Youth horseshoes pitcher impressive at NHPA World Tournament
Local 14-year-old prodigy Natalie Dilger arrived at the National Horseshoe Pitching Association World Tournament in Sandy, Utah with only one goal in mind: to be crowned a champion.
Held from July 21 to August 2 at the Mountain America Expo, participating members qualified by competing in four prior NHPA-sanctioned tournaments.
Since February, Natalie had been gearing up by competing in local Nevada State Horseshoe Pitchers Association tournaments held in Pahrump and the Vegas Valley with her grandfather and NSHPA president Lathan (Rebel) Dilger.
In the preliminary rounds held on July 24 and 25, Natalie competed in 10 co-ed games in the Junior Class C division, tossing 40 horseshoes a game. During day two of preliminaries, Natalie quickly found herself down by as many as 12 points in a few games but was able to start hitting doubles to catch up quickly to her opponents.
That Friday evening, Natalie swept all five games while bolstering herself into the Saturday night finals. Dilger finished preliminaries with a total of 440 shoes and a 31.82 ringer percentage.
“I thought she played better than she was playing in tournaments this year by far,” Lathan (Rebel) Dilger said. “Somehow, ‘World’ really just brings it out of her.”
Coming into finals on July 26, Natalie had pitched around 5% above her average score and was ranked third overall above some higher Class A and Class B competitors she would face in the final round.
Competition increased in the Junior Girls Championship as Natalie was able to win only two of seven games. Dilger finished in sixth place overall out of eight girls with a 30.35 ringer percentage.
“This was my second world competition. I thought the people I played against were all really good and tough to beat,” Dilger said. “What I love about the sport is all the people that I’ve met. My favorite memory had to be signs made for me that said ‘lock in’,” Dilger said.
With her performance during this year’s championship, Natalie qualified for the NHPA World in Wausau, Wisconsin at the Central Wisconsin Convention and Expo Center.
“I am very proud of her,” Rebel Dilger said. “I think she has a good shot at winning it all next year.”
Contact Jacob Powers at jpowers@pvtimes.com. Follow @jaypowers__ on X.
