April 11, 2003 – Efforts are under way to reschedule the games of the 2003 Ruby Rutnik Memorial Softball Tournament that were rained out last weekend on St. John.
"Unfortunately, this year's tournament was rained out after the first game, in which Antilles beat Good Hope by a narrow margin when the game was called for time," Janet Cook-Rutnik said in a release on Thursday.
Girls' softball teams from five schools — Antilles and Sts. Peter and Paul on St. Thomas and Central, Educational Complex and Good Hope on St. Croix — signed on for this year's seven annual competition. The tournament is in memory of Ruby, a standout Antilles softball pitcher who was killed in an auto accident in Washington, D.C., where she was a college student. She was the daughter of Andrew Rutik and Janet Cook-Rutnik of St. John.
Tournament directors and coaches are working to reschedule the games, "which will probably be played on St. Croix, if a free weekend can be identified for all the schools," Cook-Rutnik said.
Having the event washed out "was a great disappointment," she said, "but as we all know, the rain otherwise was terribly welcome."
The annual tournament in addition to honoring the memory of Ruby has raised funds for the Ruby Rutnik Scholarship Fund, which each year awards a one-year $2,500 college scholarship that is renewable for a second year to a young woman from St. John.
The board of the Ruby Rutnik Scholarship Fund "wishes to thank the community for its overwhelming support of the tournament and the scholarship fund, which was generously contributed to by individuals, businesses, corporations and suppliers from all three islands," Cook-Rutnik said.
And, she said, application forms are available now at Connections in Cruz Bay and Coral Bay for the 2003 scholarship award. The deadline to submit applications is May 15. For more information, call the Rutniks at 776-6809.
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