The first flight of classes had a tough time trying to dry things out. Men's C, F, and H started the day pitching. Golden Salmons averaged 29.64% in H class and  won all his games. His high single game for the day was 36% against Butch Thompson. Ben Robinson finished 1st in F Class with an average of 30.31% and a high single game of 56.52% against Ken Hall in the last round of play. C class pitcher Bill Hartless started the day with a long game against Craig Settle - 68 shoes - Bill beat Craig 42 to 38. Craig must have just been getting warmed up - it was his only loss of the day. He ended up 1st with a 43.68% and a high single game of 50% against Phillip Law. 

Amy Hall and Rene Cowan finished out the morning round of pitching with the best 3 out of 5 games. An off day for Rene, with a 65.15%, she was defeated by Amy 3 - 0.  Amy averaged 83.33% for the day with a high single game of 84.21%.  Out of all the pitchers at the event , Amy's 84% was the high single game for the tournament.

The State Singles Meeting was to be held at 1:00 PM, but due to the delay in starting the morning classes it didn’t start until almost 3. During the meeting, the first thunderstorm rolled in. Fortunately for the pitchers Ric Hall had purchased rolls of plastic to cover the courts. Before the meeting started, all of the courts were covered, and after the meeting, a quick cleanup with the mops , sponges and blower again, play resumed. The rain very well could have stopped the day, but the plastic sheets work out extremely well. Only a few of the courts had puddles, most of which came from removing the sheeting. 

The afternoon classes, Men's A, Men's B and Woman's F, Jr Girl B started around 4:30 and had managed to get a few rounds in before the rain hit again.  The women managed to complete their rounds before the rain, and Mary Dunivan beat out Delissa Sturtz in the best of 5 games. Mary ended up with an overall average of 8.06% and a high game of 16.67%.   Rachel Cowan won Jr Girl’s B class State Champion, with a record of 3 wins, no losses. 

The courts were once more covered around 8 PM. After an hour or so delay, and a few phone calls to people at home who could watch the radar, both the A and B class resumed pitching.  Slick and slimy conditions prevailed.  Another thunderstorm put a halt on things. After a brief delay, it was determined that the storm was over the mountain range and pitching resumed. A drizzle persisted to the end of A Class which ended around 1:30 am. A very long and wet day for all 20 pitchers in both A and B classes.

The most decisive game in A Class occurred in the 7th round. It took Darrell 66 shoes to edge out Branson 40 to 37. (Branson's only loss of the evening.)  At the end of the 9th  round , Darrel and Branson were tied with 8 wins and 1 loss each, forcing a playoff. Darrell must have had been tired and cold by then. He only mustered 5 points against Branson's relentless pursuit of the peg. 30 shoes later Branson emerged the victor finishing out the game 40 to 5 with 24 out of 30 shoes (80%). Branson has proven he can pitch with the big boys, adjusting very well to moving back and pitching at forty feet. 

At the same time, in B Class, a similar struggle was taking place. Due to the rain, a few of the pitchers had left early, but the remainder decided to keep going. By the ninth round, there was a four way tie for first place. Chris Foster and Jessie Johnson team up along with Terry Figgins and Ray Barb fought it out for 3rd and 4th  place positions.  Jessie ended up in 4th and Ray finished 3rd. Their opponents Chris and Terry had one more game to go. It took 54 shoes to determine the B Class Champion. A close game right down to the end, Chris managed to put the last couple of shoes on the pole to beat Terry 40 to 33. Chris averaged 52.64% for the games and had a High game of 72.5% against Wayne Sturtz.

Sunday morning  Sept 3, proved to be just as difficult for pitching shoes. Watching the weather channel before leaving home, it looked like we might be able to get things done. Driving up to Grottoes it was dry and partly cloudy, but once we pulled off I-81 and looked towards Grottoes things looked really dim. The clouds were just hanging over Grand Caverns. Pulling into the Caverns a light rain developed. By 9:00 the light rain turned heavy and by 9:30 a deluge. Puddles of water everywhere. Even though the courts were covered with the sheets of plastic, so much rain had fallen, that even if it did stop raining, it would be impossible to get the courts dry enough to pitch on. The day was called. Those that helped pack up tents for Wayne, Kevin and Mike in the downpour deserve a round of applause. By 11:15 the park was deserted. As people drove out and got back to the interstate the roads were completely dry.  Pat and I arrived home at noon in Stuarts Draft only a mere 25 miles away to partly sunny skies. As we watched the Weather Channel, it seemed as if the storms coming over the mountain range had their sites on Grottoes. Mike Cupp said it didn’t stop raining there until 2:00, yet here in the Draft we enjoyed sunshine. A very unusual storm.

