2007 Indiana Horseshoe Pitching State Tournament
of the Indiana Horseshoe Pitchers Association
Contents of this page
editor's comments * 2007 State Champions (championship classes) * All Class Winners & High Percentage Patches * Results of All Classes * Tourney Schedule Line-ups * Round By Round Coverage * Some Pictures
Advisory: If any links on this site fail to work, please contact the website editor. Thank you.
Round by Round Coverage of the Championship Classes
Round by Round Coverage of the 2007 Mens State Championship
Round by Round Coverage of the 2007 Womens State Championship
Round by Round Coverage of the 2007 Jr. Boys State Championship
Round by Round Coverage of the 2007 Elders State Championship
If you weren't there, you can read the round by round coverage and visualize the contest; or if you were there, but couldn't see everything that was going on at the same time, you can experience it here.
But if you weren't there, you should try to be there next year
Comments on 2007 State and coverage on this site
IT WAS A GREAT
TOURNAMENT AND I THINK EVERYONE WAS A WINNER FOR BEING A PART OF
IT--AND I MEAN THAT SINCERELY! (More commentary and my thoughts
on Indiana horseshoe pitching as soon as I can organize these thoughts
and the energy to present them.) Thank you. And a
special THANK YOU
to all the officers and workers at the courts who contributed so much
of their time and efforts to make this an enjoyable event for the
participants. I won't attempt to name names for fear of leaving
out even one person; but these people know who they are and so do all
the participants. Your hard work is greatly appreciated. It
was so selfless and sacrificial; and because of your efforts, events
like this work.
| The 2007 Indiana State Champions are: Mark Seibold, Huntington, Men's Champion 64.66% Mary Lee Claise, Tell City, Women's Champion 68.46% Douglas Rader, Connersville, Jr. Boy's Champion 51.10% Bob Logan, Kouts, Elder's Champion 81.66% Pitcher of the Year: George A Patterson, Angola pictures of champions will be added later when film is developed Championship Group pictures on the Championship pages linked below |
2007 Indiana State Tournament
Class Winners and High % Games for each Class
(all class results are below)
| Mens Championship Class Mark Seibold 9-0 64.66% High Game: 80.00% Dale Moles Womens Championship Class Mary Lee Claise 5-1 68.46% High Game: 77.78% Mary Lee Claise Jr. Boys Championship Class Douglas Rader 3-2 51.10% High Game: 63.64% Douglas Rader Elders Championship Class Bob Logan 7-0 81.66% High Game: 91.67% Bob Logan Class A - Women Sue Stubbs 7-1 37.31% High Game: 51.92% Sue Stubbs 40' Class A Bruce Patterson 6-1 48.19% High Game: 65.63% Glen Hitner 30' Class A Eugene Powell 5-0 58.41% High Game: 75.00% Eugene Powell |
40' Class B Herschel E Walters 4-1 47.90% High Game: 53.85% Herschel E Walters 30' Class B Alve Shetler 6-1 50.00% High Game: 65.91% John T Cowen 40' Class C Dennis Zollman 7-0 38.74% High Game: 44.74% Dennis Zollman & Chad Hochstetler 30' Class C Charles N Pulley 5-1 45.52% High Game: 78.13% Wayne Wright 40' Class D Sonny Franks 7-2 29.88% High Game: 59.38% Ted Sprinkle 30' Class D Ralph Schriner 7-0 40.63% High Game: 52.94% Ralph Schriner |
40' Class E Owen Salmon 7-0 39.88% High Game: 50.00% Owen Salmon 30' Class E Bill Hively 6-1 29.17% High Game: 40.00% Bill Hively 40' Class F Roger Able 7-1 24.55% High Game: 43.75% Felix Mitch Cannon Sr. 40' Class G Jimmy L Mitchell 6-1 28.96% High Game: 38.57% Jimmy L Mitchell 40' Class H Jeff Kenda 5-1 20.81% High Game: 37.50% Jeff Kenda 40' Class I Dorran Vogler 5-1 19.89% High Game: 28.26% Dorran Vogler (If any errors are reported here, please bring them to the attention of the website editor and I will correct them with my apologies.) |
All Class Results
Championship Classes: Men Women Jr. Boys Elders
All 40 foot Mens' Classes
Women's A Class
All 30 foot Mens' Classes
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Tournament Schedule
at Johnson County Courts, Camp Atterbury, Edinburgh, Indiana
Click on hyperlink below to see class line-up jpeg image,
then click BACK key to come back to this page
| Saturday, Sept. 1, 2007 9:00 am EST Class G - 40' courts 1-2-3-4 Class E - 30' courts 6-7-8 Class C - 40' courts 10-11-12-13 Class C - 30' courts 16-17-18 2:00 pm EST Class E - 40' courts 5-6-7-8 Class D - 30' courts 11-12-13 Class B - 30' courts 16-17-18 |
Sunday, Sept. 2, 2007 8:00 am EST Class I - 40' courts 1-2-3-4 Class H - 40' courts 6-7-8 Class D - 40' courts 10-11-12-13 Class B - 40' courts 15-16-17-18 1:00 pm EST 2007 INHPA Annual Business Meeting 5:00 pm EST Class A - 30' courts 1-2-3 Class F - 40' courts 5-6-7-8 Class A - Women courts 10-11-12-13 Class A - 40' courts 15-16-17-18 |
| Monday, Sept. 3, 2007 10:00 am EST Elders Championship courts 1-2-3-4 Junior Boys Championship court 6 Womens Championship courts 9-10-11 Mens Championship courts 14-15-16-17-18 |
Results will be posted on this web site with a link provided on this page, as soon as information is provided and time is available. |
Round by Round Coverage of the 2006 Championship Classes
The 2007 State Champions
3 of the 4 Indiana 2007 State Champions
Douglas Rader, Connersville, Jr. Boy's Champion; Mary Lee Claise, Tell City, Women's Champion; & Bob Logan, Kouts, Elder's Champion
Mark Seibold, Huntington
Mens Indiana 2007 State Champion
The 2007 Pitcher of the Year
 2007 Pitcher of the Year George Patterson (Angola) George is holding the 2007 Pitcher of the Year Award with Vice President and good friend Ron Womack standing beside him. Ron announced and presented George with the honor during the INHPA meeting. |
More pictures?
Anyone with clearer and brighter individual or group pictures than the ones I had with my camera are welcome to send them to me as a jpg attachment in an email and I'll consider whether or not they would be an improvement over the ones from my own camera. I don't think my flash fired on every picture I took. Send me the whole picture and I'll do the crop work on it. I have a slow connection, so I would prefer one picture per email, if they are 100 KB or larger in size.
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Round by Round Coverage
of the 2007 Men's State Championship
The
10 men who gathered to pitch for the men’s Indiana State Championship
were 2006 defending champion Russell Baker from Lagrange, 20 times
state champion Mark Seibold (4th place in 2006) from Huntington, David
L Bradley from Nineveh, 2 times state champion Darrell Sherrard (2nd
place in 2006) from Henryville, Dale Moles (3rd place in 2006) from
Pennville, Pat Laffoon (6th place in 2006) from Bristol, Dennis
Shepherd (9th place in 2006) from Hanover, Fred Gross (5th place in
2006) from Kokomo, Ralph Guffey (7th place in 2006) from New Castle and
Dorsey “Doc” Rice from Middlebury. Missing from 2006 were Glen
Hitner and Danny Rader and new pitchers were David Bradley and Doc Rice.
Round 1:
The shortest game of the round was a 32 shoes game between Bradley and Gross. Bradley pitched his average at 62.5%, but Fred couldn’t find the stake with only 9 ringers and Bradley opened with a 40 to 9 win. Rice struggled against Baker, under 40%, with Russ hitting 10 more ringers, a little below his own average, for a 40 to 15 decision. Pat Laffoon managed a 50% game against Moles, who pitched a nice 64.58% effort to take his first game 42 to 9 in 48 shoes. In their 50 shoes game, Mark Seibold rung the stake 30 times and Ralph Guffey fell 3 short and lost to Mark in a good game 31 to 41. Shepherd pitched around his NATSTATS average against Sherrard with 58.62%, but Darrell pitched the high game of the round with 39 ringers and only 19 misses for 67.24% and a 42 to 22 victory. The first round leaders were Bradley, Baker, Moles, Seibold and Sherrard.
Round 2:
Dennis Shepherd caught fire and burned the stake at 69.57% with Dale Moles failing to pitch 50% for a 43 to 18 outcome. Gross pitched 22% higher than his previous game to hit 24 out of 48, but Seibold was on with 32 ringers for 66.67% and took Gross 41 to 19. Against Sherrard, Laffoon had a nice 62% game, but Sherrard hit 35 ringers out of 50 shoes and got his 2nd win at 41 to 29. David Bradley faced Doc Rice and missed as many shoes as he rung, while Rice pitched a solid 58.62% game for the 42 to 29 win in a 58 shoes game. The long contested 74 shoes game was fought between Russ Baker and Ralph Guffey. Baker was ringing the stake at 63.51% with 47 ringers, but Guffey was up to the challenge and squeaked out the game 45 to 39 with 3 more ringers and 67.57%. Only Seibold & Sherrard were undefeated. At 1-1 were Bradley, Baker, Moles, Rice, Shepherd & Guffey. Sitting at 0-2 were Gross & Laffoon.
