9 at the University of New Hampshire.

The Kiwanis Club of Dover-Foxcroft held its 46th annual Piscataquis River Race, from Guilford to Dover-Foxcroft, on May 26 (the event was moved back a month due to unsafe conditions in late April) with 26 boats and 41 racers.

Fort Kent rallied to tie the game in regulation but came up short as Dexter Regional High School defeated the Warriors 3-2 in nine innings in a Class C North quarterfinal matchup on June 7.