Miller takes Spring Fling in Vegas

The Nevada State Horseshoe Pitching Association held a sanctioned tournament over the weekend at Leavitt Park in Las Vegas.

The tournament featured 17 places who were split into their respective classes based on their overall ringer percentage going into the tournament.

The A class features the pitchers who have the highest ringer percentage in the tournament. They’re followed by the B class, which has the middle-of-the-pack pitchers, then the C class, which has the lower ringer percentage pitchers.

The A class for this tournament had six participants. Ellie Miller of Utah came away with the win. She completed the tournament with a 5-1 record, finishing in a tie with Lawrence Workman.

Miller and Workman tied at the end of the regular round of games and had to do a playoff game to decide the class champion. Miller ended the tournament with 187 points and 71 ringers after 224 throws.

Workman, who was the runner-up this week, finished with a tournament record of 4-2 after the playoff game with Miller.

He ended up with the tournament-high in both points, with 233, and ringers, with 75. Workman’s ringer percentage of 33.48% was second in the tournament to James Hatch, who hit a ringer on 34% of his throws.

In third place of the A class was Scott Hardy. He finished with a 3-2 record to end the tournament. Hardy had 62 ringers and 144 points on his 200 throws.

The B class saw the only undefeated pitcher of the tournament. Joe Kalache finished with a perfect record of 5-0. This is the second consecutive tournament Kalache has had a top 3 finish. He took third place in the A class in the End of Winter Classic tournament back in February.

Kalache finished the tournament with 176 points and 63 ringers on 200 throws. He ended with a 31.50 ringer percentage, just slightly higher than his average of 30.57%.

NSHPA President Lathan Dilger came in second place for the B class with a record of 4-1. He had 158 points and 52 ringers on his 200 throws. Dilger’s tournament ringer percentage of 26% was also slightly higher than his average of 24.22%.

The third-place finisher for the B class was Ray Leavitt. He finished tied with Bob Miller and Fred Kennedy with records of 2-3, however, Leavitt won the tiebreaker with more points and more ringers.

The C class winner of the tournament was Dave Barefield. He has now won back-to-back class tournaments after finishing as the B class champion in the End of Winter Classic tournament.

Barefield finished with a record of 3-1. He scored 119 points and threw 31 ringers during the tournament.

Second- and third-place finishers Christy Russell and Don Brown ended the tournament with 2.5-1.5 records. Russell won the tiebreaker due to having more points.

Russell finished the tournament with a class-high 132 points and had 24 ringers on her 160 throws. Russell finished with the highest above-average ringer percentage. She entered the tournament with a 10.41% and threw at a rate of 15% during the competition.

Brown finished the tournament with a class-high 37 ringers and had 120 points. His ringer percentage of 23.13% was just slightly lower than his average of 23.78%.

The next Nevada State Horseshoe Pitching Association sanctioned tournament will be the Spring Has Flung tournament on Saturday, March 12. The tournament will be held at Petrack Park in Pahrump. All participants must sign in by 10 a.m.