2009 Virginia State Doubles
An extraordinary job not only by members of the Winchester
horseshoe club but from our membership at large, helped make
the 2009 Virginia State doubles, possible. Five hours makes
a big difference, the pitching complex went from flood to
sun and heat in that time.
The first storm rolled in early morning dumping well over an
inch of rain. Standing water everywhere, the volunteers work
hard and it looked like the event would start on time at
10:00 am. Thousand of gallons of water where hand scooped
and dumped into five gallon buckets and hand carried to an
area that would drain the water while other members dug a
trench to drain the water off the courts.
The courts filled with pitchers getting warmed up, but as I
looked at the local radar the call was made to delay the
start of the games as another storm approached. The call to
take cover and be back by 11:30 was made. The second storm
was not as bad as the first one and everyone pitched in
again carrying buckets of water and sponging off the courts.
At high noon, the welcome meeting began and by 12:30 the
games began. The sun warmed up along with the humidity. By
mid afternoon a good breeze helped keep everyone cool. By
six in the evening it turned into a beautiful day.
On behalf of all the pitchers our sincere thanks to the
Winchester Horseshoe club and all the volunteers that work
so hard.
My personal "Thank You" to Chuck Duymich (TD) Sherwood
Brown(ATD), and Sue Guyer, it has been many years since Pat
and I have pitched our State Doubles together, most of the
time one or both of us has run the office. We appreciate and
thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity that you gave us!
Last years' Doubles Champions, Richard Brown and Herman
Harper, couldn't make the event, so for the first time in
many years, the State Doubles was held with no defending
team present. Herman has been battling cancer over the
winter months, please keep him in your thoughts! Richard
could not find a partner. Perhaps next year Brown and Brown,
Richard and (nephew) Anthony.
With the door open, the battle for State Doubles Champions
was a good one. After the A Class round robin, a tie for
first place (the Champion title) existed between Charlie and
Ronnie Walker from Mineral and Carl Otto and Glenn Barlow
from Richmond. The playoff game started slow for Otto &
Barlow, but they had almost tied the score by shoe 10. At
that point, the Walkers just kept laying down ringer after
ringer, with only about half getting cancelled. At 20 shoes,
the game was over, Ronnie & Charlie 41, Carl & Glenn 15. A
fathers day present to their dad "Jack Walker", they are the
new Virginia State Doubles Champions! Congratulations' to
you both.
Is a new dynasty starting? Walker&Walker vs Hall&Hall, we
will all see next year! Ric and Amy could not attend this
year because their youngest son Devon got married. We wish
Devon and his bride a lifetime of enjoyment together!
B Class also ended with a playoff - this was between Marty
Breeden & Jamie Steele from Christiansburg, and Anthony
Brown and Bobby Spencer from Richmond. When these teams
first met during the third round of play, the game ended
with a score of 42- 41. Breeden and Steele at 40/38 shoes
had the advantage with the score of 42 to 37. It was Bobby
Spencer's pitch back to equal out the shoe count. He needed
a double to win but could only muster 4 points.
The play off was tight until midway when the score reached
25-19 Richmond. Marty & Jamie got "stuck" on 19 for a few
more innings, while Anthony & Bobby kept pounding the pin.
Marty managed to score another ringer, making it 22-32, but
that was where the points stopped racking up. Anthony &
Bobby took the class 1st place in 24 shoes, with a score of
40-22.
C Class following the lead from the A and B classes and had
their own playoff between James Danner & John Rinker from
Winchester, and Danny Hughes & Randy Hughes from Lynchburg.
What a close match! The game ended at 41-37 with Danner &
Rinker taking 1st place.
In D Class, the second tightest game of the day pitted Kara
& Elden Vannoy, Ruther Glen, against Yogi Guyer & Chris
Moore, Stuarts Draft. The score was 39-38 Vannoys, when on
that last final throw, Yogi scored with three-ringers-three
points, winning the game by two.
The only class with a perfect win lose record was
Larry Morris & Eddie Gregory, E Class, they were seeded number 4
going in. They played over their average to win all their
games (5-0), took 1st place, plaques and patches! They drove
away smiling and still reviewing the game-by-game details.
Altogether, we had 32 teams that competed, the class seeding
worked out really well, with the largest spread only 9%. It
was certainly a very long day.
Let's do it again, and leave Mother Nature off of the invite
list!
See you all on the courts.
Kevin
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