The Pickleball Mixed Doubles Championships were played last Saturday (Feb 25th) and spectators, ignoring a plague of sand gnats and the acrid stench of impotent bug repellant, were treated to thrilling competition. After more than six hours of play, medals were awarded in the Championship, A and B divisions. It was a beautiful afternoon featuring some of the best pickleball The Landings Club has produced.
After a grueling five rounds, Amy Paderewski and Scott McKessy squared off against Claudia Gaughf and Andrew Jones for the gold medal in the Championship Division. The match was, in the opinion of most spectators, the most exciting pickleball witnessed at The Landings Club to date. Both teams played fast, hard and smart, the match becoming a question of which team could outlast the other. Although Amy and Scott won in straight sets, 11-5 and 11-7 the final score did not indicate how evenly matched the teams were. In the end Amy and Scott executed more passing shots and took home the gold. Claudia and Andrew won silver and Max Lemaigre and Mary Jane Martin pocketed the bronze.
Competition in the “A” Division was no less exciting. As there were more teams playing than there were in the Championship Division, by the time Nancy Early and Jim Dwyer faced Betsey and Einar Andersen the games were as much a matter of “last man standing” as they were about skill. The two teams had to play three separate matches to determine who won gold. Nancy and Jim won the first match in two games, while the Andersens won the second match in three. As they split, each having won a match, a final game had to be played to break the tie and determine a winner. In the end, as the sun set over the courts, Nancy and Jim prevailed, winning the double elimination round 15-9 and taking home the gold. The Andersen’s won silver and the bronze went to Cindy Altman and Peter Dorward.
The “B” Division sported a smaller field, but the play was intense with each team vying for bragging rights. Congratulations to Jon Wolfe and Leigh Givens-Ulmer who won gold, Peter and Lisa Muller who took silver and Patrick and Christie Bergen who grabbed bronze.
On a separate note, construction on the new pickleball courts is finally complete, raising our number of courts to fourteen, plus the practice court. This promises to alleviate some of the availability issues for the near future. Two more courts will be added this summer when courts six through ten are rebuilt.