The trip, which costs $90 and is put on annually by the Lee Community Tennis Association, includes a $52 ticket good for all courts and bus fare, which is a pretty reasonable price considering you’d have to pay for parking, gas, and drive home after sitting out in the sun all day if you went on your own.

I guess the thing that stood out the most was simply how close you can get to the athletes. While watching a second-round match between China’s Li Na and Italy’s Sara Errani on one of the outer courts, we sat in the front row. Now, front row is always a good seat, but this one was unreal. We could literally smell the aftershave of the baseline judge. The only thing separating us from the man was a chain-link fence. He sat directly in front of us, and diagonally to the right. Imagine peering at pitches over the shoulder of a baseball umpire and that was our viewpoint. And this for a match that featured a Chinese player who, just a short time earlier, had beaten Venus Williams and lost in the bronze medal match of the Summer Olympics.

Errani, who is 5-foot-4, 132 pounds, won’t be compared with Venus or Serena Williams very often. But yesterday, to casual fans from my vantage point, she was a reminder of just how well trained tennis athletes are. While serving in traditional tennis attire, a tank top and a skirt, Errani’s stretching serve lifted her shirt to reveal a chiseled set of abs. Sometimes, while watching tennis players play, I forget the type of conditioning it takes to run sprints for a solid 90 minutes or put enough torque on a first serve.

The only negatives where the typical combination of New York and stadium prices. A sausage as $7.50, a basket of chicken tenders and fries $9.50 and the official cocktail of the Open, a honey deuce, made with Grey Goose vodka, was selling for $13.

Over the course of the day I ventured into each of the areas you read about. Arthur Ashe Stadium was huge, but didn’t house a bad seat. I missed the most dramatic moment of the day there – second-seeded Jelena Jankovic’s survival in a third-set tiebreak – but did catch some of Novak Djokovic’s dismantling of Arnaud Clement. Clement is a very solid player and seemed, to me, to be playing quite nicely. Yet, Djokovic sent him home with a stress-free straight-set victory and wasn’t broken at all.

I also caught portions of matches from Janko Tipsarevic, a personal favorite who battle Roger Federer to five sets in Wimbledon and showed nicely in Wimbledon. He also reads the work of famous authors while on tour (Fyodor Doystoyevsky, Friedrich Nietzsche and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe). Any athlete that does that type of thinking is an inspiration to me, but unfortunately, Tipsarevic couldn’t think his way out of an ankle injury and lost to Sam Warburg.by forfeiting after one game in the second set.

We also saw a terrific bit of doubles from the 12th-seeded mens team of Pablo Cuevas and Luis Horna, and the return from injury of Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, the Muhammad Ali look-alike who, not so long ago this year, advanced to an Australian Open final.

While he hasn’t been heard of since, prompting many to think of that run as a fluke, it’s been an injury, rather than poor play, that’s kept him quiet. He had surgery in May for a torn right meniscus and was playing his first match since then against Santiago Ventura.

Ventura played well early, but tired late, losing in four sets. Despite the rather routine win, Tsonga played to the crowd after a big fourth-set point and pumped his fists afterward, declaring this was not just any other day for him at the U.S. Open.

You could say the same for me, so a big thank you to Ed and Clare Lahey, who helped put the event together for the CTA, as well as the folks that made my first visit such an enjoyable one.

Every team remaining here had a winner of an award. Their names should be posted on the Babe Ruth Web site.

- Winton Brown, Berkshire Eagle staff

It was a good overall game. Tori Shepard dominated like she has been throughout the tournament. The crowd was pulling for Prairie Village. Miranda Malone pulled a liner to right center at game's end, but it was caught by centerfielder Jerika Senecal. Lodi celebrated in the outfield. They're the champs!

Now, the presentations are about to begin! Congratulations to Lodi, Calif., who finishes the tournament undefeated. Senecal wins player of the game honors for that great catch to save the game.

- Winton Brown, Berkshire Eagle staff

- Winton Brown, Berkshire Eagle staff

Winton Brown, Berkshire Eagle staff

Prairie Village, Ky., advanced to tonight's championship game (or games) by defeating Henderson, N.C., 4-2 early this morning. Prairie Village will face unbeaten Lodi, Calif., with the Series championship on the line. Since it's double elimination, the Kentucky team will need to beat Lodi twice tonight to claim the title. Lodi, meanwhile, needs only one victory for the crown. The first (and perhaps only) game is scheduled for a 5:30 p.m. start, with the if game tentatively scheduled for 8 p.m.

Henderson had previously advanced to meet Prairie Village with a 3-2 win over Gorham, Maine, in the consolation bracket.

Full coverage of both games, as well as tonight's championship, can be found on our Web site at www.berkshireeagle.com/sports. Keep checking the Sports Squawk, as well as the Babe Ruth site (www.brlworldseries.com) for updates on tonight's action.

- Matthew Sprague, Eagle sports editor

Garrett and Crowe from Gorham pitched one hitters today. Tomorrow, they'll be going head to head. The Prairie Village/Lodi showdown just got started. There is high anticipation to see the top two unbeaten teams.

Winton Brown/Berkshire Eagle

Speaking of change, Henderson has white uniforms today. For most of the tourney, they had ski blue uniforms. A lot of teams have similar uniforms. So, its good that they changed it up. But, the green hair, that's something to take notice of.

We'll see who'll get the best of one another in this game. There's a lot at stake. Who's going to keep their run going in the Babe Ruth World Series?

For Prairie VIllage, K.Y., it's merely a respect thing. Prairie Village manager Brad Malone said his team "is flying under the radar". They're not recieving the same press that some of these other teams are. He's right. They're undefeated. They've beat two good teams 2-0. This is not a team that many can sleep on. They're competitive with talent. If they keep winning, they won't be flying under the radar too much longer.

Winton Brown, Berkshire Eagle

There was a singing of "God Bless America" the inning before. Don't know why it wasn't sung in replace of the National Anthem, but it was. It was nice entertainment break from the highly competitve game.

Winton Brown, Berkshire Eagle

Speaking of Shepard, she has a total of 59 strikeouts in four games, giving up 14 hits and only 4 walks. As for Garrett, she has 48 strikeouts, given up 7 hits and given up 5 walks. This has been a series of the pitchers.

Gorham, ME just beat Methacton, PA 2-0. The Gorham team was singing Happy Birthday to one of it's players. After a win, she got a good birthday gift.

The crowd wasn't as lively and active as it has been, especially for this game. Most likely, it could be contributed to many of the teams leaving after being eliminated from the tournament. The remaining games should be very competitive . Everyone is now anticipating the 5:30 game.
Winton Brown, Berkshire Eagle

She must be hurt because there are people are running around trying to get medics. Apparently, she's bleeding. Hopefully, she'll be ok. Both games are intense.

It's an average day at Gerald Doyle field. People dodging foul balls. No one's got hit yet.