Lay wins OAC district golf title

CAMP FOSTER, Okinawa — Zachary Lay didn't look like a guy who'd just won the Okinawa Activities Council district golf championship. "Absolutely terrible," the Kadena junior said after walking off the 18th green following a triple-bogey, including a one-stroke penalty for grazing the ball on a practice swing. Thankfully for Lay, a deft touch that led to birdies on Nos. 9 and 12 helped him hold off a charge by Panthers sophomore teammate Reid Henderson for a two-stroke victory after Thursday's second of two rounds. Lay carded an 88 following Tuesday's 80. Henderson shot 88 and 82 for a 170. Lay and Henderson helped Kadena beat Kubasaki 1,599-1,763 to regain the island team title it lost to Kubasaki last year. It's the Panthers' second island championship in the past three years. "He's worked a lot on his swing, mechanics and attitude," Kubasaki coach Bob Driggs said of Lay, who finished fourth in this event last year. "He and Reid, they feed off each other. They complement and work with each other well." Playing year-round, with their fathers and their colleagues, helps the two "get the social side of golf. It's a life sport," Driggs said. The two-day event was played in gusty wind and bright sunshine that baked the fairways and greens as hard as cement in some places. "Everything is bone dry," Lay said. "All this mud dried up, makes it even harder." On a 6,300-yard, par-69 Awase Meadows Golf Course layout that Lay says gives him a "mental block," Nos. 9 and 12 proved to be his salvation. He stuck the tee shot within 10 feet of the cup at No. 9 for a birdie that helped him make the turn at 8-over 44. "I've birdied that hole and stuck the tee shot 10 feet or closer the last three times I've played that hole," Lay said. While the ninth was relatively flat, the 257-yard, par-4 12th hole required a precision tee shot to the green or past it, or the player risks landing at the bottom of a vast gully, staring up at an approach resembling three giant grassy stair steps. "It's a crazy hole," Lay said. Lay drove just off the right side of the green, but within striking distance. He got up and down in two for birdie, giving him a four-shot lead with six holes left. It was just enough, as Lay bogeyed the 365-yard, par-4 No. 17 while Henderson made par, then barely averted disaster on 18. "My putting was better today," Henderson said. "I just got into trouble on some holes. I three-putted on 1. Fourteen hurt me, and so did eight." Kadena wins seventh straight OAC girls softball title CHIBANA RECREATION AREA — Unlike the previous six island championships, this year's 2009 Okinawa Activities Council district girls softball title held a special caveat: This was the first Kadena team to win both the island title and the DODDS-Japan tournament championship, winning the latter earlier this month at Naval Air Facility Atsugi. "It's fabulous. I'm very proud of the girls. It's beyond words. This is awesome," coach Jesse Costa said after Kadena edged Kubasaki 9-6 to sweep the best-of-three series 2-0. Mary Schweers pitched a complete game, giving up two earned runs and five hits with four walks and two strikeouts. Shannon Scott and Abigail Shapiro-Kinghorn each knocked in runs in a three-run third inning and Jennifer Jones and Domonique Holcomb did the same in the fifth. Carrie Thompson-Davis was the losing pitcher in her Dragons swan song, allowing five earned runs and 12 hits with three walks and four strikeouts in six innings. She is to attend Texas A&M in the fall.