The Old Dominion Summer Classic turnout exceeded expectations. This was the second tournament held at Petersburg this year, thanks to the Ruther Glen Horseshoe Club who hosted. Their support and food can't be beat! From start to finish, their club members were there, serving up, opening pits, taking scores down, covering pits, whatever, whenever, we needed assistance, they were there. The VaHPA depends on the sponsoring club, and this one did everything we could ask for. Thank you all.   The weather forecast called for sunshine and temps in the high 70’s and the pitchers also didn't let us down. 51 attended! Thank you all for showing up! Thanks also go to the sponsors this year, without you, things wouldn't be the same!!  On behalf of the VaHPA, THANK YOU SPONSORS:
A Class - The Cowan Family 
B Class - Beverly Brothers & Sons Logging 
C Class - Donald Parkes 
D Class - Winchester Horseshoe Club 
E Class - Cottage Carpet 
F Class - Rick & Amy Hall 
G Class - King Custom 
H Class - Trophy Case

Two new sanctioned clubs formed in the Richmond area this past year, the King William and the Richmond Horseshoe clubs. The Chesapeake members came out enforce, so we had a lot of new faces as the tournament started. We had 51 signed up by 10am!! Welcome to all of you, it was really great to finally meet those people I've been hearing a lot about !!

Altogether, eight classes were held. Class E finished pitching first. David Turner took home 1st place, pitching 31.20 %. There was a three way tie for 2nd place between Cindy Jones, Kirk Adams, & Charlene Hix. Cindy Jones received 2nd and Charlene took 3rd . Cindy Jones came in with a 28 % average and pitched 35.96 % for the day. Good Pitching Cindy, and say hello to Class D next tournament. 

       Class H  finished next and there was a three way tie for first. Jerry Shifflett squeaked by Marvin Lunceford 22 – 19 to advance to pitch Rachel Cowan for First Place. Rachel beat Jerry earlier in the day but Jerry pitched a little better this time and won 25 – 14 to take 1st.  Trey Mcdowell,  our only pee wee division horseshoe pitcher was also in Class H, he didn’t win any games but he had a good time. He picked flowers for my wife after he had pitched and was flirtin with her. I warned him she was high maintenance. 

       Class C finished up the first round of classes with Mark Bunch winning 1st place going 6-1. Floyd Hix Jr. took 2nd and there was a three way tie for 3rd between George Holley, Donald Parkes, & David Cowan Sr. George Holley received 3rd with a 39.70 % average.

     In the second round, Talmage Dunn Went undefeated 5-0 to win Class F. Thomas Hix and Brad Jones tied for 2nd Place. Thomas received 2nd place with the higher average and Brad took home 3rd.

    Class A had six  pitchers 2 women and 4 men. Renee Cowan got 1st in the 30ft going 5-0 and Amy Hall received 2nd.  In Mens Class A  There was a three way tie for 1st between Hearl Kelly, Lenwood Connor Sr., & Denny Davis. Lenwood edged out Denny in a close game to advance and play Hearl. Hearl pitched 70 % in the playoff game to take home 1st Place.
          Hearl Kelly also had the high percentage for the tournament that day averaging 68.01 %  Ricky Hall  had the high game of the day 35 ringers out of 42 shoes for  83.3 %, but the best game of the day was between Amy Hall and Hearl Kelly. Amy started off with a 16 to 6 lead when Hearl hit 21 of the next 22 to take a 24 to16 lead over Amy. Amy then pitched 25 ringers out of the next 26 shoes to retake the lead 32 to 24. Hearl pitched 17 ringers out of the last 18 shoes to come back and win the game 43 to 32. That's an awesome game for both pitchers. 

     Class D had a tie for 1st with David Moser pitching against Howard Blackwell. I kept the score for this game and it was a good one. David got off to a good start leading 22 to 14, but Howard started hitting and mounted a come back. With 10 shoes to go, and Howard leading 31 to 23, I heard Dave tell Howard he wanted a 2nd place trophy because his cabinet at home couldn't hold any more 1st place trophies, they were too tall and a 2nd place one would fit fine. Howard laughed and thanked David and went on to win 39 to 24. There was a two way tie for 3rd place as well, Sonya McDowell received 3rd place having a higher percentage than Marvin May.

     In our last round of classes for the day. Class B had a three way tie for 1st place. Horace Phillips had the high percentage and had to sit and watch the playoff between Jim Barr & David Lloyd who traveled up from North Carolina. Jim  defeated David and went on to play Horace for 1st. They both pitched like they wanted to win, after 50 shoes Jim was 32 out of 50 and Horace was 30 out of 50. The game went a total of 64 shoes with Horace coming back to win 41 to 36. In that play off game Horace averaged 64 % and Jim averaged 61 %. Good pitching guys. 

And last but not least, In Class G newcomer Miles Noel went 5-0 to take home 1st place. Miles came in with a 14% average and pitched a 24.37 % tournament. Good going, You'll be pitching some new faces next tournament as well. Mastin Kitchen took 2nd place and Daniel Yelinek received 3rd. 

I believe everyone enjoyed coming back to Petersburg to pitch, and I hope there are more events held there in the future.   Thank you all for attending. 
  Ricky Hall
  President,