So….the Sunday pitching schedule was postponed to Saturday Sept 30 with the same pitching times. Only a handful of people did not return for the rain date.

Saturday morning, Sept 30, started out a little cool and cloudy. As the day progressed, the sun broke through and it turned out to be one of those bright crisp autumn days that are so good for pitching horseshoes. Men's D, Women' s B and D, Junior's A, Senior Woman, Elders Men and 30 Foot Men's took their positions on the courts right on schedule.

Charlie Carter won Men's D class, 4 wins 1 loss averaging 38.37% with a high game of 45.24%. Women's D Class pitched through twice, and ended up in a battle, with Pat Snelgrove and Rosette Cupp vying for 1st place. Rosette had beaten Pat the first go 'round, and Pat had beaten Rosette in the second go 'round, forcing the playoff.  Pat came out the victor ending the day with 6 wins, 1 loss, averaging 30.15% with a high game of the day at 37.5%

Thelma Dunivan (Women's B) , Audrey Swartz (Elder Women), Gene Dunivan ( 30 ft men) and Donald Parkes (Elder Men) gave it their all. They played each other once to take home their trophies. It sure would be a lot more fun for these folks if we could get them more competition. 

In Women’s C Class, Carol Fredricksen (Berryville) and Kara Vannoy (Ruther Glen) pitched for the Championship title. Carol won the division with a 3-2 record, even though Kara ended up with the higher percentage of 29.09%.

The Junior Boy A and Junior Girl A competed against each other in a 6 man round robin. It took Chris Orndorff 60 shoes to defeat the number 1 seed - David Cowan Jr. It was in their last game of play that Chris won 42 to 36. Chris averaged 35.71% for the day with a high game of 41.67%. David ended up with a 41.88 %, his high game was 45.65%. One game can make all the difference in the world. Charlene Hix took the Jr Girl A division with an average of 26.12% and a high game of 35.19% against her brother Thomas.

In the afternoon, Men's G, E, and I Classes started pretty much on time. Steve Wheeler and Sheldon Worley (E Class) ended up in a playoff. Steve emerged the victor with a 31.5% average for the day and a high game of 40% on Sheldon. Terry Sparks took Men's I with a 12% average and a high game of 18% over Steve Marquess.

In Women’s E class, Diane Barb (Strasburg) beat out Cindy Jones (Moneta) in the best 3 out of 5. Diane took the State Champion position with an overall average of 19.6%.

G Class, with a 50 shoe limit per game, ended up a 3 way tie for 1st.. Melvin Via nudged Phillip Lux into 3rd , setting up the last game of the event. It was a tight game between Tommy French and Melvin Via. At 48 shoes Tommy threw a ringer to beat Melvin 29 to 28. Tommy can proudly display his trophy around Dublin. His average ended up at 31.02%. Tommy's high game, a smoking 57.69%, 15 ringers out of 26 shoes was against George Hopson. As his buddy, Don Lawson said "Braggin' rights for a year."

Out of the whole two day tournament, the longest game was between Juniors Robbie Schaefbauer and Charlene Hix - 76 shoes to reach 40 points!! Robbie won the game, but Charlene had the highest percentage, with a 22.37%.  What a game! 

This being the first year that a state tournament was run live on a computer, all of the pitchers seemed to enjoy the immediate statistics that were available "what was my percentage that game"? "how did I do all day"?  (without the delay of pencil, paper and calculator), as well as the photos running on the monitor as a slide-show. We’re happy that our contributions were appreciated by the pitchers, and with this continued support, we look forward to helping out next year. 

And….Looking forward to next year, if we all just pray a little, keep our horseshoes pointed up, and make wishes on all the pennies we find on the ground, we might be blessed with better weather for the State Singles!!    Have a safe and happy winter, see you on the courts next spring.   Pat & Kevin