Six classes were set up, for a total of 31 pitchers, great turnout for an event at the end of the season like this. We were pleased to welcome pitchers from West Virginia, Maryland, and newcomers from Virginia. Around 3pm, a last minute cell call from the MD pitchers delayed the start, but not by very much. Scheduled to start at 3, we were on the courts by 3:45. What a day it was!!

In F Class, new pitcher Hope Presho blew out the competition by pitching 19.35% over her entering average. She explained the improvement by saying “Carl Otto is such a great coach. I’ve been pitching doubles with him, and he’s been telling me how to improve. It’s obviously working, because I’ve gotten much better in just a month!!“ (That AND with encouragement from other club members, she moved up pitching from the 40 foot mark to the 30 foot mark….)

Hope earned 1st place in the class, but newcomer Rocky Wallace didn’t go down without a fight. They ended up in a 3 way tie for the title, Rocky and Dave Mininger pitching first. Rocky won that game 27-17, and set up the pitch off with Hope. It was a shoe limit game (50), and Hope dominated from start to finish. Rocky got off to a slow start, and just couldn’t catch up. The game ended 39-21 – Hope. Congrats!! Way to go!

E Class ended with a 3 way tie for first – Bobbie Johnson, Michael Huff and Glenn Bouley - unfortunately, it had started to rain as they finished their final rounds. So the participants agreed to finalize standings by percentage, not pitch-off. Bobbie 1st place, Michael 2nd, Glenn 3rd.

In D Class, Jack Abrams had a great day pitching – he took the class with a 5-0 record and surprised even himself “this is the first time I’ve done well all year!!”. Yogi Guyer was his closest adversary with a 4-1, his only loss for the day was in his game against Jack. Jack took 1st, Yogi 2nd, John Cummings came in 3rd . In the fourth round, Cummings faced off with Doug Gamble – what a tight game – the lead shifted back and forth until at shoe 38, the score was 19/18 Gamble’s favor. At shoe 42, the score was 20/19 Gamble’s favor. Then, at shoe 46, Cummings tossed two ringers, making the score 22/21. for the next four shoes (50 shoe limit) Gamble covered one ringer, and didn’t cover the point. Cummings won the game 23/21. Tight game to the end !!

Jim Hartman took out C Class 6-0 , but his class mates didn’t just hand him the title without a fight. In the fifth round, he faced Marty Coleman and pitched the longest game of the day with 70 shoes total. At 50 shoes, the score was 25/20 – Coleman’s favor… at 60 shoes, the score was 33/28 Hartman’s favor. At 68 shoes, Coleman took back the lead – 37/34. Then, that final set of shoes… Hartman threw a sixpack, Coleman only covered one. Hartman won the game 40/37 !! Great pitching to the end!!

And in B Class, Ray Barb took first place 4-1, only losing to A Class pitcher Tamara Burke. In 2nd place was WV pitcher Greg Dotson, with a 3-2, 53.70% overall. His percentage was higher than Ray’s 50, but W-L tells it all.

A Class, Tamara Burke, was tickled pink for the day. She ended with a 80.13% overall, hitting a 90% game during play against Wayne Burdette, fellow statesman from WV . Those of us in the score booth empathized with Wayne – the score was 45-0, and the game was done in 20 shoes. Tamara said she was really trying for the “perfect game”, but missed two ringers, getting only 18 out of those 20.

The Stuarts Draft HS Club had a fun day. We used our lights!! – one of the goals for the event. We’ve only used them once for a tournament since we put them in, so this just proved the investment worth the effort. Our lights work excellently!!

We also had a mini-bon-fire in the grill… you know the big steel grill we have at our courts? – we threw charcoal and wood in it, and when it warmed up, it WARMED UP THE PITCHERS!! We roasted hotdogs, hamburgers, slopped out my renowned chili and dished out Newfie Stew !! We did our best to warm the pitchers from the inside-out.

Thanks to all that came to Stuarts Draft for the event. The plaques we awarded were commented on over and over – new design, very much appreciated – mfg KingCustom.com

I hope to see you on the courts soon. Pat