Round 3:
Gross gave Baker a game with 25 stake clingers and over 56% ringers, but Russell had 4 more ringers and took the game 40 to 26 in 44 shoes. Rice was under 50% with Seibold and Mark around 60% had enough to win it 42 to 23. Shepherd coming off a near 70% effort in round 2 faced Pat Laffoon. Pat hit 32 ringers out of 50 shoes and Shepherd had 4 less to give Laffoon a 43 to 32 win in a nicely contested game. Ralph Guffey was walking the courts with the young David Bradley. With some hot streaks of ringers, Guffey pitched a strong 68.52% game with 37 ringers. David matched 31 of those ringers but fell short in a 40 to 22 decision for Guffey. Sherrard dropped down from 70% (in game 2) to 51.85% against Dale Moles. Moles nailed 5 more ringers than Darrell and took the contest 42 to 28 in 54 shoes. Standings were 3-0 Seibold; at 2-1 were Guffey, Baker, Moles & Sherrard; at 1-2 were Shepherd, Laffoon, Bradley & Rice; and at 0-3 was Gross.
Round 4:
Russ Baker barely pitched 60% against Dennis Shepherd, but Shepherd hit a low game with only 14 ringers in their short 38 shoes game. Baker came out with a 44 to 15 win. Laffoon only rung the stake 22 times out of 44 shoes against Seibold. With Mark pitching a very determined 68+% game, Seibold got a 40 to 13 victory. Against Gross, Doc Rice pitched his third out of four games below his NATSTATS average at only 52+%, but Gross could not find the stake in the low 40’s and Rice won 41 to 25. Walking back and forth with Dale Moles, Bradley hit one ringer short of 50% in the 56 shoes game, while Moles 5 ringers over 50% at 58.93% and a 42 to 25 win over David. Going 66 shoes were Sherrard and Guffey. Ralph pitched a nice 63.64% game, Darrell pushed close to 70% with a 68.18% effort and took the game 41 to 27. Standings had Seibold still undefeated 4-0; Baker, Moles & Sherrard at 3-1; Guffey & Rice at 2-2; Laffoon, Shepherd & Bradley at 1-3; and Gross looking for his first win at 0-4.
Round 5:
Gross still looking for his first 60% game against Guffey would have to wait a little longer. Hitting just 16 ringers out of 38 shoes, Gross faced 9 more ringers by Guffey who pitched a fine 65.79% game and got his third win at 40 to 11. Shepherd pitched 24 ringers against Bradley in their 44 shoes game. David was three ringers short to match Shepherd, who won the game 42 to 32 in a good contest. Rice was below 50% for the third time in the tourney against Sherrard, who did not let him get away with it by pitching 68.75% and taking the game 42 to 15. Baker pitched his best thus far with 36 ringers out of 52 shoes against Pat Laffoon. Pat was 6 ringers short and Baker came out on top 43 to 27. The long 66 shoes game was being fought between Mark Seibold and Dale Moles. Moles hit 40 ringers, but Mark pitched a strong 69.7% game and wore him down at 41 to 23. Standings were: 5-0 Seibold; 4-1 both Sherrard & Baker; 3-2 were Guffey & Moles; 2-3 were Shepherd & Rice; at 1-4 were Bradley & Laffoon; and winless after 5 rounds was Gross at 0-5.
(The tourney took a break here for supper. Sometimes rhythms end after breaks in the action and sometimes rhythms begin.)
Round 6:
Guffey slipped 13% from his previous game against Doc Rice. In only 38 shoes, Guffey’s 20 ringers would be enough to stop Rice who managed only 15 ringers and a 39.47% game with Guffey coming out on top 42 to 26. Four shoes later, Sherrard and Gross finished their game with Sherrard dropping down to a 45.24% game and Gross just short of a 60% effort to take the game 43 to 24. Moles came out on fire after eating to a 68.18% game against Russell Baker. Russ pitched just one ringer over 50% in their 44 shoes game to lose to Dale by a score of 12 to 42. In their 50 shoes match, Laffoon hit 28 ringers against Bradley, but David showed the pack why he was seeded #3 and rung the stake 34 times for a excellent 68% game. At this point everyone was sitting around watching Seibold go at it again with Shepherd. They had a long game in the 2006 state that Seibold managed to pull out at the end. This year, it went down to the wire again. Mark had a low 55.13% game with only 43 ringers in 78 shoes, but Dennis saw only 40 of his shoes go on and once again Seibold pulled the squeaker out by 42 to 39. Standings at this point were: Seibold 6-0; in a four way tie for second with 4-2 were Guffey, Sherrard, Moles & Baker; at 2-4 were Shepherd, Bradley & Rice; and with one win apiece were Laffoon & Gross.
Round 7:
The short game of this round was Bradley against Seibold in 38 shoes. Seibold hit 25 ringers and Bradley pitched under 50% at 47.37%. Mark’s 65.79% took the game 42 to 19. Guffey was up against Laffoon and with four games over his NATSTATS average just before the game, only managed a 52.17% effort against Pat. Laffoon was hitting well with a 65.22% game and took the meeting 41 to 20. In 50 shoes, Gross hit 26 ringers and Shepherd answered with 30 ringers to take Gross 40 to 33. After the break, Baker dropped 17%, but Sherrard pitched 23% below his round 5 game. Baker pitched just under 60% and Darrell finished at 64.81% to take Baker by the score of 42 to 31. After four games in a row below his season stats, Rice showed his average to Dale Moles with a 55.36% game. But Moles was staying hot with a 66.07% effort and the game was his 42 to 27. The standings with 2 rounds remaining were: Seibold at 7-0; Moles & Sherrard at 5-2; Guffey & Baker at 4-3; with 3-3 was Shepherd; at 2-5 were Bradley, Rice, & Laffoon; and at 1-6 was Gross. In round 8, Sherrard would try to tag Seibold for his first loss and then rely on Baker in round 9 to land another loss on Mark. Sherrard would then need to defeat Bradley to remain with only 2 losses. Moles faced Guffey and Gross for his last two games.
Round 8:
The short 30 shoes game was Moles versus Guffey. Ralph managed only 40% against Moles, but there was a reason. With 24 ringers and only 6 missed shoes, Dale Moles pitched an 80% game (the high game of the tourney) to ring up a 42 to 4 score against Guffey. Coming off a 65% game, Laffoon could not find the stake against Fred Gross with a 40.91% game. Fred hit 56.82% and took the game 44 to 21. Rice hit 23 out of 46 shoes against Shepherd, while Dennis hit 4 more ringers and won the game 42 to 29. In a 54 shoes game, Bradley had 30 ringers against Russ Baker. But Russ who at this point was out of the running for the title with 3 losses, relaxed and threw a 75.93% game against David for a 41 to 8 victory. The longest game of the round was 58 shoes involving Mark Seibold and Darrell Sherrard. Mark hit 38 ringers and needing the win, Sherrard could only ring the stake 31 times. Seibold won the game 41 to 24 and with one round to go, clinched his 21st Indiana State Men’s Championship title (his first since his 2003 title). With one round to go the standings were: Seibold 8-0 (2007 state champion); Moles 6-2; Sherrard & Baker 5-3; Shepherd & Guffey 4-4; Bradley, Laffoon, Gross & Rice 2-5.
Round 9:
After 40 shoes, Dale Moles pitched another fine game at 65% and Gross at 50% gave Moles win #7 with only 2 loses with a final score of 40 to 26. Pat Laffoon bounced back after pitching a 40% game to hit 32 ringers out of 46 shoes for 69.57% against Dorsey “Doc” Rice, who had another game under 50% for a final score of 42 to 8. Ralph Guffey pitched his second game in the low 40’s and lost to Shepherd’s 52.08% game by the score of 25 to 42. Bradley pitched against Sherrard and hit 27 ringers out of 48 shoes to Darrell’s 29 ringers to lose the close game to Sherrard by the score of 32 to 40. Russell Baker, the defending champion took Mark Seibold 70 shoes. With Baker’s place in the final standings at stake and Seibold’s attempt to win the title undefeated, other than that it was just a friendly game of horseshoes. Baker pitched his second best game of the tourney with a 71.43% and hitting 50 ringers. Mark matched him with his own 50 ringers. So the pennies won the contest for Mark Seibold 41 to 37 in a fitting climax to the 2007 Men’s Championship tournament.
Final Comments: I’m sure Rice, Gross and Bradley are a little disappointed with their performances. All three pitchers were 7% to 10% below their season NATSTATS averages. Dorsey Doc Rice had the fortune to be seeded #10, so anything you can do in such a tourney is just icing on the cake. But Doc only pitched one game over his average, so we hope to see him back in the near future pitching at his potential. Fred Gross had such a fine finish in last year’s tourney, coming in as a #9 seed and finishing 5th, just one game behind this year’s state champion. You know Fred will be back soon and is sure to pitch closer to his abilities.
