Old Dominion Summer Classic
May 31, 2014
By Pat Snelgrove
On a nice warm day, 21 pitchers came out for the Old Dominion, held in Ashland this year. Classes A-D had four each (playing through twice), and classes E&F were mixed, so 5 competed.
A Class was taken by Glenn Barlow with 6-0, pitching 57.39% overall. In his first game of the day, he faced Jimmy Campbell in a very tight game that ended 25-22. And his last game of the day was even tighter when he faced George Maitland and squeaked out the win on the last shoe, finishing 29-26.
B Class was taken by Chuck Hansen with 5-1, pitching 34.58% overall. Chuck had more tight/close games than anyone else in the event. The first game vs. Pat Snelgrove saw him win on the last throw with a ringer that went uncovered, winning 22-19. His only loss of the day was in game 3 against Ronny Altizer, where at shoe 34 the game was 26-25 favor of Altizer. The Altizer threw 2 ringers and a point that went unanswered, making the score 33-25. Even Hansen’s double ringer on the last throw couldn’t do it. He lost the game 33-31.
C Class was won by Ted Pilcher with 5-1 and 35.83% overall. In the first game of the day, he faced brand new pitcher Anthony Morris. Morris hit the scoreboard first. Then Pilcher gaught up and passed him. By shoe 18, the score was 15-11. Then Pilcher “got stuck” while Morris kept scoring. By shoe 28, Morris led 19-16. Then Pilcher scored, tying the score 19-19 at shoe 32. Morris through a double ringer that Pilcher couldn’t cover. Score went 25-19 favor of Morris. Morris missed completely on the next two innings, while Pilcher scored 4 points each time. The game ended 27-25 to Pilcher. In the next round of games, Morris had his revenge.. in another really tight game, he gave Pilcher his only loss of the day in a game that ended 22-19, favor of Morris.
After the dust settled, Joseph Rogers was beaming ear-to-ear as he was awarded 1st place in D Class. He pitched 22.92% for the day, ending with a 4-2 record.
1st place in E Class was awarded to Mickey Gillespie, 4-0 for the day.
F Class was won by Bobby Mullins with 4-0 for the day.
Both pitchers were grinning as they took the 1st place patches. Mickey said “this feels good. I haven’t won one of these in a long long time.” Bobby, on the other hand quietly said thank-you...
I announced to the crowd that this was Bobby’s first time winning a patch EVER... everyone clapped and congratulated him.
It was a fun day, see you all on the courts soon. Pat
