The line-up was set with 6 pitchers from
last year's championship tournament back in 2009 along with newcomer
Norma Estelle. Missing from last year's tourney were Nancy Yaros
and Penny Reeves. Being a woman short, each round would have a
pitcher sit out a BYE. Carolyn Coyle (defending champion,
winning the title the last two years and 4 of the last 7 championships)
was in the line-up; along with Mary Lee Claise (2 time state champion
in the last 5 years and finishing 3rd in 2009); 2009 2nd place finisher
Sharon Chiddister with a 2009 tourney 79.49% average was in attendance;
along with 2009 4th place finisher Connie Reimer; 5th & 7th
place finishers Julia Charlton and Jenny Morris rounded out the field
along with Norma Estelle. All seven pitchers are right
handed. Throwing the flip shoe was Estelle, Charlton, Claise,
& Morris. Throwing the 1-1/4 turn was Coyle &
Chiddister. And throwing a 3/4 turn was Reimer.
Round 1 - BYE for Carolyn Coyle
Estelle faced Chiddister in a 48 shoes contest. Sharon
pitched 9 more ringers than Norma and bested her 60.4% to 41.6% for a
40-18 victory. Jenny Morris and Julia Charlton went 62 shoes,
with Charlton hitting 6 more ringers and pitching a fine 67.7% game at
42-20 final score. The barn burner was the battle between Connie
Reimer and Mary Lee Claise. Both pitchers were off their games
and in a tight struggle to the wire. Mary Lee rung the stake 32
times, but 2 extra ringers by Connie put her over 42-35.
Standings: Chiddister 1-0, Charlton 1-0, Reimer 1-0, Coyle 0-0, Morris 0-1, Claise 0-1 & Estelle 0-1
Round 2 - BYE for Julia Charlton
Estelle faced last year's champion Coyle. Carolyn was a
little under her % in a 34 shoes game. (I might add that the
women were experiencing the same wind that was playing heck with the
Elders and the Mens early championship games.) Norma stuck 13
ringers for 38.2% against Coyle's 22 ringing shoes. The outcome
was 41-7 in Coyle's favor. The next 2 games went the same
distance of 46 shoes. Reimer had a strong game with 28 ringers
against 20 ringers by Morris, winning 42-16. While Mary Lee
faired well against Chiddister with a 54.3% game, Sharon pitched 63.0%
and slipped by with 4 more ringers to edge out Claise by a score of
41-29.
Standings: Reimer & Chiddister 2-0; Coyle & Charleton 1-0; Claise, Estelle & Morris 0-2
Round 3 - BYE for Connie Reimer
The quickest game was 40 shoes between Carolyn Coyle and Mary
Lee Claise. Claise hit half her shoes, while Coyle attacked the
stake ferociously, ringing the bell 31 times for a super performance of
77.5% and taking the contest 42-7, handing Mary Lee her 3rd loss in as
many rounds. At the end of 52 shoes, Morris pitching 11% below
her entry average, showed Sharon Chiddister 23 ringers.
Chiddister had to battle hard to win with 55.7% (11% below her entry
average) for a tight 41-29 win. 12 shoes later, Estelle and
Charlton were finishing their match. Charlton coming off a BYE
rest, dropped 21% off her opening game with 30 ringers, while Estelle
looking for her first win struggled, but managed 6 more ringers and a
42-31 outcome.
Standings: Chiddister 3-0; Coyle & Reimer 2-0; Charleton 1-1; Estelle 1-2, Claise & Morris 0-3
Round 4 - BYE for Sharon Chiddister
With Chiddister out for a rest, Reimer & Coyle, having each
sat out, were matching up to try and tie Chiddister's 3-0 record.
After taking a beating from Coyle in round 3, Mary Lee Claise looked
onto her scorecard and saw she was matched up against Julia
Charlton. Julia threw a respectable 54.1% game & 26 ringers
out of 48 shoes pitched, Mary Lee drilled the stake 36 times for a 75%
game (up from her previous 50% game) and a 40-5 walk up and down the
courts. Norma Estelle pitched a very fine 62.0% game with 36
ringers out of 58 shoes. But her opponent must have been
competing on the next court with Mary Lee Claise. Because Connie
Reimer rung a weary stake 43 times for a 74.1% performance. The
final score was Reimer 40 to 16 Estelle. With these two round 4
exhibitions, the game that ended after 60 shoes was the one that had
the binoculars glued on the scoreboard. Caroyln Coyle and Jenny D
Morris were matching each other ringer for ringer. In a dead heat
at 40 ringers each and 66.6% each, the pennies would do it. An
edge of your seat 41 to 39 squeaker found Morris in the win
column. Carolyn tasted defeat for the first time in the
tourney. In fact, with 7-0 W/L in her 2009 championship and 5-0
W/L in her 2008 championship, along with her first 2 won games in this
2010 championship, her 14 games winning streak in championship
tournament play had come to an end.