It was such a treat for me personally to see David Bradley in this state tourney. Not only coming in with the #3 seeded spot from his 2007 season average, but David throws one of the nicest looking 1-1/4 turns I’ve ever witnessed. (This is the turn I throw and I’ve seen the best over the years beginning with the World Tournament in 1975 in Lafayette, Indiana of which I attended every night.) When David takes to the state courts the next time around, if he can focus only on the stake at the other end and continually make the corrections in his own shoe as he goes along; he is going to be at the top in the not to distant future and I predict he will win the state title more than a few times in the next 30 or so years. Also, only pitching one game over his season average, that game was a strong 68% effort. David Bradley paid his dues this year. Look for him to be a steady member of the club from here on out.
Pat Laffoon was up and down without really being able to establish a consistency in his own game. His last two games showed the range from a low 40.91% to a high final game of 69.57%.
Dennis Shepherd looked like he was enjoying the tourney this year. Finishing with only one win last year, Dennis finished 5-4 with a big win over Moles and a near win over the state champ Seibold. As I stated last year, it is good to see the 1-3/4 turn in the state championship in the hands of Shepherd.
What can you say about Ralph Guffey. Ralph was seeded #9 and finished in 6th place with 4 wins and 5 losses. But that is not the whole story. Before the break, Guffey, with the exception of his opening game, was pitching in the mid to high 60’s and averaging nearly 37 points a game with a 3-2 record. After the break, Ralph lost the touch and went 1-3 with his game in the low 50’s and low 40’s. Guffey ended up pitching right about at his average, but what he showed early was quite a show.
Russell Baker had a good sound tourney just under his average, but in his schedule, he lost two very close games to Guffey 39 to 45 and Seibold 37 to 41. With 32 points against Sherrard, Russ was only caught completely off guard against one pitcher…Dale Moles in round 6 after the break.
Darrell Sherrard showed that he is still a pitcher you must beat to finish high in the tourney. Losing only to Seibold and Moles, who finished ahead of him, and handled by Fred Gross in round 6 after the break when he pitched his low game at 45.24%.
Bringing an 80% game back to the men’s state
championship, Dale Moles moved up from his 3rd place finish last year
to a good solid 2nd place finish this year. Dale pitched 5 of his
9 games over his NATSTATS average and averaged 37 points per
game. Other than losing to Seibold, Dennis Shepherd was the only
other pitcher to tag Moles with a loss when Moles failed to pitch 50%
and Dennis burned the stakes with a 69.57%. If Dale climbs
another place next year, he will win the whole shooting match.
Mark Seibold won his 21st Indiana State Men’s
Championship. The most impressive thing about Mark is his love
for the game. Players with less character and less sportsmanship
would have dropped out of the game for a few years until previous
levels of ability could be regained. Not so with Mark.
Seibold just continues to topple some of the world’s top pitchers in
season tournaments, attends the World every year to turn his shoes and
takes his losses with as much character as he takes his wins. He
has the control of his emotions that a true champion needs in any sport
to accomplish what he has and continues to accomplish. The only
thing I would like to see Mark do is to work at getting his shoe a
little higher to assure that he will continue to succeed on elevated
indoor pits as well as continue his achievements in the sport as he
ages.
With my renewed interest in horseshoe pitching, I am so enthused with the caliber of horseshoe pitchers we have in the men’s, women’s and elder’s championship classes. Not to mention the strength we have in the other classes. I am concerned with the lack of junior girls pitchers and wish that we had a full class of pitchers in the junior boys class that we have in the talents of Rader and Simpson. But all in all, Indiana has one of the finest group of athletes in horseshoe pitchers that a state could hope for.
Just for the record, this Round by Round coverage of the Men's state championship took me about 3-1/2 hours of work to report. Right now, this is the only way I can contribute my efforts to the sport in Indiana on the state level, but I still feel it is worth it and I enjoyed giving the Indiana Horseshoe Pitchers Association this report and the other reports in the other championship classes. Until next year, KEEP PITCHING AWAY!
Round 1:
The shortest game of the round was a 32 shoes game between Bradley and Gross. Bradley pitched his average at 62.5%, but Fred couldn’t find the stake with only 9 ringers and Bradley opened with a 40 to 9 win. Rice struggled against Baker, under 40%, with Russ hitting 10 more ringers, a little below his own average, for a 40 to 15 decision. Pat Laffoon managed a 50% game against Moles, who pitched a nice 64.58% effort to take his first game 42 to 9 in 48 shoes. In their 50 shoes game, Mark Seibold rung the stake 30 times and Ralph Guffey fell 3 short and lost to Mark in a good game 31 to 41. Shepherd pitched around his NATSTATS average against Sherrard with 58.62%, but Darrell pitched the high game of the round with 39 ringers and only 19 misses for 67.24% and a 42 to 22 victory. The first round leaders were Bradley, Baker, Moles, Seibold and Sherrard.
Round 2:
Dennis Shepherd caught fire and burned the stake at 69.57% with Dale Moles failing to pitch 50% for a 43 to 18 outcome. Gross pitched 22% higher than his previous game to hit 24 out of 48, but Seibold was on with 32 ringers for 66.67% and took Gross 41 to 19. Against Sherrard, Laffoon had a nice 62% game, but Sherrard hit 35 ringers out of 50 shoes and got his 2nd win at 41 to 29. David Bradley faced Doc Rice and missed as many shoes as he rung, while Rice pitched a solid 58.62% game for the 42 to 29 win in a 58 shoes game. The long contested 74 shoes game was fought between Russ Baker and Ralph Guffey. Baker was ringing the stake at 63.51% with 47 ringers, but Guffey was up to the challenge and squeaked out the game 45 to 39 with 3 more ringers and 67.57%. Only Seibold & Sherrard were undefeated. At 1-1 were Bradley, Baker, Moles, Rice, Shepherd & Guffey. Sitting at 0-2 were Gross & Laffoon.
Round 3:
Gross gave Baker a game with 25 stake clingers and over 56% ringers, but Russell had 4 more ringers and took the game 40 to 26 in 44 shoes. Rice was under 50% with Seibold and Mark around 60% had enough to win it 42 to 23. Shepherd coming off a near 70% effort in round 2 faced Pat Laffoon. Pat hit 32 ringers out of 50 shoes and Shepherd had 4 less to give Laffoon a 43 to 32 win in a nicely contested game. Ralph Guffey was walking the courts with the young David Bradley. With some hot streaks of ringers, Guffey pitched a strong 68.52% game with 37 ringers. David matched 31 of those ringers but fell short in a 40 to 22 decision for Guffey. Sherrard dropped down from 70% (in game 2) to 51.85% against Dale Moles. Moles nailed 5 more ringers than Darrell and took the contest 42 to 28 in 54 shoes. Standings were 3-0 Seibold; at 2-1 were Guffey, Baker, Moles & Sherrard; at 1-2 were Shepherd, Laffoon, Bradley & Rice; and at 0-3 was Gross.
Round 4:
Russ Baker barely pitched 60% against Dennis Shepherd, but Shepherd hit a low game with only 14 ringers in their short 38 shoes game. Baker came out with a 44 to 15 win. Laffoon only rung the stake 22 times out of 44 shoes against Seibold. With Mark pitching a very determined 68+% game, Seibold got a 40 to 13 victory. Against Gross, Doc Rice pitched his third out of four games below his NATSTATS average at only 52+%, but Gross could not find the stake in the low 40’s and Rice won 41 to 25. Walking back and forth with Dale Moles, Bradley hit one ringer short of 50% in the 56 shoes game, while Moles 5 ringers over 50% at 58.93% and a 42 to 25 win over David. Going 66 shoes were Sherrard and Guffey. Ralph pitched a nice 63.64% game, Darrell pushed close to 70% with a 68.18% effort and took the game 41 to 27. Standings had Seibold still undefeated 4-0; Baker, Moles & Sherrard at 3-1; Guffey & Rice at 2-2; Laffoon, Shepherd & Bradley at 1-3; and Gross looking for his first win at 0-4.
Round 5:
Gross still looking for his first 60% game against Guffey would have to wait a little longer. Hitting just 16 ringers out of 38 shoes, Gross faced 9 more ringers by Guffey who pitched a fine 65.79% game and got his third win at 40 to 11. Shepherd pitched 24 ringers against Bradley in their 44 shoes game. David was three ringers short to match Shepherd, who won the game 42 to 32 in a good contest. Rice was below 50% for the third time in the tourney against Sherrard, who did not let him get away with it by pitching 68.75% and taking the game 42 to 15. Baker pitched his best thus far with 36 ringers out of 52 shoes against Pat Laffoon. Pat was 6 ringers short and Baker came out on top 43 to 27. The long 66 shoes game was being fought between Mark Seibold and Dale Moles. Moles hit 40 ringers, but Mark pitched a strong 69.7% game and wore him down at 41 to 23. Standings were: 5-0 Seibold; 4-1 both Sherrard & Baker; 3-2 were Guffey & Moles; 2-3 were Shepherd & Rice; at 1-4 were Bradley & Laffoon; and winless after 5 rounds was Gross at 0-5.
(The tourney took a break here for supper. Sometimes rhythms end after breaks in the action and sometimes rhythms begin.)
