Kalache takes top spot at Hot Daze horseshoes tournament

The ‘shoes were flying as the Nevada State Horseshoe Pitching Association made their way to Lone Mountain Regional Park for their most recent event on Saturday, June 11.

Just 13 NSHPA members participated in the Pahrump Hot Daze tournament. Despite the name, the tournament didn’t take place in Pahrump because the horseshoe pits at Petrack Park are still under construction.

With the low number of participants, pitchers were only split into the A class and the B class for this event.

Joe Kalache took home the top spot in the A class. He finished with a record of 5-1, with his only loss coming against fourth-place finisher Mark Kaczmarek.

Kalache finished with 213 total points and threw 83 ringers in his 240 throws. His points and ringers were both second most in the entire tournament.

This was Kalache’s fourth class victory of the season and his second in a row after taking the top spot in the B class last week at the June Bug Classic.

Last week’s champion, Scott Hardy, took second place in the A class at the Pahrump Hot Daze event this past weekend.

He finished tied with third-place finisher Kasey Dilger, however, Hardy won the tiebreaker due to total points. Both pitchers finished with 4-2 records for the tournament.

Hardy threw a tournament-high 100 ringers on his way to a tournament-high score of 216 total points.

Dilger, who finished in third place of the A class, ended the tournament with 76 ringers and scored a total of 180 points.

In the B class, Tom Grose took home another class victory. This was his second class win of the season. At just 10-years-old, Grose is becoming one of the top players in the horseshoe scene.

Grose finished the tournament as the only undefeated pitcher with a perfect 5-0 record. He threw 65 ringers and scored a total of 205 points.

In second place of the B class was NSHPA president Lathan Dilger. He finished with a 4-1 record, scoring 165 points and throwing 55 ringers in his 200 attempts.

Dilger’s only loss came by just one point against Grose in their matchup.

The third-place finisher of the B class was Danielle Workman. She finished in a tie for third place with Dennis Ahrens with a 2-3 record.

Workman won the tiebreaker due to scoring more points throughout the tournament. She scored a total of 157 points, compared to 143 points scored by Ahrens. Her performance also included 17 ringers.

The NSHPA will be taking this weekend off from action. They’ll be back in the pits for the Sundown Showdown on Saturday, June 25. All pitchers need to be signed in by 6 p.m.

Contact Danny Smyth at dsmyth@pvtimes.com and follow @the_dannysmyth on Twitter.