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Croquet Friends,

Thanks go to all who braved hurricane Ian and played in the 2022 Blue Crab 6-Wicket croquet tournament at Chesapeake Bay!

We had to battle Hurricane Ian who came to visit on Friday and hung around for the duration.  But croquet players are a tough breed and we prevailed.  It was great to get to play some quality croquet and see some good old friends and make some good new ones.


Red Ian sky at Blue Crab 2022

As usual, the weather was better than the weather channel predicted.  Thursday was clear, Friday was rainy but not a wash out and we played and finished the singles portion of the tournament Friday afternoon.  Saturday was a delightfully sunny fall day.  We started doubles Saturday and tried to finish on Sunday.  On Sunday we got as far as the finals and then the court finally puddled up.

Singles were three flights, Championship, 1st and 2nd.  2nd Flight was a training flight and players got coaching during their round-robin games.

The round-robin for each flight was played on Thursday, all players went into the single elimination playoffs on Friday.

In 2nd flight, new comers Doug and Cynthia Fowler advanced to the finals.  Doug and Cynthia have been playing 6-wicket for about 3 months.  The coached round-robin round was a great learning experience for Doug and Cynthia and Doug came out of the round-robin undefeated and was seeded 1st in the playoffs.  Lisa Maloney, Nancy James and Dick Jefferies all tied for 2nd seed.  Doug continued to play well and his wife, Cynthia, came alive in the playoffs and ended up in the finals against Doug.  Doug prevailed in a tight finals game with a 18-15 victory.

Second Flight Winners Doug Fowler & Cynthia Fowler

In 1st Flight, Jan Fisher went undefeated in the round-robin and was 1st seed in the playoffs.  Denys Shorthouse went in as 2nd seed and made it to the finals along with Fred Beck.  Denys was victorious in a close 14-9 finals game.

Cold & wet First Flight Winners Fred Beck & Denys Shorthouse

In Championship Flight, Macey White was first seed in the playoffs. Macey won all of the round-robin games but lost in the first round of the playoffs against Arthur Olsen.  In typical Championship Flight style, a single mistake (missed hoop) by Macey was all it took for Arthur to take control and win.  In the playoff finals, Arthur met stiff competition with Rodney Lassiter and Rodney prevailed in a low scoring rain dampened game 11-7.

Championship finalists Arthur Olsen & Rodney Lassiter

Doubles was high low.  On Saturday morning, All players were seeded based on their singles performance and the top seed was paired with the bottom seed...  There were ten teams.  After the first round, the five winning teams were placed in Championship Flight and the losing five teams were in 1st Flight.  There was a round-robin for each flight and the two top scoring teams in each flight paired off in the finals.  Unfortunately, it started to rain just before the finals started and the court became un-playable before the games could be finished.  Both finalist teams in each flight were declared tied for first place.


Championship Doubles winners Macey White, Lisa Maloney, Doug Fowler & Rick Sheely
 

First Flight Doubles finalists Jan Fisher & John Welch