What an incredible day way to end the regular season of the Stars & Stripes Games! The weather was a little breezy but otherwise outstanding for playing pickleball. And the weather wasn’t the only thing outstanding, so was the competition!
In the first match, each team earned 3 points as they either went 3-1/1-3 or 4-0/0-4 between their A and B teams in their matches. That’s the kind of parity I was expecting for this tourney but it took 3 weeks for everybody to find their stride. It was so competitive that we thought that Air Force and Army that they had a tiebreaker situation with Team B and played one to a 11-10 Air Force victory. Fortunately for Air Force, it wasn’t needed and they covered all 3 points given up by Team A.
The second match saw the Marines giving their all to try and overtake Navy by winning both their A and B games versus Army, 4-0 and 3-1 for a total of 9 points for the day. Air Force also tried giving the Marines a boost, pushing Navy to a 2-2 tie in both their A and B team games to force 2 tiebreakers for both sides. Air Force was game but could not stop the Navy juggernaut, going down 11-1 and 11-5 to give Navy 4 points and a total of 7 for the day. Air Force collected 2 for the efforts against Navy and 5 for the day. Army collected 3 points for their split with Air Force in Match 1.
Great job everyone!
The final standings are Navy as the season winner with 26 points, followed by the Marines with 25, Air Force with 15 and Army with 10.
That sets the stage for the Finals next week with Navy hosting the Marines for the Gold and Silver and Air Force doing the same with Army for the Bronze. Since there will only be the one match in the finals, all the games will be the best 2 out of 3. The Villages Honor Flight will also be back and we’ll have the drawings for the 50/50, as well.
Let’s Go!
Here is the link to the photos: https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjCB66w
Here is the link to the YT playlist, including the replay of the livestream from court 4 and the GoPro footage from courts 1 and 7: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLy0MUnaQ-KX_2u-9RTLKcOS4tEAClIod6
Livestream Court 4
Match 1 Air Force v Army
- Women’s Doubles (0:25:05) Lisa Farrell and Lori Fraser v Deb Gross and Marianne Van Cappeln
- Mixed Doubles (0:50:12) Lisa Farrell and Robert McCollough v Deb Gross and Mark Mitchell
- ‘Tiebreaker’ (1:13:20) Lisa Farrell and Dewey Short v Regina White and Tim DeMaria (both teams were tied 4-4 but a tiebreaker is only played if a team goes 2-2 during their match, regardless, it was a great tiebreaker game)
Match 2 Navy v Air Force
- Women’s Doubles (1:34:20) Lori Fraser and Teresa England v Vicki Hesselgrave and Tracy McKenna
- Mixed Doubles (1:58:58) Vicki Hesselgrave and Brian McCarthy v Pete Blackmore and Lori Fraser
- Tiebreaker (2:24:40) Teresa England and Robert McCollough v Tracy McKenna and Jason Powell
GoPro Court 1
Match 1 Air Force v Army
- Men’s Doubles (0:00:00) Pete Blackmore and Bill Russell v Paul Elliott and Fred Veenstra
- Women’s Doubles (0:16:05) Janet Artrip and Regina White v Ellen Huber and Teresa England
- Mixed Doubles (0:33:17) Ellen Huber and Bill Russell v Regina White and Fred Veenstra
- Mixed Doubles (0:51:10) Teresa England and Pete Blackmore v Janet Artrip and Paul Elliott
Match 2 Navy v Air Force
- Men’s Doubles (1:06:28) Bill Russell and Dewey Short v Don Bourque and Jason Hedden
- Women’s Doubles (1:18:46) Annette Kilgore and Sharon Miller v Ellen Huber and Lisa Farrell
- Mixed Doubles (1:37:24) Sharon Miller and Jason Hedden v Lisa Farrell and Bill Russell
- Mixed Doubles (1:44:04) Annette Kilgore and Don Bourque v Ellen Huber and Dewey Short
- Tiebreaker (2:02:02) Sharon Miller and Jason Hedden v Lisa Farrell and Dewey Short
- Tiebreaker (in progress, ct 3 at 2:13:11)Tracy McKenna and Jason Powell v Teresa England and Robert McCollough (Tracy serving at 8-5-1)
GoPro Court 7
Match 1 Navy v Marines
- Men’s Doubles (0:00:00) Jason Powell and Jason Hedden v Doug LeFebvre and Buzz Baron
- Women’s Doubles (0:14:30) Tracy McKenna and Sharon Miller v Meta Smith and Sue Reich
- Mixed Doubles (0:32:33) Sharon Miller and Jason Hedden v Sue Reich and Buzz Baron
- Mixed Doubles (0:40:10) Tracy McKenna and Jason Powell v Mets Smith and Smitty
Match 2 Marines v Army
- Men’s Doubles (0:54:09) Doug White and Mark Mitchell v Doug LeFebvre and Paul Damren
- Women’s Doubles (1:08:50) Jackie Elliott and Maike DeMaria v Amy Mick and Sue Reich
- Mixed Doubles (1:26:45) Meta Smith and Smitty v Doug White and Regina White (this game started at 1-0 for Army as Smitty came in as a sub for Paul)
- Mixed Doubles (1:32:54) Amy Mick and Mike Betsinger v Jackie Elliott and Ray Artrip