Workman takes Sundown Showdown horseshoes tournament
Petrack Park in Pahrump was the site for this season’s Sundown Showdown tournament for the Nevada State Horseshoe Pitchers Association.
Eighteen pitchers participated in the tournament with six pitchers in each of the three classes.
Larry Workman took home first place in the top A class.
He was the most improved pitcher in the field for this tournament from last year.
Last season, Workman went 1-4 and finished in last place of the A class. This season, he finished with a 4-1 record to take the win.
Workman scored a tournament-high 249 points and threw 73 ringers in his 200 attempts.
His only loss of the day came in a 44-50 defeat at the hands of Dan Dunn.
Two pitchers tied for second place in the A class.
Jim Magda and Louie Escalante each finished the tournament with identical 3-2 records.
Despite losing the head-to-head match, Magda got the second-place finish due to ending his tournament with more points than Escalante.
Magda scored 228 points, while Escalante scored 203 points.
Escalante was awarded third place in the tournament after losing the tiebreaker to Magda.
He finished with the second-most ringers in the tournament with 90, just two behind Tom Grose, who led the tournament with 92 ringers.
The B class saw the only undefeated pitcher of the tournament.
Don Brown ended his day with a perfect 5-0 record. He defeated his opponents by an average of 33 points per game.
Brown led the B class in both points (240) and ringers (78) with his 200 throw attempts. He finished the tournament with a ringer percentage of 39%.
Joshua Russell took the runner-up position, ending his day with a record of 4-1. His lone loss came in a 19-49 defeat to Brown.
Russell threw 62 ringers and scored 154 points on the day.
Heath Russell edged out NSHPA president Lathan Dilger for the third-place spot.
Their head-to-head match ended up being the deciding factor as Russell finished the tournament with a 3-2 record and Dilger finished his day with a 2-3 record.
Russell scored 166 total points and threw 55 ringers in the tournament.
There were two tiebreakers used to decide the top four spots in the C class. Third place was decided by head-to-head points, while first place was decided by a playoff round to figure out the class winner.
Danielle Workman and Benny Sanchez finished tied atop the leaderboard in the Sundown Showdown with 4-1 records.
Workman came out as the winner in the playoff game, winning by a score of 17-9 in her 20 throw attempts.
Her only loss of the tournament was a 20-25 defeat by Sanchez to begin the day, but she was able to battle back and go 5-0 after that match to win the class.
Workman threw 50 ringers and scored 194 points – both led the C class – in her six games on Saturday afternoon.
Sanchez’s only loss of the tournament came against Natalie Dilger, 24-34.
He threw just 11 ringers in his 220 attempts, but scored 160 total points.
Jefferson Counts and Michael Workman tied for third place with 2.5-2.5 records. They tied at 24 points apiece during their match.
Counts won the tiebreaker and received third place by outscoring Workman 127-116. He threw 21 ringers to finish with a 10.5 ringer percentage.
Don Brown and Danielle Workman each received a class champion patch for winning their respective classes. Larry Workman was awarded a tournament champion patch for winning the A class.
The league will take off this weekend, but will return to action on Saturday, July 8 for the Ringer Night Roundup tournament in Las Vegas.
The event will be played at Leavitt Park and will begin at 5 p.m. All participants are asked to arrive at least 30 minutes prior to complete the check-in process.
Contact sports writer/editor Danny Smyth at dsmyth@pvtimes.com. Follow @_dannysmyth on Twitter.