Round 6:
Guffey slipped 13% from his previous game against Doc Rice. In only 38 shoes, Guffey’s 20 ringers would be enough to stop Rice who managed only 15 ringers and a 39.47% game with Guffey coming out on top 42 to 26. Four shoes later, Sherrard and Gross finished their game with Sherrard dropping down to a 45.24% game and Gross just short of a 60% effort to take the game 43 to 24. Moles came out on fire after eating to a 68.18% game against Russell Baker. Russ pitched just one ringer over 50% in their 44 shoes game to lose to Dale by a score of 12 to 42. In their 50 shoes match, Laffoon hit 28 ringers against Bradley, but David showed the pack why he was seeded #3 and rung the stake 34 times for a excellent 68% game. At this point everyone was sitting around watching Seibold go at it again with Shepherd. They had a long game in the 2006 state that Seibold managed to pull out at the end. This year, it went down to the wire again. Mark had a low 55.13% game with only 43 ringers in 78 shoes, but Dennis saw only 40 of his shoes go on and once again Seibold pulled the squeaker out by 42 to 39. Standings at this point were: Seibold 6-0; in a four way tie for second with 4-2 were Guffey, Sherrard, Moles & Baker; at 2-4 were Shepherd, Bradley & Rice; and with one win apiece were Laffoon & Gross.
Round 7:
The short game of this round was Bradley against Seibold in 38 shoes. Seibold hit 25 ringers and Bradley pitched under 50% at 47.37%. Mark’s 65.79% took the game 42 to 19. Guffey was up against Laffoon and with four games over his NATSTATS average just before the game, only managed a 52.17% effort against Pat. Laffoon was hitting well with a 65.22% game and took the meeting 41 to 20. In 50 shoes, Gross hit 26 ringers and Shepherd answered with 30 ringers to take Gross 40 to 33. After the break, Baker dropped 17%, but Sherrard pitched 23% below his round 5 game. Baker pitched just under 60% and Darrell finished at 64.81% to take Baker by the score of 42 to 31. After four games in a row below his season stats, Rice showed his average to Dale Moles with a 55.36% game. But Moles was staying hot with a 66.07% effort and the game was his 42 to 27. The standings with 2 rounds remaining were: Seibold at 7-0; Moles & Sherrard at 5-2; Guffey & Baker at 4-3; with 3-3 was Shepherd; at 2-5 were Bradley, Rice, & Laffoon; and at 1-6 was Gross. In round 8, Sherrard would try to tag Seibold for his first loss and then rely on Baker in round 9 to land another loss on Mark. Sherrard would then need to defeat Bradley to remain with only 2 losses. Moles faced Guffey and Gross for his last two games.
Round 8:
The short 30 shoes game was Moles versus Guffey. Ralph managed only 40% against Moles, but there was a reason. With 24 ringers and only 6 missed shoes, Dale Moles pitched an 80% game (the high game of the tourney) to ring up a 42 to 4 score against Guffey. Coming off a 65% game, Laffoon could not find the stake against Fred Gross with a 40.91% game. Fred hit 56.82% and took the game 44 to 21. Rice hit 23 out of 46 shoes against Shepherd, while Dennis hit 4 more ringers and won the game 42 to 29. In a 54 shoes game, Bradley had 30 ringers against Russ Baker. But Russ who at this point was out of the running for the title with 3 losses, relaxed and threw a 75.93% game against David for a 41 to 8 victory. The longest game of the round was 58 shoes involving Mark Seibold and Darrell Sherrard. Mark hit 38 ringers and needing the win, Sherrard could only ring the stake 31 times. Seibold won the game 41 to 24 and with one round to go, clinched his 21st Indiana State Men’s Championship title (his first since his 2003 title). With one round to go the standings were: Seibold 8-0 (2007 state champion); Moles 6-2; Sherrard & Baker 5-3; Shepherd & Guffey 4-4; Bradley, Laffoon, Gross & Rice 2-5.
Round 9:
After 40 shoes, Dale Moles pitched another fine game at 65% and Gross at 50% gave Moles win #7 with only 2 loses with a final score of 40 to 26. Pat Laffoon bounced back after pitching a 40% game to hit 32 ringers out of 46 shoes for 69.57% against Dorsey “Doc” Rice, who had another game under 50% for a final score of 42 to 8. Ralph Guffey pitched his second game in the low 40’s and lost to Shepherd’s 52.08% game by the score of 25 to 42. Bradley pitched against Sherrard and hit 27 ringers out of 48 shoes to Darrell’s 29 ringers to lose the close game to Sherrard by the score of 32 to 40. Russell Baker, the defending champion took Mark Seibold 70 shoes. With Baker’s place in the final standings at stake and Seibold’s attempt to win the title undefeated, other than that it was just a friendly game of horseshoes. Baker pitched his second best game of the tourney with a 71.43% and hitting 50 ringers. Mark matched him with his own 50 ringers. So the pennies won the contest for Mark Seibold 41 to 37 in a fitting climax to the 2007 Men’s Championship tournament.
Final Comments: I’m sure Rice, Gross and Bradley are a little disappointed with their performances. All three pitchers were 7% to 10% below their season NATSTATS averages. Dorsey Doc Rice had the fortune to be seeded #10, so anything you can do in such a tourney is just icing on the cake. But Doc only pitched one game over his average, so we hope to see him back in the near future pitching at his potential. Fred Gross had such a fine finish in last year’s tourney, coming in as a #9 seed and finishing 5th, just one game behind this year’s state champion. You know Fred will be back soon and is sure to pitch closer to his abilities.
It was such a treat for me personally to see David Bradley in this state tourney. Not only coming in with the #3 seeded spot from his 2007 season average, but David throws one of the nicest looking 1-1/4 turns I’ve ever witnessed. (This is the turn I throw and I’ve seen the best over the years beginning with the World Tournament in 1975 in Lafayette, Indiana of which I attended every night.) When David takes to the state courts the next time around, if he can focus only on the stake at the other end and continually make the corrections in his own shoe as he goes along; he is going to be at the top in the not to distant future and I predict he will win the state title more than a few times in the next 30 or so years. Also, only pitching one game over his season average, that game was a strong 68% effort. David Bradley paid his dues this year. Look for him to be a steady member of the club from here on out.
Pat Laffoon was up and down without really being able to establish a consistency in his own game. His last two games showed the range from a low 40.91% to a high final game of 69.57%.
Dennis Shepherd looked like he was enjoying the tourney this year. Finishing with only one win last year, Dennis finished 5-4 with a big win over Moles and a near win over the state champ Seibold. As I stated last year, it is good to see the 1-3/4 turn in the state championship in the hands of Shepherd.
What can you say about Ralph Guffey. Ralph was seeded #9 and finished in 6th place with 4 wins and 5 losses. But that is not the whole story. Before the break, Guffey, with the exception of his opening game, was pitching in the mid to high 60’s and averaging nearly 37 points a game with a 3-2 record. After the break, Ralph lost the touch and went 1-3 with his game in the low 50’s and low 40’s. Guffey ended up pitching right about at his average, but what he showed early was quite a show.
Russell Baker had a good sound tourney just under his average, but in his schedule, he lost two very close games to Guffey 39 to 45 and Seibold 37 to 41. With 32 points against Sherrard, Russ was only caught completely off guard against one pitcher…Dale Moles in round 6 after the break.
Darrell Sherrard showed that he is still a pitcher you must beat to finish high in the tourney. Losing only to Seibold and Moles, who finished ahead of him, and handled by Fred Gross in round 6 after the break when he pitched his low game at 45.24%.
Bringing an 80% game back to the men’s state
championship, Dale Moles moved up from his 3rd place finish last year
to a good solid 2nd place finish this year. Dale pitched 5 of his
9 games over his NATSTATS average and averaged 37 points per
game. Other than losing to Seibold, Dennis Shepherd was the only
other pitcher to tag Moles with a loss when Moles failed to pitch 50%
and Dennis burned the stakes with a 69.57%. If Dale climbs
another place next year, he will win the whole shooting match.
Mark Seibold won his 21st Indiana State Men’s
Championship. The most impressive thing about Mark is his love
for the game. Players with less character and less sportsmanship
would have dropped out of the game for a few years until previous
levels of ability could be regained. Not so with Mark.
Seibold just continues to topple some of the world’s top pitchers in
season tournaments, attends the World every year to turn his shoes and
takes his losses with as much character as he takes his wins. He
has the control of his emotions that a true champion needs in any sport
to accomplish what he has and continues to accomplish. The only
thing I would like to see Mark do is to work at getting his shoe a
little higher to assure that he will continue to succeed on elevated
indoor pits as well as continue his achievements in the sport as he
ages.With my renewed interest in horseshoe pitching, I am so enthused with the caliber of horseshoe pitchers we have in the men’s, women’s and elder’s championship classes. Not to mention the strength we have in the other classes. I am concerned with the lack of junior girls pitchers and wish that we had a full class of pitchers in the junior boys class that we have in the talents of Rader and Simpson. But all in all, Indiana has one of the finest group of athletes in horseshoe pitchers that a state could hope for.
Just for the record, this Round by Round coverage of the Men's state championship took me about 3-1/2 hours of work to report. Right now, this is the only way I can contribute my efforts to the sport in Indiana on the state level, but I still feel it is worth it and I enjoyed giving the Indiana Horseshoe Pitchers Association this report and the other reports in the other championship classes. Until next year, KEEP PITCHING AWAY!
