Dunn and Nicosia go undefeated at state horseshoes tournament
Petrack Park played host to the Nevada State Horseshoe Pitchers Association tournament on Saturday afternoon, where they had multiple pitchers go undefeated in the event.
The singles, round-robin tournament had 17 pitchers in attendance who were split into three divisions based on their ringer percentages.
Dan Dunn took home the top spot in the A class.
He was one of two pitchers in the tournament who finished the day with an undefeated record. Dunn ended his tournament run with a 4-0 record, beating his opponents by an average of over 13 points.
Dunn threw a tournament-high 71 ringers and scored a tournament-high 209 total points in his 200 throw attempts.
There was a tie for second place in the A division.
Mark Kaczmarek and Rai Adams each finished the tournament with an identical 2-2 record. Kaczmarek won the tiebreaker over Adams by finishing with more points in the tournament.
Kaczmarek ended his day with 168 total points compared to 152 points scored by Adams. He also won the head-to-head matchup with Adams by a score of 49-31.
Kaczmarek threw a single-game high of 21 ringers in his final match of the day against NSHPA president Lathan Dilger.
The B class also saw their winner finish the day with an undefeated record.
Michael “Nico” Nicosia ended his tournament with a perfect 5-0 record. Nico won three of his five matchups by more than 20 points.
Nicosia finished with class highs in points (167) and ringers (62) in his 200 throws. His best game of the day came against Heath Russell, where Nicosia won by 29 points, 38-9, and threw his highest number of ringers in a single match with 17.
The runner-up for the B class went to Randy Salzwimmer, who finished with a 4-1 record.
Salzwimmer’s only loss in the tournament was a two-point defeat, 21-19, at the hands of Nicosia to start the day.
Following the loss, Salzwimmer finished with four consecutive victories.
Salzwimmer scored 129 total points and threw 41 ringers in the tournament. He had a close call in his matchup with Mike Dedeic, but he was able to squeak out a 1-point victory, 25-24.
Heath and Christy Russell finished tied for third place in Saturday’s tournament. They both ended their day with identical 2-3 records.
Despite Christy winning the head-to-head matchup between the two pitchers, Heath came away with third place due to winning the ringer percentage tiebreaker.
Heath finished the tournament with 43 ringers in his 200 throws, good for a 21.5 ringer percentage, while Christy threw 38 ringers in her 200 attempts for an 18.5 ringer percentage.
In the C class, Russell Jacobs ended the tournament in the top spot. He finished the day with a 3.5-1.5 record.
Jacobs and class runner-up Kevin Chael faced off in the final matchup of the day.
Jacobs went into the game with a 2.5-1.5 record, while Chael held a 3-1 record.
Jacobs came away with the victory by the smallest of margins, winning the game 33-32 to take the top spot.
He threw 11 ringers and scored 148 total points in his 200 throws.
Jacobs’ only loss in the tournament came in the opening game against Robert Ciaciura.
With his loss, Chael dropped into a 3-way tie with Ciaciura and Ken Jose, who all had 3-2 records in the tournament.
Chael won the tiebreaker by finishing with the most points of the three pitchers. He ended the day with a class-high 152 points and threw 19 ringers.
Ciaciura ended his tournament with a third-place finish by scoring 142 total points. He threw a class-high 32 ringers in his five games.
For their wins, Jacobs and Nicosia each received a class champion patch while Dunn received a tournament champion patch for winning the top class.
The NSHPA will be off this weekend before returning back to action on Saturday, April 15 when they travel to Mesquite for the Mesquite Metal Mayhem tournament.
The event is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. All participating pitchers should check in at least 30 minutes prior to the tournament.
Contact sports writer/editor Danny Smyth at dsmyth@pvtimes.com. Follow @_dannysmyth on Twitter.
