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STATE DOUBLES Here is my report of the 40' doubles Florida State championships pitched on 4-18-02 at Clearwater FL. I was partnered with Byron Jarrett who is one of the top men pitchers in FL. Last year we won the 40' doubles championship. The games are played to 50 shoes with the higher average player starting the match and the lower average player pitching the next 2 innings. The players also walk to the other end after each 2 innings are pitched so that the players will pitch their own shoes. There were 7 teams in the 'A' class which means that there was to be a bye in the round robin. Here is a summary of our games. WR BJ WR BJ WR BJ Opponents Score Ringers Shoes R% David Youngblood-Nick Borick 56-27 20 8 26 24 77 33 Bill Maples-Glenn Raines 50-27 19 13 26 24 73 54 Robert Moulin-James Hayden 84-12 26 13 26 24 100 54 Glen Hoppes-Paul Goss 61-10 22 14 26 24 85 57 bye John Peplinski-James Smith 53-17 19 12 26 24 73 50 Ron Deckard-Robert Zumbahlen 32-15 20 13 26 24 77 54 6 Wins 0 losses 126 73 156 144 80.8 50.7I pitched much better in this doubles tournament which was highlighted by a perfect game in the 3rd round. It had been several years since I had my last perfect game in horseshoes and I was very happy to get another one. I also kept my bad games to 73% which helps a lot. Our last game of the tournament was for the championship. Our opponents Ron Deckard and Robert Zumbahlen didn't pitch quite as well as they are capable and my partner came through with some good ringers to help keep our lead. It will be interesting to see if I can play this well (or maybe even a little better) at the tournament this weekend in New Melle, MO (near St. Louis). This was one of the more satisfying horseshoe tournaments I have had in quite a while. Walter Ray |