Russell Baker, Ralph Guffey, Dorsey "Doc" Rice, Pat Laffoon, Dale Moles, Dennis Shepherd,
Mark Seibold, Darrell Sherrard (not pictured: Fred Gross & David Bradley)
Schedule
Results
Round by Round Coverage
of the 2007 Womens State Championship
Four
of last year’s contestants were back to battle it out again.
Missing from last year’s line up were Nancy Yaros and Sharon
Chiddister. But filling out the field of six pitchers were Connie
S Reimer of Columbia and Ruth Sills of Wheatfield. Returning were
defending champion and 3 times state champion Carolyn S Coyle of
Pierceton, 2005 state champion from Tell City, Mary Lee Claise
(pronounced “Class”), Jenny D Morris from Lafontaine, and Vickie Roach
from Nineveh.
Round 1:
Ruth Sills faced Carolyn Coyle in her first game. The game went 38 shoes with Coyle pitching about 15 points below her NATSTATS average hitting 20 ringers, but Sills pitched 14 points below her own average to give Carolyn a 44 to 10 win. Mary Lee Claise stood beside Vickie Roach and nailed the stake at her own average with 25 ringers out of 38 shoes. Vickie answered with 17 ringers and lost to Mary Lee 17 to 42. Jenny D Morris took Connie S Reimer to a 48 shoes game, but Reimer fell short of her own average by 7 points. Morris could not capitalize and pitched her tourney low game at 39.58% (short nearly 14 points of her own average). Reimer had her first win at 42 to 24. The leaders were Reimer, Claise and Coyle at one win apiece.
Round 2:
Reimer flipped the shoes to start with Sills in game 2. Bouncing back from her 28% 1st game, Sills pitched a solid 50% game against Reimer. But Connie pitched an excellent 63.64% game and picked up her 2nd win with a 42 to 19 final score. Claise matched up against Morris in what turned out to be one of the shorter games of the tourney. Mary Lee unloaded on Morris with 28 ringers going on in a 36 shoes game, with only 8 missed shoes for 77.78%. Morris kept her composure under such a confrontation and pitched a nice 50% game, but saw a final score of 41 to 10 for the 2005 champion. Roach faced Coyle and found the ringers flowing at 47%, but Coyle hit them at 66% and took the game 42 to 14. After 2 rounds, the leaders were still Reimer, Claise and Coyle with two wins apiece.
Round 3:
A long 68 shoes game was going with Roach and Morris, with both pitching a little below their averages but persistently matching each others ringers. We will get back to the outcome of this game after the others finish. The shortest game of this round was 38 shoes, when Claise and Sills walked back and forth between the stakes. Sills hit 16 ringers and was right on her average. Ruth was coming off her fine 50% effort in game 2. Mary Lee cooled off a little from her 77% exhibition in game 2, but still managed to ring the stake at 65+%. Claise came out the winner by the score of 41 to 15. With both pitchers undefeated, Reimer faced Coyle in a 54 shoes game. Coyle dropped off 11 percentage points from her last game and Connie dropped off over 2% from her last game, but encircled the stake 33 times to Carolyn’s 30 times. Those 3 extra ringers and a point gave Reimer a 41 to 31 victory. Now they waited the outcome of the Roach versus Morris game. Roach ended up with 32 ringers, but so did Morris. The pennies that Morris picked up on Roach made the difference and gave Jenny a 42 to 31 victory. The standings after 3 rounds were: Reimer & Claise at 3-0, Coyle at 2-1, Morris at 1-2, with Roach & Sills looking for their first win. Round 4 would see the two leaders clash against each other with only one going into round 5 with an unblemished record. It would also see the two pitchers looking for the first win going at it.
Round 4:
Vickie Roach and Ruth Sills started round 4 against each other. Roach coming in over 50% was looking for her first 50% game in this tournament. In three games, Sills pitched a 50% game, one at average and one 14 points below her average. So from the stats, anything could happen here. At 7 points under average, Vickie hit 23 ringers in their 52 shoes game, but Ruth hit only 19 ringers, another game under average and Roach won her first game by the score of 41 to 22. Looking over to the court with Coyle and Morris, the game was long over in only 30 shoes pitched. Coyle registered her highest game of the tourney, so far, by ringing the stake at 76.67%, hitting 23 ringers and missing only 7 shoes. Jenny was 10% short of her own average and went down to defeat with only 9 points to 41 points by Carolyn. As we have all experienced it, Jenny could not pitch over her average on this day. Claise and Reimer were undefeated and facing one another in what turned out to be a 52 shoes game. Reimer pitched her own average at 52% and 30 times on the stake. Claise put on 8 more ringers and pitched another game over 70% at 73.08%. The final score was Mary Lee 41 and Connie 18. The standing poll now showed Claise at the top with 4-0, Reimer and Coyle 3-1, Morris and Roach 1-3 and Sills at 0-4. The final round would pair Sills against Morris, Reimer against Roach, and Claise, the present leader and the 2005 champion, against Coyle, the defending champion. I had my seat for this show.
Round 5:
In a 44 shoes contest, Roach hit 20 ringers and again fell short of the 50%+ games she was accustomed to pitching throughout the 2007 season. On the other hand, Reimer hit 26 ringers for her 4th game out of 5 over her season average for a solid 59% effort. Reimer finished the 5 rounds with 4 wins and only 1 loss. In a pretty long 56 shoes game against Jenny Morris, Ruth Sills fell short nearly 9% below her season average hitting 19 ringers, while Jenny Morris, also 9% under, took the game 42 to 23. In a long 68 shoes game, Claise hit 47 ringers at 69% against Coyle. But Carolyn needed this win to stop Mary Lee from having a perfect 5-0 tourney. Carolyn answered the challenge with 52 ringers at 76.47% and a 40 to 22 decision over Mary Lee. We now had a 3 way tie for first place with Reimer, Coyle and Claise. Morris and Roach finished the tourney at 1-4 and Sills ended with a 0-5 record.
(At this point, the sudden death match ups are arranged by starting with the pitchers facing off with the lowest ringer percentages and in a 3 way, the highest percentage pitcher takes the winner of the first game. Mary Lee Claise had the high percentage with 70.25%, Carolyn Coyle was second with 65.94% and Conner Reimer had a ringer average of 58.26%. Connie forfeited her game against Carolyn and took third place without pitching. So the final playoff game was to be Mary Lee against Carolyn.)
Playoff Game:
This game went on for the most part with only a few points at a time separating the two scores. Their last round game lasted 68 shoes, while this one went 66 shoes. I witnessed the very ending and saw nerves of steal on the part of both pitchers. It came down to a 1 ringer difference. And one of Coyle's shoes went on the stake and flipped back off at the end. With 41 ringers to 40 ringers, Mary Lee Claise won her second Indiana Women’s State Championship Title with a final score of 40 to 37. What an ending to a championship tournament.
Final Comments: Based on their NATSTATS averages coming into the championship tournament, Morris and Roach did not pitch a single game at their potential. Both of these pitchers have had better days pitching. We should expect to see better state tournaments from both of them in the future. I watched Ruth Sills on several of her pitches. Ruth has very good form. She keeps calm or at least appears very calm. Like my own game, I saw problems with her alignment, which is improved by taking the same step and swinging the arm consistently to a given release point. (If I could only take my own advice!) Ruth is only going to get better and I predict with her present ability to control her emotions, she is going to be in more future state tournaments and when her whole game comes together, she is going to be winning games at state not too far down the road. Connie S Reimer pitched a very good state tourney. Connie was over her NATSTATS average in 3 out of 5 of her games. She knocked off last year’s defending champion and in her two games pitched below her average, she still managed to pitch 50% or better. Carolyn had a mixed tournament. She threw two games at 76%, but her other four games were below her season average and she was 7% below her average in the final game. Unless Mary Lee can find a way to improve a part of her game that Francis-"izes" her, then Coyle is going to be battling for that state title for quite a few years to come. The 2007 Women’s Champion Mary Lee Claise had a strong tournament with 5 straight games pitched over her NATSTATS average, including the high game of 77.78% and another at 73.08%. Her weakest game of the tourney was her last game, the playoff game, but at the end she had opportunities to let up and in championship form, she hit the stake when she needed to. The title goes back to Tell City.
Round 1:
Ruth Sills faced Carolyn Coyle in her first game. The game went 38 shoes with Coyle pitching about 15 points below her NATSTATS average hitting 20 ringers, but Sills pitched 14 points below her own average to give Carolyn a 44 to 10 win. Mary Lee Claise stood beside Vickie Roach and nailed the stake at her own average with 25 ringers out of 38 shoes. Vickie answered with 17 ringers and lost to Mary Lee 17 to 42. Jenny D Morris took Connie S Reimer to a 48 shoes game, but Reimer fell short of her own average by 7 points. Morris could not capitalize and pitched her tourney low game at 39.58% (short nearly 14 points of her own average). Reimer had her first win at 42 to 24. The leaders were Reimer, Claise and Coyle at one win apiece.
