The original line-up was to be with 8 pitchers and was expanded to 10 pitchers with the addition of Richard Mansfield, who won 2009 Class A; and Bob Blessing (a newcomer).  The only two returning from last years Elders championship 8 man field were 5th place finisher Jim Gleissner and 2009 & 2008 Elders State Champion Hershel Walters, who was also World Elders Champion the last two years, finishing 2nd in the World in 2010.  Joining these four pitchers was Pat Laffoon, who finished 7th in 2009 in the Mens Championship 10 man tournament along with another newcomer in Don Manges.  Coming from the 2009 5th place of Class C was Albert A. Kramer.  The remaining 3 pitchers, like Mansfield, all came out of the A Class of 2009 with Jim M. Morris (5th-A Class), Kokomo hometown favorite Ted Sprinkle (4th-A Class), and Ted Paver (3rd-A Class).  As with the Womens Championship, all 10 pitchers were right handed.  Four pitchers threw the flip shoe (Blessing, Mansfield, Morris, & Walters); four pitchers threw the 3/4 turn (Laffoon, Sprinkle, Paver, & Kramer); Manges threw the reverse 3/4 turn and Gleissner threw the 1-1/4 turn.  If entry ringer percentages mean anything (and they often don't matter, especially in particular games), the favorites according to seeding would have to be Walters at 83%, Gleissner at 79%, Laffoon at 70% and Sprinkle at 68%.  The rest of the field were coming in at 52% to 60%.  But as I stated elsewhere, it has to be decided on the courts, not on paper.

Don Manges faced Herschel Walters and with 9 ringers against 22 and a 78% game by Walters, he was only allowed 1 point before the game ended 40-1.  Pat Laffoon showed no mercy to Al Kramer by pitching 82% and winning 41-1, Al got a slow start with 35%.  (I might add that the open air day in Kokomo was beautiful for the spectators, but the wind was strong through some of the rounds for the contestants).  Ted Paver met an equally agressive Richard Mansfield who rung the stake at an 82% clip to take that game 40-1.  Ted Sprinkle (of the hometown Central Indiana Horseshoe Association) hit 35 ringers to 28 by Bob Blessing and took that game 43-25.  Jim Gleissner was 21% below entry average, but it was enough against the 50% game of Jim M Morris and at 58%, Gleissner pulled out a close contest at 42-32.
Standings:  Leaders at 1-0 were:  Walters, Laffoon, Mansfield, Sprinkle & Gleissner.  The rest were 0-1.

Sprinkle and Paver both pitched their games, but that gave Ted the edge in a 44-18 win with 25 ringers to 21.  Laffoon didn't cool off much with a 69% game against Manges, who pitched a 47% game for a 40-17 outcome to Pat.  Kramer picked up +16% from his last game against Gleissner, but Jim hit 33 ringers to 27 for a 42-22 win.  Walters dropped down 20% from round 1, but with 33 ringers, still had enough to beat the 27 ringers laid on by Morris for a 42-22 result.  Richard Mansfield and Bob Blessing were engaged in the battle game of the round, with Richard pitching at 58% and gaining 3 more ringers than Bob and slipping past him at 42-32.
Standings:  Leaders at 2-0 were still:  Walters, Laffoon, Mansfield, Sprinkle & Gleissner.  The rest were 0-2.

Kramer pitched 40% agaisnt Walters and Herschel pitched 10 more ringers at 71% to win this meeting 44-12.  After pitching an 82% game in round 1, Richard Mansfield dropped 30% against Ted Sprinkle and with 6 more ringers for the difference, Ted posted a 43-25 win.  With 40 ringers to 31 ringers, Laffoon went by Morris 42-16.  Ted Paver and Bob Blessing were only separated by 2 ringers in a close game, with Paver slipping by with a 40-31 finish.  The long 72 shoes game was a contest between Manges and Gleissner.  with 58% to 47%, Jim Gleissner won his 3rd game 45-29 ending with a double ringer (39 + 6).
Standings:  Leaders at 3-0 were now:  Walters, Laffoon, Sprinkle & Gleissner.  At 2-1 was Mansfield.  At 1-2 was Paver.  And at 0-3 was Morris, Kramer, Blessing & Manges.

Morris faced one of the 3 leaders with Sprinkle.  Sprinkle hit 23 ringers out of 30 shoes for 76% and Morris managed 10 less for the result of 41-10 Sprinkle.  Paver met Gleissner and faced Jim's 72% game.  Giving up 11 more ringers to Gleissner resulted in a win at 40-7.  Looking for their first win were Manges and Kramer.  Al only connected on 1/3 of his thrown shoes, while Don Manges hit 20 ringers to win the game 41-18.  In a tight 60 shoes game, Bob Blessing hit 36 ringers against 38 ringers by Herschel Walters.  The finish was very close, with Walters pitching 63% against a nice 60% game by Blessing for a squeaker 43-36 win by Walters, who remained undefeated.  Against Richard Mansfield, Pat Laffoon pitched a nice 66% game with 44 ringers.  But Richard rung the stake 45 times (68%) and edged out Pat with a last pitch win of 43-39, leaving them both at 3-1 in the standings.
Standings:  Leaders at 4-0 were Gleissner, Sprinkle & Walters.  At 3-1 were Mansfield & Laffoon.  At 1-3 were Paver & Manges.  And at 0-3 were MOrris, Kramer & Blessing.

Four pitchers were more than 10% off their entry averages.  They were Gleissner, Walters, Paver & Kramer.  The 2010 State Champion Ted Sprinkle was the only pitcher who exceeded his entry average by 1-1/2%.  Laffoon & Mansfield were pretty close and finished 4th & 5th.  Mansfield scored under 35 points only twice with 25 & 21; while Laffoon scored under 36 points only once with 23 against the state champion.

The addition of the 50% plus pitchers was very good for the line-up.  It gave them the championship experience that is so important for those who go on to improve their game and one day win the whole shooting match when they achieve their potential down the road.  And win or lose, just to compete at this high level in horseshoe pitching is a great honor.  The other classes are more than happy to see these high level pitchers on up above them and out of their way.  It argues the old question of "Better to finish at the bottom of a higher class than finish at the top of a lower class".  Now everyone would not side in on that argument, but as a statistics man, I give the nod to pitching in as high a class as possible, regardless of the comparative outcome possibilities.  But maybe only a few of us feel that way.  Obviously all of these men do and that is why we had such a fine line-up for the 2010 Elders Championship Tournament.  Ask Ted Sprinkle if he was glad he was tested to the fullest and was able to come out 9-0 with such a fine field of pitchers!!!!  Now that it is over, I'm sure he is very pleased.  2010 Indiana State Elders Champion Ted Sprinkle is pictured to the right.