The Nine Wicket challenge is a great opportunity for two clubs to share their common interest in the sport of croquet. For the second year, Mesa's Venture Out club members have come to Scottsdale to play against members from the Arizona Croquet Club. We divide Ren Kraft's lawn into four (42'x52') lawns and the setup nine wicket layout. The equipment is provided by Venture Out. The tournament director was Arnie Pankow and ran a well organized event.Last year Venture Out got the upper hand, defeating Ray Hamm and John Fournier in the finals. This year, the ACC wanted to do better, but it wasn't an easy road. The courts were playing fast and it was easy to send a ball out of bounds when loading the outer hoops - these were only set in 1 yard from the boundary. (I am working on summarizing the rules since, although the similarities are quite striking, they are a bit different than Osborn's USCA version.)
The day started out grey and with a slight drizzle, we kept warm with a bonfire and coffee. The first round of games started in Venture Out's favor 3-1, Stan Patmor and Paul Bennett pulling out the first victory against Marvin Neadler and Bruce Van Leet.
During the second round of play, the sky turned blue over Camelback Mtn and the ACC was on the warpath with 4 victories, the count was now 5-3 in ACC's favor. During this round, Paul Bennett made a quintuple peelout of Ray Hamm's ball which was for 11 at the beginning of the turn. Arnie Pankow, our tournament director, commented that he had never been beaten in this way before. Bruce Van Leet agreed with Arnie's comment.
Each round, the players were reassigned new partners. The best records being paired up with the those with the worst records. Each player was awarded the points earned by the team's play. At the end of two rounds, Paul Bennett and Stan Patmor were the highest ranked players from Scottsdale and Vern Paulson, Rudy Pankow, Rodney Wayland and Marvin Gerdis were the highest ranked players from Mesa. After a brief lunch, these players shot off (nearest to hoop 4, the middle hoop) to determine high/low ranking.
During the third round, the sun was shining and Mesa mounted its comeback scoring 3 wins against 1. The balance had been struck, the count was now at 6-6. The best two players from Mesa would play those from Scottsdale in the finals.
The finals was Rudy Pankow and Marvin Gerdis against Paul Bennett and Pat Roach. Paul had the first break opportunity, after Rudy attacked opponent balls on the North boundary, got hampered on the takeoff by hoop 7, narrowly missed the balls on the boundary, and Pat set Paul an easy break. Paul went around easily until missing blue at 11. Paul should have 'tighted the striker ball' by holding the striker ball with the hand and croqueting black to 12. This would have kept the stiker ball much closer to the blue ball.
Rudy got the next break but got in trouble at hoop 10.
Pat got the next break at hoop 5 peeled partner through 11 and rolled a ball out going to 14. Pat hit in on the next shot and made 14. Paul finished the game by peeling Pat through 15 and pegging both balls out. A wonderful 1st place trophy was presented by Arnie Pankow to Paul for individual achievement. All agreed to do this again next year.
Arizona Team:Stan Patmor 32 32 7 = 71
Paul Bennett 32 32 32 = 96 + 32 = 128 (1st place)
Ray Hamm 12 32 7 = 51
Pat Roach 16 32 32 = 80 + 32 = 112
Rory Kelley 16 32 9 = 57
Sandy Brown 18 32 7 = 57
Don Stallings 18 32 9 = 59
Mesa Team:Marvin Neadler 21 7 32 = 60
Bruce Van Leet 21 15 25 = 61
Terry 32 7 32 = 71
Arnie Pankow 32 15 32 = 79
Rudy Pankow 32 29 32 = 93 + 14 = 107
Rodney Wayland 32 29 25 = 87
Marvin Gerdis 32 29 32 = 93 + 14 = 107
Finalists:Paul Bennett & Pat Roach 32
Rudy Pankow & Marvin Gerdis 14
Tournament Director, Arnie Pankow, explains the rules of the draw to the players.
Marvin Neadler and Bruce Van Leet discussing strategy in their first game against Stan Patmor and Paul Bennett.
How about right here.
Rudy Pankow with mallet and deadness box. Pat Roach setting up his croquet shot.
Yes! It is ok to take croquet 9 inches away from the ball.
Deadness keeper uses a box and also stays close to the striker to watch for faults.
Ren's court was divided up into four courts 42' x 52' each. Lots of action all day long.
Pat Roach doing a full roll shot with the Forster croquet balls.
Might as well sit down and enjoy the game ... Pat is pegging out his opponent ball which is for rover. As it turns out, anyone can peg out a rover ball. (This makes it a bit interesting.)
Yeah, Pat is smiling. He has left his opponents one-handed.
Don Stallings watches Pat finish up the peg-out.
Lining up for a long hit in.
Ray is watching the action. Soon the opponents will break down and Paul Bennett will pick it up a notch.
Ray Hamm and Paul Bennett after successfully defeating Arnie and Rudy with a quintuple peel-out in the second round of play. Arizona went on top 5-3.
The finalists Rudy Pankow, Pat Roach, Marvin Gerdis and Paul Bennett.