Round 2:
Reimer flipped the shoes to start with Sills in game 2. Bouncing back from her 28% 1st game, Sills pitched a solid 50% game against Reimer. But Connie pitched an excellent 63.64% game and picked up her 2nd win with a 42 to 19 final score. Claise matched up against Morris in what turned out to be one of the shorter games of the tourney. Mary Lee unloaded on Morris with 28 ringers going on in a 36 shoes game, with only 8 missed shoes for 77.78%. Morris kept her composure under such a confrontation and pitched a nice 50% game, but saw a final score of 41 to 10 for the 2005 champion. Roach faced Coyle and found the ringers flowing at 47%, but Coyle hit them at 66% and took the game 42 to 14. After 2 rounds, the leaders were still Reimer, Claise and Coyle with two wins apiece.
Round 3:
A long 68 shoes game was going with Roach and Morris, with both pitching a little below their averages but persistently matching each others ringers. We will get back to the outcome of this game after the others finish. The shortest game of this round was 38 shoes, when Claise and Sills walked back and forth between the stakes. Sills hit 16 ringers and was right on her average. Ruth was coming off her fine 50% effort in game 2. Mary Lee cooled off a little from her 77% exhibition in game 2, but still managed to ring the stake at 65+%. Claise came out the winner by the score of 41 to 15. With both pitchers undefeated, Reimer faced Coyle in a 54 shoes game. Coyle dropped off 11 percentage points from her last game and Connie dropped off over 2% from her last game, but encircled the stake 33 times to Carolyn’s 30 times. Those 3 extra ringers and a point gave Reimer a 41 to 31 victory. Now they waited the outcome of the Roach versus Morris game. Roach ended up with 32 ringers, but so did Morris. The pennies that Morris picked up on Roach made the difference and gave Jenny a 42 to 31 victory. The standings after 3 rounds were: Reimer & Claise at 3-0, Coyle at 2-1, Morris at 1-2, with Roach & Sills looking for their first win. Round 4 would see the two leaders clash against each other with only one going into round 5 with an unblemished record. It would also see the two pitchers looking for the first win going at it.
Round 4:
Vickie Roach and Ruth Sills started round 4 against each other. Roach coming in over 50% was looking for her first 50% game in this tournament. In three games, Sills pitched a 50% game, one at average and one 14 points below her average. So from the stats, anything could happen here. At 7 points under average, Vickie hit 23 ringers in their 52 shoes game, but Ruth hit only 19 ringers, another game under average and Roach won her first game by the score of 41 to 22. Looking over to the court with Coyle and Morris, the game was long over in only 30 shoes pitched. Coyle registered her highest game of the tourney, so far, by ringing the stake at 76.67%, hitting 23 ringers and missing only 7 shoes. Jenny was 10% short of her own average and went down to defeat with only 9 points to 41 points by Carolyn. As we have all experienced it, Jenny could not pitch over her average on this day. Claise and Reimer were undefeated and facing one another in what turned out to be a 52 shoes game. Reimer pitched her own average at 52% and 30 times on the stake. Claise put on 8 more ringers and pitched another game over 70% at 73.08%. The final score was Mary Lee 41 and Connie 18. The standing poll now showed Claise at the top with 4-0, Reimer and Coyle 3-1, Morris and Roach 1-3 and Sills at 0-4. The final round would pair Sills against Morris, Reimer against Roach, and Claise, the present leader and the 2005 champion, against Coyle, the defending champion. I had my seat for this show.
Round 5:
In a 44 shoes contest, Roach hit 20 ringers and again fell short of the 50%+ games she was accustomed to pitching throughout the 2007 season. On the other hand, Reimer hit 26 ringers for her 4th game out of 5 over her season average for a solid 59% effort. Reimer finished the 5 rounds with 4 wins and only 1 loss. In a pretty long 56 shoes game against Jenny Morris, Ruth Sills fell short nearly 9% below her season average hitting 19 ringers, while Jenny Morris, also 9% under, took the game 42 to 23. In a long 68 shoes game, Claise hit 47 ringers at 69% against Coyle. But Carolyn needed this win to stop Mary Lee from having a perfect 5-0 tourney. Carolyn answered the challenge with 52 ringers at 76.47% and a 40 to 22 decision over Mary Lee. We now had a 3 way tie for first place with Reimer, Coyle and Claise. Morris and Roach finished the tourney at 1-4 and Sills ended with a 0-5 record.
(At this point, the sudden death match ups are arranged by starting with the pitchers facing off with the lowest ringer percentages and in a 3 way, the highest percentage pitcher takes the winner of the first game. Mary Lee Claise had the high percentage with 70.25%, Carolyn Coyle was second with 65.94% and Conner Reimer had a ringer average of 58.26%. Connie forfeited her game against Carolyn and took third place without pitching. So the final playoff game was to be Mary Lee against Carolyn.)
Playoff Game:
This game went on for the most part with only a few points at a time separating the two scores. Their last round game lasted 68 shoes, while this one went 66 shoes. I witnessed the very ending and saw nerves of steal on the part of both pitchers. It came down to a 1 ringer difference. And one of Coyle's shoes went on the stake and flipped back off at the end. With 41 ringers to 40 ringers, Mary Lee Claise won her second Indiana Women’s State Championship Title with a final score of 40 to 37. What an ending to a championship tournament.
Final Comments: Based on their NATSTATS averages coming into the championship tournament, Morris and Roach did not pitch a single game at their potential. Both of these pitchers have had better days pitching. We should expect to see better state tournaments from both of them in the future. I watched Ruth Sills on several of her pitches. Ruth has very good form. She keeps calm or at least appears very calm. Like my own game, I saw problems with her alignment, which is improved by taking the same step and swinging the arm consistently to a given release point. (If I could only take my own advice!) Ruth is only going to get better and I predict with her present ability to control her emotions, she is going to be in more future state tournaments and when her whole game comes together, she is going to be winning games at state not too far down the road. Connie S Reimer pitched a very good state tourney. Connie was over her NATSTATS average in 3 out of 5 of her games. She knocked off last year’s defending champion and in her two games pitched below her average, she still managed to pitch 50% or better. Carolyn had a mixed tournament. She threw two games at 76%, but her other four games were below her season average and she was 7% below her average in the final game. Unless Mary Lee can find a way to improve a part of her game that Francis-"izes" her, then Coyle is going to be battling for that state title for quite a few years to come. The 2007 Women’s Champion Mary Lee Claise had a strong tournament with 5 straight games pitched over her NATSTATS average, including the high game of 77.78% and another at 73.08%. Her weakest game of the tourney was her last game, the playoff game, but at the end she had opportunities to let up and in championship form, she hit the stake when she needed to. The title goes back to Tell City.
Schedule
Results
Connie S Reimer, Mary Lee Claise, Carolyn S Coyle, & Vickie Roach
(Not pictured are Jenny D Morris & Ruth Sills)
Round by Round Coverage
of the 2007 Jr. Boys State Championship
This
year two junior boys made up the championship class. Jaron A
Simpson of Marion, who finished 2nd in last year’s tourney and Douglas
Rader of Connersville, who finished 3rd last year. Jaron was
coming into the tourney with a 34.53% ringer average. Jaron
pitched last year’s tourney with an average of 34.19%, so he had been
consistent with last year’s average. Doug on the other hand
averaged 33.69% in last year’s 3rd place finish and was now pitching a
2007 tournament season at 51.72%. The tourney was scheduled to be
a best out of 5 games or the first to win 3 games. Anyone who
dismissed Jaron’s chances of making this an exciting state tournament
missed some good action. I stuck around and got my money’s worth!
Round 1:
After a 50 shoes contest, Jaron rung the stake a total of 26 times for a blazing 52% game. Douglas fell 8 ringers short of matching Jaron and ended up at 36% and on the short end of a 19 to 44 outcome. Jaron went one up after the first game.
Round 2:
This game went 54 shoes and Jaron cooled off to 35.19%, while Doug pitched his average with a 51.85% and the 50% plus pitcher took the 2nd game by a score of 40 to 12. The contest was now tied with one win apiece.
Round 3:
This game was one of the two most exciting games of the tourney and the longest at 80 shoes pitched, with Jaron bouncing back with 41 ringers (over half his shoes pitched). Doug improved on his 2nd game by ringing the stake a total of 45 times to take the 3rd game by a score of 44 to 38. Doug was now up on Jaron by 2 games to 1.
Round 4:
The 4th game only went 44 shoes, but it was not a runaway. When one pitcher would hit ringers, the other would often fail to answer the challenge. Doug slipped a little with a 20 ringer effort and a 45.45% game. Jaron reached down with an excellent 52.27% game, consistent with his game 3 output, and with 23 ringers (3 more than Douglas) took the game 45 to 35. These two determined combatants were now evened up at 2 games apiece with a final 5th game to go for the 2007 championship.
Round 5:
Another 44 shoes game took place. But this time Jaron dropped his ringer percentage to 43.18%. This would be enough to win many games in his 2007 season on the courts of Indiana. But on this day, at this time, Douglas Rader pitched his high game of the contest and produced a 63.64% effort hitting 28 ringers out of 44 shoes to become the 2007 Jr. Boy’s Indiana State Champion.
