2019 DOUBLES TOURNAMENT: A FIELD OF DREAMS

This year, the Colonial Quoit Club was on Hiatus and the pits were uncharacteristically quiet on Friday nights. However, we fielded a 12 team doubles tournament this past weekend that had a pretty solid cast of characters from around the mercer county area. It was anything but quiet. We were shooting for 16 teams, as in year’s past, but only managed 12 this time. We had players from Cool Cricket, The Elks, Church League, VFW, Corner House, Hibernians and the CQC that all made the trip.

We began the day with a  round robin qualifying round composed of three pools of four teams. Each team played three games and after qualifying, four teams would be eliminated. The final eight teams were seeded in an 8-team double-loss elimination bracket, that would determine this year’s club champions.

After qualifying, we had two undefeated teams. Jim Goodwin and Tom Michaud and Ron Towne and Mike Klidzia, that went through unscathed, and it seemed the Colonials had the upper hand early. Eight teams went through to the bracket and four teams were eliminated including your humble scribe. The eight survivors were seeded into the 8-team bracket and play got underway.

There were not a lot of surprises early as reigning champs Ron and Mike and the team of Anthony Immordino and Ed Lewandowski got to the winners bracket final. In the loser’s bracket, a lot was going on. George Grondski and Bill Scheidell, who lost one game to Ed and Anthony began to gain momentum. Coming off a couple of wins and a second in local tournaments this year, they showed why they were a force on the Mercer quoit scene. They put together four wins to come out on top of the loser’s bracket. In the winner’s bracket final, Eddies 5 ringer game put his team on top 21-13 to go to the final against George and Bill. George and Bill would need to win two against Ed and Ant. Early Saturday morning, Vegas had the home team a 2-1 favorite to take the title and at game time of the final, it went to 3-1 with them only needing one to win it.

The first game was close early but the church boys were on a roll and cruised to a 21-12 victory forcing the second game. The home boys seemed motivated and got off to an early lead. But momentum is a difficult thing to overcome sometimes. George G. tossed a double late in the game and his 15 point game sealed the deal 21-17. George and Bill were this year’s champs. Congrats on a job well done.

I’d like to thank all of the players, for coming out and making it a successful tournament. I hope everyone had a good time and would consider participating in next year’s event. Special thanks to Jimmy and Sandy, Ron and both Mikes for their help in food and setup. Its tough running an event like this at a residence with neighbors and parking always a concern. A final thanks to all who respected the venue and competed with class.

Pool A

Pool B

Pool C

x-advanced on tie-breaker