Fun Shoot Fantastics!

Let me tell you, Tuesday night at the Parksville Legion was barn-burner! 

Twenty men and four women of the league showed up to play eleven games of doubles.  Prizes for 1st, 2nd and 3rd, along with men’s and ladies high score and high out, were augmented with 12 door prizes.  Throw in the $48 snowball draw and it was a WIN WIN WIN night at the oche!

First highlight of the evening was a 140 thrown in Jim Thompson’s first match.  Thom Ford followed that up with a 94 check-out in the third round.  A few games later, Jim Thompson hit the first 180 of the night, congrats Jim!  Not to be outdone, Steve Collins hit the second 180 just a couple games after that.  Pretty cool, eh?  I felt like I was at the World Championships for a second.  Near the end of the evening, Jim was hollering once again, booming like Russ Bray “ONE HUNDRED AND SEVENTY-SEVEN!!”  Wow, just wow! 

At the end of the eleven matches, two teams were tied for first place with nine wins each – Jim Thompson/Jolene Swanson and Darrell Jobb/Pony Moore.  Let the play-off begin, Thom Ford kept score and the teams played one match to determine the first-place winner.  It was neck and neck right to the end.  Left with 16, Jolene, who had doubled out 45% of their games played so far, attempted the double eight, missed and hit the eleven (naturally) and then busted hitting a 20.  Pony stepped up to the oche to finish their forty out, missed with the first two darts and nailed it with his third.  Way to go Pony and Darrell!!

First, second and third place were awarded with their choice of meat – roasts and gorgeous chicken breasts from Thrifty Foods were up for grabs.  Darrell and Pony chose a couple of roasts and smiled for the camera; Jim picked a pork roast while Jolene went for chicken breasts.  Third place winners, with eight wins, Steve Collins and Rob Sparrow took the remaining roast and chicken breasts.

It was bacon and eggs for high scores and high outs. Don’t poo-poo bacon and eggs, it’s the tradition, and nowadays, it’s over $15.00 for both! Men’s high out was Thom Ford’s 94, and Anita Hopps recorded a 40 out.   Congrats to all the high scorers!!  Enjoy your next big breakfast.

Obviously, Jim Thompson had the high score with his 177, but couldn’t win again.  This is according to the guideline of “One Prize per Player”, enacted after the 2018 Christmas Turkey Shoot, where one player walked out the doors of the Qualicum Beach Legion with three turkeys in tow. 

The next highest score, 140, was shot by Jim as well, further down the list Thom Ford had a 125, but having won the Men’s High Out, we had to keep going until we came to 123 shot by Larry MacDonald.  Unfortunately, Larry had gone home for the night, so the search continued.  Luckily, Darren Wesnoski was eligible for the prize with his score of 121.  Phew!  That was a lot of name-calling to find a winner, thanks for hanging out to the end of the presentations Darren.  Ladies High Score was far less dramatic an exercise, Lorraine Paquette, was the top scorer for the women with a 96.  Congrats Lorraine!

To sum up, the list of winners for the 2024 Fun Shoot are:

·         1st place – Darrell Jobb & Pony Moore

·         2nd place – Jim Thompson & Jolene Swanson

·         3rd place – Steve Collins & Rob Sparrow

·         Men’s High Score – Darren Wesnoski – 121

·         Ladies High Score – Lorraine Paquette – 96

·         Men’s High Out – Thom Ford - 96

·         Ladies High Out – Anita Hopps – 40

·         $48.00 Snowball Winner – Jim Thompson – 81

Thank you to all those who registered early and remembered to show up!  😉 

Thank you to Lorraine for running the tournament, particularly for laying out the snowball chips, an exercise if patience if I ever saw one!  It was nice to take turns calling out the rounds, this meant both Lorraine and I had a voice left by the end of the night. 

Regular season resumes next Tuesday (16th), have fun everyone!  Four more weeks of regular season play before the league splits into A and B Divisions.  All postponed matches MUST be played before stats can be calculated for each division.