Final comments: First, I want to say that I personally watched quite a bit of action from this Jr. Boy’s championship tournament. What impressed me above all was the sportsmanship and the respect each showed for the other. It was very commendable. Both young men stood up under a lot of pressure and just simply went about doing what they enjoy doing, “tossing horseshoes at a stake”. Doug ended the contest pretty much at his average with 51.10%. Jaron came to compete and pitched 12 and a half points over his 2007 season average with an excellent 47.06% final average. I’m sure I have not been able to give a full account of the efforts each made, but as the old saying goes, “you had to be there.” I was!
Round 1:
After a 50 shoes contest, Jaron rung the stake a total of 26 times for a blazing 52% game. Douglas fell 8 ringers short of matching Jaron and ended up at 36% and on the short end of a 19 to 44 outcome. Jaron went one up after the first game.
Round 2:
This game went 54 shoes and Jaron cooled off to 35.19%, while Doug pitched his average with a 51.85% and the 50% plus pitcher took the 2nd game by a score of 40 to 12. The contest was now tied with one win apiece.
Round 3:
This game was one of the two most exciting games of the tourney and the longest at 80 shoes pitched, with Jaron bouncing back with 41 ringers (over half his shoes pitched). Doug improved on his 2nd game by ringing the stake a total of 45 times to take the 3rd game by a score of 44 to 38. Doug was now up on Jaron by 2 games to 1.
Round 4:
The 4th game only went 44 shoes, but it was not a runaway. When one pitcher would hit ringers, the other would often fail to answer the challenge. Doug slipped a little with a 20 ringer effort and a 45.45% game. Jaron reached down with an excellent 52.27% game, consistent with his game 3 output, and with 23 ringers (3 more than Douglas) took the game 45 to 35. These two determined combatants were now evened up at 2 games apiece with a final 5th game to go for the 2007 championship.
Round 5:
Another 44 shoes game took place. But this time Jaron dropped his ringer percentage to 43.18%. This would be enough to win many games in his 2007 season on the courts of Indiana. But on this day, at this time, Douglas Rader pitched his high game of the contest and produced a 63.64% effort hitting 28 ringers out of 44 shoes to become the 2007 Jr. Boy’s Indiana State Champion.
Final comments: First, I want to say that I personally watched quite a bit of action from this Jr. Boy’s championship tournament. What impressed me above all was the sportsmanship and the respect each showed for the other. It was very commendable. Both young men stood up under a lot of pressure and just simply went about doing what they enjoy doing, “tossing horseshoes at a stake”. Doug ended the contest pretty much at his average with 51.10%. Jaron came to compete and pitched 12 and a half points over his 2007 season average with an excellent 47.06% final average. I’m sure I have not been able to give a full account of the efforts each made, but as the old saying goes, “you had to be there.” I was!
Schedule
Results
Douglas Rader & Jaron A Simpson
Round by Round Coverage
of the 2007 Elders State Championship
The
elders championship class was introduced with E Dale Kirtley from
Economy (5th place last year), Jesse J. Hough Jr. from Valparaiso, Elmo
Harrison from Conersville, Joe Graber from Goshen (3rd last year), Omer
E Gross from St. Paul, Stanley Loy from Pierceton, Carl R Sizemore from
Conersville (2nd place last year), and the 2006 defending champion Bob
Logan from Kouts. Absent from last year’s tourney was Harry
Palmateer and Robert Sheppard, who passed away in March of 2007. Bob will be
greatly missed for his contribution to the sport and for his uplifting
personality.
Round 1:
After 50 shoes, Gross took Graber 41 to 25 with 2 more ringers and several more points at 54%. With both pitchers below their ringer averages, Loy bested Harrison 40 to 22 in 56 shoes. In a 58 shoes contest, Hough had 37 ringers against Sizemore, but Carl managed 2 more ringers and registered a 44 to 34 victory. Logan pitched 71+% against Kirtley’s 58+% and took that contest 41 to 21. After all the games, the leaders were Gross, Sizemore, Loy & Logan; with the rest of the pack at 0-1.
Round 2:
Harrison faced Logan…for only 24 shoes. Bob missed only 2 shoes and finished with a 91.67% game and shut out Hough 44 to 0. Elmo had his tourney low of 33.33% against the defending champ. Joe Graber and Carl Sizemore had a 54 shoes game that was a nail biter. Joe rung the stake 36 times for a 66.67% average and Carl was one short at 35 ringers. That was enough difference to give Graber a 40 to 39 win. Hough topped Gross 40 to 26 with 6 more ringers in a 60 shoes game. Dale Kirtley pitched a 70.27% game against Stanley Loy, but Loy threw on 4 more ringers than Dale and took the game 40 to 33. At this point the standings were: Loy & Logan 2-0, at 1-1 were Graber, Gross, Hough, & Sizemore; and at 0-2 were Kirtley & Harrisoin.
Round 3:
Kirtley met Gross and had a fine 68.18% game against one of the low games for Gross of 50% for a final score of 40 to 14. Sizemore picked his game up a little against Harrision and won the match-up by 42 to 25 with 68+%. Hough faced Logan with hopes that Bob would come down from his last 91% game. He did come down to a 90% game and with a very good 68% effort by Hough, gave up some points with a 43 to 10 win. After pitching a fine 66.67% game in round 2, Graber cooled off to 50% beside Loy and Stanley took the contest 41 to 11 with his second 75% game. After 3 rounds, Loy & Logan were still undefeated at 3-0. At 2-1 was Sizemore and at 1-2 were Graber, Hough, Gross and Kirtley. Looking for his first win at 0-3 was Harrison.
Round 4:
With Logan hot, Graber needed to up his game from the last round of 50%. In 44 shoes, Joe brought it up to 61.36%, but Bob still managed an 84.09% game and won by 41 to 10. Gross faced Harrision and after 3 straight games well below his season average still pitched about 6% below his average, but Elmo slipped by hitting only 20 ringers out of 46 shoes and lost to Omer Gross 12 to 42. Sizemore got his first 70+% effort when he pitched against Kirtley. With 11 more ringers, Sizemore chalked up a 42 to 18 win. With 3 straight games over his season average, Jesse Hough walked the court with Stanley Loy who was 3-0 in the standings. Hough let off a little and Loy cooled by more than 13% below his last game, but with just 2 more ringers than Jesse, Stanley squeezed by 40 to 35. Standings: 4-0 Loy & Logan, 3-1 Sizemore, 2-2 Gross, 1-3 Graber Kirtley & Hough, and Harrison was still looking for his first win.
Round 5:
Graber picked his game back up to 67.5% and Kirtley dropped to 45% to give Joe a 43 to 15 victory. Hough pitched around average against Elmo Harrison, but Elmo could not yet pitch a game at his potential. Hough took him 40 to 34 in a good contest with only 3 more ringers than Harrision. Gross pitched 9% below his season average against an opponent who would not let him get away with it. Bob Logan rung the stake 35 times with only 7 misses (83.33%) for 11 more ringers and a 42 to 7 victory. Loy and Sizemore threw a combined total of 107 ringers in a long 72 shoes game. Loy pitched nearly 17% over his previous game and with 7 more ringers than Sizemore at 69.44%, took the match-up by a score of 40 to 19. With only 2 rounds remaining, Loy & Logan were still undefeated at 5-0 and scheduled to meet in round 6. One of them would still have no losses going into the last game. With 2 losses already, Sizemore was no longer in the running for the state championship at 5-0. Graber, Hough & Gross had a record of 2-3. Kirtley was 1-4 followed closely by Harrison at 0-5.
Round 6:
Sizemore got very serious against Gross and unloaded with an 81.25% game. With another 50% effort, Omer Gross lost to Carl by a score of 9 to 40. Jesse Hough, who through 5 rounds had managed to pitch above his season average in 4 out of 5 of his games (a remarkable feat under the pressure of state competition) fell to a 46% game against Joe Graber. But Joe probably forced that outcome somewhat by pitching up in the clouds at 85.71% for a 43 to 9 stand. Kirtley rung the stake 36 out of 62 times against Harrision. But Elmo rung it 37 times and won a well fought game by a score of 40 to 35. The two leaders faced off. Bob Logan dropped back into the 70’s with a 75.81% game against Stanley Loy. With 42 ringers out of 62 shoes, Loy’s 67.74% was not enough in this game, giving Logan the game 41 to 23 and putting him out in first with one round to go. At 6-0 Logan, at 5-1 Loy, at 4-2 Sizemore, at 3-3 Graber, at 2-4 Hough & Gross, and at 1-5 Harrison & Kirtley. Logan would meet Sizemore, Loy would meet Gross, Graber would meet Harrison, and Hough would meet Kirtley.
Round 7:
Hough and Kirtley had one of those games that keep you on the edge of your seat. Hough was again below his season average, but Kirtley could not pitch 50% With 2 more ringers in a long 60 shoes game, Hough took Kirtley by only 42 to 39. Graber & Harrison went the distance for 62 shoes. Elmo matched his previous game of 37 ringers for 62 shoes at 59.68%. Joe Graber also had 37 ringers for 59.68%. So basically, the game was decided by those all important single points. Harrison had a couple more for a 40 to 38 win over Graber. Gross pitched a solid 67.11% against Stanley Loy with 51 ringers out of 76 shoes (the longest game). But Loy pitched another 70%+ game with 3 more ringers to take this important game 41 to 32. But on the other court, going 56 shoes, Sizemore threw his 67.86% at Bob Logan. Logan answered with an 83.93% and Bob Logan repeated as 2007 Indiana State Elder’s Champion with a 45 to 20 victory over Carl Sizemore.