Standings: Reimer & Chiddister 3-0; Coyle 2-1; Charlton 1-2; Estelle, Morris & Claise 1-3
Round 5 - BYE for Jenny D Morris
This is the round that Reimer and
Chiddister would meet to decide the lead. (But I get ahead of
myself-first the 36 shoes game.) With 1-3 W/L matching records,
Norma Estelle would face Mary Lee Claise, who was coming off her 75%
game in round 4. Norma pitched the kind of pitching that one
often does in their own backyard with no witnesses. Ringing 2 out
of every 3 shoes pitched, Estelle ate up the points on Mary Lee.
Claise could not recoup her round 4 form and dropped down 23% to eke
out 9 points to Estelle's 41 score. Carolyn Coyle met Julia
Charlton for 48 shoes. Julia was due for her high game and the
wait was over. Pitching a high 68.7% with 33 ringers and facing
56.2% with 27 ringers, Julia handed Carolyn her 2nd defeat with a
45-27 win, ending with a double ringer (39+6). With a 46 shoes
walk back and forth match, Chiddister and Reimer were tightening up the
score at the finish line. With 26 ringers apiece, the final
ringer brought the game to its 41-39 conclusion. (I guess she
could have done it as well with two close shoes, but no ringers by
either is unlikely-only they would know for sure.) Sharon
Chiddister won the game with less than 60% ringers.
Standings: Chiddister 4-0; Reimer 3-1; Coyle & Carlton 2-2; Estelle 2-3; Morris 1-3; Claise 1-4
Round 6 - BYE for Mary Lee Claise
The shortest game of the tournament finished after 32 shoes
pitched. Coming off her win againt Coyle, Julia Charlton dropped
25% with only 14 ringers (43.7%) and ran into a buzzsaw 23 ringers,
71.8%, gaining momentum Sharon Chiddister. 40-10 was on the
scoreboard at the end of the match. At this point, Sharon
Chiddister had the 2010 Indiana State title of Womens Champion with a
loss to spare. Chiddister becomes the 15th womens state champion
winning her first title. Norma Estelle, with a fine championship
tournament
was set to play her last game, with the BYE in the last round.
Jenny Morris was coming off her excellent round 4 game with Coyle after
resting out in round 5. The rest was not good for Jenny's rhythm,
as she dropped 23% in ringer average from her last game to hit 26
ringers out of 60 shoes. Estelle hit 7 more ringers than Morris
and took the contest 41-23. Still going on was the game for which
you would want to buy tickets. Connie Reimer at 3-1 would face
the defending champion Carolyn Coyle at 2-2. Connie was winning
most of the 2 dead 1 point results and/or the 1 ringer 4 results,
because with 34 ringers out of 68 shoes for 50%, Connie took part in a
45 to 35 game, with Carolyn ending the game on a double ringer 6
result. Coyle had 42 ringers, 8 more than Connie, but won the
game on the last pitch, which could have gone the other way, if she had
thrown an open pit and Reimer had doubled. Unless my math is
screwy, this was a very unusual game.
Standings: Chiddister 5-0; Reimer & Coyle 3-2, Estelle 3-3 (finished); Charlton 2-3; Morris & Claise 1-4
Round 7 - BYE for Norma Estelle
Carolyn Coyle, the defender, met Sharon Chiddister, the new state
champion. Coyle pitched her weakest game of the tournament, with
her best coming in round 3 at 77.5%. With 26 ringers and 54.1%,
Carolyn managed to register only 8 points, while in her other two
losses, she got 37 and 27 points. Sharon finished strong to
secure her perfect record of 6-0 by finishing with 36 ringers in the 48
shoes game for her high game of 75%. With the chance of a 4 way
tie for 2nd-5th place between four ladies (that is how competitive this
tournament was), Reimer bested Charlton by 31 ringers to 27 in 54 shoes
to take the game 40-29 (a good game from a spectator's viewpoint). At
1-4 each, Mary Lee Claise and Jenny D Morris battled relentlessly to
match ringers 34 each in 60 shoes with a final outcome in Mary Lee's
favor 40-35.
Final Standings: Chiddister 6-0 & 63.60%; Reimer 4-2 &
58.33%; Coyle 3-3 & 63.09%; Estelle 3-3 & 54.00%; Charlton 2-4
& 55.84%; Claise 2-4 & 55.10%; Morris 1-5 & 52.65%
FINAL WORDS
This round by round coverage was meant
to recapture the excitement of a championship horseshoe
tournament. Since I have the greatest admiration for the pitchers
competing, there was no intention of offending anyone pitching or
reading this commentary. I have simply taken the stats. and tried
my best to recreate the tension and the play of the actual
tournament. The highs, when in their particular grooves, really
showcased the talent Indiana has at this level in the womens class and
they should all be very proud of their abilities. Over the last
few years since 2005, I have seen most of these women display skills at
horseshoe pitching and sportsmanship at winning and losing, that quite
frankly make me proud to be a horseshoe enthusiast in our state of
Indiana. It is only a shame that time does not permit each of the
championship tournaments to be played exclusively so that spectators
and the pitchers in each tournament can enjoy watching the match
ups of the other tournaments. This round by round coverage attempts in a small way to
allow pitchers to read the round by round accounts of these
contests. I hope it is enjoyed by all who read and the
realization is there that I have strived to give an "objective" account
of the encounters. Thank you for reading this work. And
believe me, it is work with my mind and heart fully engaged.
--Kenny Wolf