Tension is Rising in the Deep River Horseshoe League
The Marlins lead the league in scoring averaging with 292 points per game. In Week Five, they scored 297 points, as they defeated Pudge Goodrich's Reds by over 90 points. Mark Goodale and Howie Fisher led the scoring again for the second-straight week. Goodale’s 113 point series was the high score for the "B" division, and Fisher’s 89 point series was the second highest for the "C" division. Fisher remarked that it’s been a while since he has started a season like this. The Marlins jumped from sixth place up to third place in the standings and are two games out of first place.
Sheryl Serviss's Tigers came within one point of a sweep, as they took five from Skip Robinson's Pirates. Serviss (Deep River) had great support last week, including Bill Black (Guilford) who filled in as a sub and had been on Serviss’s championship team last year, and Anthony Conkling (Marlborough). Serviss’s 111 point series and Conkling’s 84 series were season's best, and Black’s 81 point series was the third highest among "C" players. The Tigers scored 276 points, their high for the year.
The Pirates also had their fair share of points (272 - 120) by Robinson (Guilford) and 95 by Harvey Strausser (Old Saybrook). Strausser's was the top "C" scorer for the night and is the league's leading "C" division scorer. The teams had two back-to-back games decided by one point. The Tigers won game two in the last frame (box), and in the other one, they just needed one point in the last box of game three to get the sweep.
Probably the surprise match of the evening was the Angels winning over the Cardinals. Cardinals’ Kris Toohey (Westbrook), the league's leading scorer, had another high series of 137 points and was the second leading scorer for the "A" players. However, Angels’ Ted Dubay (Colchester) had a season best series of 102 points, 26 ringers, four doubles and included a season-best game of 35 points, 10 ringers, two doubles. He was the second leading scorer for the "B" division. Kyle Wilson's (Waterford) ringer in the last box of game three helped the Angels to a tie, and in his next game, his two points in the last box gave the Angels a win. The Angels won 4.5 - 1.5 and moved up fifth place. The Cards slipped to sixth place.
Giants’ Mike Zanelli Sr. has had the leading score for the "A" division for the second week in a row and is steadily inching up the points list to claim the top spot as the league's leading scorer. Last week, he ended the night with a 149 point, 39 ringer, eight doubles series, as the Giants defeated Chip Goodrich's Diamondbacks 4.5 - 1.5. Game 6 ended in a tie thanks to Giants’ Paul Chrystal's two points in the last box. All other games were decided by more than eight points. The Giants moved up four spots in the standings from 16th to 12th.
The Yankees topped the Rangers 4-2 to hold onto second place. Yankees’ Todd Nuhn (Killingworth) and Rangers’ Joe Heery (Old Lyme) went 2-2 in their head-to-head matches. They each had a game in the 40s (Nuhn with a 41 and Heery with a 44). Heery’s 44 included five doubles, a league season-high. Yankees’ Damin Roberts (Cromwell) started slow and ended with three consecutive games of 28 points. He finished the night with a 99 point series.
Mike Zanelli Jr.'s Braves continue to hold down first place by one game, as they also won by a 4-2 score over Butch Carotenuto's Dodgers. Braves' Matt Valentin had a season-best 25 point, seven ringer game, Warren Bellows hit the century mark for the second time this season and was the third best "B" score, and Zanelli had a 44 point game, his fourth this season. Carotenuto's two solid games in the 30s gave the Dodgers their lone wins.
With the score of the match between Bob Cifaldi's Mets and John Durinick's Orioles tied 2.5 - 2.5 after five games, it was exciting to watch the completion of the final game. After 10 boxes, the score was tied at 28 points each, but the Mets had two points of handicap. In the 11th box, Mets’ Bob Beckwith and Keith Toohey scored five points, while Orioles’ Ed Turner and John O'Brien scored three.
Going in the last box, the Mets held a four point lead. Turner tossed a ringer, but Cifaldi opened. Toohey tossed his final shoe for one point, and then it was all up to O’Brien. His first shoe was just short of being a ringer. Turner said, “John, we need a ringer for the win.” O’Brien, with his unique backflip deliver, released the shoe, and as it wobbled thru the air, it finally made it for a ringer. The Orioles won 3.5 - 2.5.