Final Comments: Logan ended up pitching 8.18 percentage points over his season average. When a pitcher comes in with 73.47% and does that, it is going to be hard to deny them a title. Stanley Loy had an excellent tournament, pitching nearly 3 points over his season average and displaying four games over 70% and losing only the one game to the first place finisher. Carl Sizemore had his first loss in the 2nd round against Joe Graber and that would take a little steam out of even the best of them. Graber got a nice win against Sizemore and in missing on only 4 shoes out of 28 pitched against Hough for his 85.71% game, Joe might have finished a little better, but a pair of 50% games are costly at this level of play. Jesse Hough had a fine tournament from the results and the comparison of season stats to his performance. Pitching over his season average in his first 4 out of 5 games and then even at a lower gear in his final game, happened to catch Kirtley off balance and squeaked one out there by 3 points. Omer Gross did not show us his best games, but with his high season average of 66.58%, its only a matter of time before we get to see them. Maybe next year. Elmo Harrison pitched well below his potential, but once the other pitchers were winding down, Harrison showed up for two good back to back victories to show his fighting spirit. E Dale Kirtley got 33 points against the second place finisher, Stanley Loy, and took Logan to 60 shoes before conceding the win to Bob. Dale stayed pretty consistent from game to game.
Round 1:
After 50 shoes, Gross took Graber 41 to 25 with 2 more ringers and several more points at 54%. With both pitchers below their ringer averages, Loy bested Harrison 40 to 22 in 56 shoes. In a 58 shoes contest, Hough had 37 ringers against Sizemore, but Carl managed 2 more ringers and registered a 44 to 34 victory. Logan pitched 71+% against Kirtley’s 58+% and took that contest 41 to 21. After all the games, the leaders were Gross, Sizemore, Loy & Logan; with the rest of the pack at 0-1.
Round 2:
Harrison faced Logan…for only 24 shoes. Bob missed only 2 shoes and finished with a 91.67% game and shut out Hough 44 to 0. Elmo had his tourney low of 33.33% against the defending champ. Joe Graber and Carl Sizemore had a 54 shoes game that was a nail biter. Joe rung the stake 36 times for a 66.67% average and Carl was one short at 35 ringers. That was enough difference to give Graber a 40 to 39 win. Hough topped Gross 40 to 26 with 6 more ringers in a 60 shoes game. Dale Kirtley pitched a 70.27% game against Stanley Loy, but Loy threw on 4 more ringers than Dale and took the game 40 to 33. At this point the standings were: Loy & Logan 2-0, at 1-1 were Graber, Gross, Hough, & Sizemore; and at 0-2 were Kirtley & Harrisoin.
Round 3:
Kirtley met Gross and had a fine 68.18% game against one of the low games for Gross of 50% for a final score of 40 to 14. Sizemore picked his game up a little against Harrision and won the match-up by 42 to 25 with 68+%. Hough faced Logan with hopes that Bob would come down from his last 91% game. He did come down to a 90% game and with a very good 68% effort by Hough, gave up some points with a 43 to 10 win. After pitching a fine 66.67% game in round 2, Graber cooled off to 50% beside Loy and Stanley took the contest 41 to 11 with his second 75% game. After 3 rounds, Loy & Logan were still undefeated at 3-0. At 2-1 was Sizemore and at 1-2 were Graber, Hough, Gross and Kirtley. Looking for his first win at 0-3 was Harrison.
Round 4:
With Logan hot, Graber needed to up his game from the last round of 50%. In 44 shoes, Joe brought it up to 61.36%, but Bob still managed an 84.09% game and won by 41 to 10. Gross faced Harrision and after 3 straight games well below his season average still pitched about 6% below his average, but Elmo slipped by hitting only 20 ringers out of 46 shoes and lost to Omer Gross 12 to 42. Sizemore got his first 70+% effort when he pitched against Kirtley. With 11 more ringers, Sizemore chalked up a 42 to 18 win. With 3 straight games over his season average, Jesse Hough walked the court with Stanley Loy who was 3-0 in the standings. Hough let off a little and Loy cooled by more than 13% below his last game, but with just 2 more ringers than Jesse, Stanley squeezed by 40 to 35. Standings: 4-0 Loy & Logan, 3-1 Sizemore, 2-2 Gross, 1-3 Graber Kirtley & Hough, and Harrison was still looking for his first win.
Round 5:
Graber picked his game back up to 67.5% and Kirtley dropped to 45% to give Joe a 43 to 15 victory. Hough pitched around average against Elmo Harrison, but Elmo could not yet pitch a game at his potential. Hough took him 40 to 34 in a good contest with only 3 more ringers than Harrision. Gross pitched 9% below his season average against an opponent who would not let him get away with it. Bob Logan rung the stake 35 times with only 7 misses (83.33%) for 11 more ringers and a 42 to 7 victory. Loy and Sizemore threw a combined total of 107 ringers in a long 72 shoes game. Loy pitched nearly 17% over his previous game and with 7 more ringers than Sizemore at 69.44%, took the match-up by a score of 40 to 19. With only 2 rounds remaining, Loy & Logan were still undefeated at 5-0 and scheduled to meet in round 6. One of them would still have no losses going into the last game. With 2 losses already, Sizemore was no longer in the running for the state championship at 5-0. Graber, Hough & Gross had a record of 2-3. Kirtley was 1-4 followed closely by Harrison at 0-5.
Round 6:
Sizemore got very serious against Gross and unloaded with an 81.25% game. With another 50% effort, Omer Gross lost to Carl by a score of 9 to 40. Jesse Hough, who through 5 rounds had managed to pitch above his season average in 4 out of 5 of his games (a remarkable feat under the pressure of state competition) fell to a 46% game against Joe Graber. But Joe probably forced that outcome somewhat by pitching up in the clouds at 85.71% for a 43 to 9 stand. Kirtley rung the stake 36 out of 62 times against Harrision. But Elmo rung it 37 times and won a well fought game by a score of 40 to 35. The two leaders faced off. Bob Logan dropped back into the 70’s with a 75.81% game against Stanley Loy. With 42 ringers out of 62 shoes, Loy’s 67.74% was not enough in this game, giving Logan the game 41 to 23 and putting him out in first with one round to go. At 6-0 Logan, at 5-1 Loy, at 4-2 Sizemore, at 3-3 Graber, at 2-4 Hough & Gross, and at 1-5 Harrison & Kirtley. Logan would meet Sizemore, Loy would meet Gross, Graber would meet Harrison, and Hough would meet Kirtley.
Round 7:
Hough and Kirtley had one of those games that keep you on the edge of your seat. Hough was again below his season average, but Kirtley could not pitch 50% With 2 more ringers in a long 60 shoes game, Hough took Kirtley by only 42 to 39. Graber & Harrison went the distance for 62 shoes. Elmo matched his previous game of 37 ringers for 62 shoes at 59.68%. Joe Graber also had 37 ringers for 59.68%. So basically, the game was decided by those all important single points. Harrison had a couple more for a 40 to 38 win over Graber. Gross pitched a solid 67.11% against Stanley Loy with 51 ringers out of 76 shoes (the longest game). But Loy pitched another 70%+ game with 3 more ringers to take this important game 41 to 32. But on the other court, going 56 shoes, Sizemore threw his 67.86% at Bob Logan. Logan answered with an 83.93% and Bob Logan repeated as 2007 Indiana State Elder’s Champion with a 45 to 20 victory over Carl Sizemore.
Final Comments: Logan ended up pitching 8.18 percentage points over his season average. When a pitcher comes in with 73.47% and does that, it is going to be hard to deny them a title. Stanley Loy had an excellent tournament, pitching nearly 3 points over his season average and displaying four games over 70% and losing only the one game to the first place finisher. Carl Sizemore had his first loss in the 2nd round against Joe Graber and that would take a little steam out of even the best of them. Graber got a nice win against Sizemore and in missing on only 4 shoes out of 28 pitched against Hough for his 85.71% game, Joe might have finished a little better, but a pair of 50% games are costly at this level of play. Jesse Hough had a fine tournament from the results and the comparison of season stats to his performance. Pitching over his season average in his first 4 out of 5 games and then even at a lower gear in his final game, happened to catch Kirtley off balance and squeaked one out there by 3 points. Omer Gross did not show us his best games, but with his high season average of 66.58%, its only a matter of time before we get to see them. Maybe next year. Elmo Harrison pitched well below his potential, but once the other pitchers were winding down, Harrison showed up for two good back to back victories to show his fighting spirit. E Dale Kirtley got 33 points against the second place finisher, Stanley Loy, and took Logan to 60 shoes before conceding the win to Bob. Dale stayed pretty consistent from game to game.
Schedule
Results
from left to right: Elmo Harrison, Stanley Loy, Carl R Sizemore, Bob Logan,
Omer E Gross, Jesse J Hough Jr., Joe Graber, E Dale Kirtley
(please let the editor know if any name is place incorrectly)
Page covering INHPA 2006 State Tournament
