NEWSLINE STORY

published November – December 2016

RESULTS: National Sanctioned League Championship Tournament

by Jerry Smith, 3^rd Vice President, Sanction League Director

The National Sanctioned League Championship Tournament was held October 1-2 at the NHPF Hall of Fame Building in Wentzville, Missouri.  The 22 teams battled for over $3,500.00 in prize funds over the two days of pitching.  The three person teams were cross-seeded into two classes, the Scarlet and the Gray.  Each three-person team played another team each round in a round robin format.  Games were 40 shoe count-all and were handicapped at around 85%.  Any team winning two or three of the games in a round were awarded a bonus point for their efforts.  The winning teams from each class played each other for the Championship.  The standings were as follows:

GRAY

1.         Cedar Rapids-IA                      32 pts

            Bert Logsdon

            Larry Purcell

            Glenn Warden

2.         Springfield-IL                           30.5 pts

3.         Team Minnesota                     30.5 pts

4.         Marengo-IA                             21.5 pts

5.         Topeka H-C. #1-KS                  18 pts

6.         Team Louisiana                       17.5 pts

7.         Denver Metro-CO                   17 pts

8.         Okla 3Some-OK                       17 pts

9.         Beloit-WI                                 15 pts

10.       Heart of America-MO             13 pts

11.       Quail Ridge Weds-MO                        9 pts

SCARLET

1.         Sheps Crew-CO                       32 pts

            Sheila Shepard

            Rich Pintor

            Fred Shepard

2.         The Good Guys-MO                30 pts

3.         Jim’s 4 Courts-AR                    29 pts

4.         West Des Moines-IA               23 pts

5.         Quail Ridge Girls-MO             22 pts

7.         The Liberty Ladies-MO           16 pts

8.         Crossville-TN                           15.5 pts

9.         Topeks H. C. #2-KS                  14.5 pts

10.       The New Guys-MO                  13 pts

11.       The Liberty Gents-MO                        2.5 pts

In the Championship games, Shep’s Crew squared off against Cedar Rapids.  In Class One, Bert Logsdon (IA) and Sheila Shepard (CO) pitched awesome games and tied at 100 points each.  Sheila shot 77.5% and Bert shot 75%.  Each team got half a win and half a loss.

In Class Two, Glenn Warden (IA) shot 72.5% and beat Rich Pintor (CO) 96 to 19.  Rich shot 60%.

In Class Three, Larry Purcell (IA) got the best of Fred Shepard (CO) 84 to 66.  Larry shot 57.5% and Fred shot 40%.

With two and a half wins, Cedar Rapids won the 2016 National Sanctioned League Championship.  Congratulations to the winning team and thanks to all of the teams who competed.  $75.00 was awarded to the pitchers in each class who threw the highest percentage game above their average.  Gary Boots from Minnesota won the Gray class with a 29.63% game above his average.  Rose Buhler of Missouri won the Scarlet class with 20.78% above her average.  Who says sandbagging is a bad thing, just sayin’!!

It was a fun tournament and, as usual, the Quail Ridge Club was a perfect host.  They had the courts and facility in great shape; helped with the scorekeeping, kept us hydrated and fed, and made us all feel welcome to Wentzville.  I want to give special thanks to Bob Dunn and NHPA’s Sec/Treas David Sidles for helping with the tournament.  Thanks also to Josh Olson and Dalton Rakestraw who helped in the stat room both days.  We will do it again next year so think about your team.  If anyone would like to help sponsor the tournament, please let me know, I’ll be out here in Idaho awaiting your calls.