The timing of this event may not have been the best. Running it on Friday after the Monday Night Football and then 3 consecutive Tigers playoff games was more bad luck than anything else. Since the schedule is done well in advance, we have to deal with what comes our way. The Blitz Tournament was played with only 14 people – the lowest total we’ve ever had.
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| Rich Stimson, Bob Rogers, Sante Fratarcangeli |
The group play was still very competitive. Only one player went through undefeated – Josh Slominski – and every single player won at least one game and we had 5 games come down to a sudden death rally. None more memorable than the Chris Van Tol and Bob Rogers “rally”. It wasn’t dramatic for its length, or excitement, or spectacular shooting, but rather for the opposite reason. Bob did the unthinkable as he attempted to retrieve the serve and somehow allowed the ball to hit in the middle of the back! Not a scenario Bob wants to reminisce, and made all the more difficult to forget as I remind him here!
Since we only had 3 groups, we need 2 wildcards to advance to the knock-out finals. Straws were drawn between all the players who did not end up in the top 2 of their respective groups and the lucky winners were Alan Howard and Brian Schrage. Brian’s luck didn’t last long as he took a 6 point handicap into his first match against Josh but it wasn’t even nearly enough as he only won 2 rallies. Alan, however, faired a lot better. Taking again a 6 point handicap into his first match against DJ Boyd, it turned out that DJ actually needed the head start instead as Alan blasted his way to a 15-4 victory.
His next match was a lot tougher. This time giving up 5 points to Tom Fabbri, he had to earn every point but still managed to squeak past the veteran Handballer-turned-squasher 15-12 to find himself in the final. Meeting him there was Josh. Josh took out Sante Fratarcangeli in his semi 15-11 with only a 2 point handicap, one he probably didn’t need.
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| Alan Howard and Josh Slominski (pre-match!) |
Alan and Josh played each other in the group matches where Josh won easily 15-6 with a 6 point handicap. This time, they both played from scratch. It was the 7th game for each of them and to be honest Alan was looking a little worse for wear. No excuses however, Josh was on a roll anyway. He took the final 15-8, the result was never really in doubt. Sante ended up winning the 3rd / 4th playoff.
Even though it was a small event, it was still successful. Thank you to all the competitors, make sure you spread the word how much fun it was for the next one scheduled in March.
