Tournament at Peace River

Tuesday brought the threat of thunderstorms all day, but the the tournament to benefit HART (Homeless Animal Rescue Team) went on as planned.  Men's and women's doubles were started first at about 8:45 AM, and after two straight wins, my partner (Rene) and I were beaten in a close match by our friends John and Dean.  That put us in the lower bracket since this was a double elimination tournament.  We won our way through the bracket and faced the number one team of Rich and Austin who had also lost to John and Dean.  We won that match and once again met John and Dean in the finals.  Rene and I prevailed in two straight games, but because the other team had never lost a match before that, we had one last game to 15 points to determine the champion.  It was good match but a letdown for us as we lost 15-8 and came in as the runners-up.  At least it was fun for the crowd watching.

Val played in the women's doubles, but she and her partner Gena were slightly out-matched by some very competitive teams from Kings Point in Sun City.  Val didn't sign up for the mixed doubles but ended up playing with two different men whose partners were injured or had to leave early.  She played very well and won a match before rain moved in to end the tournament before the mixed doubles champion could be determined.

My partner, Donna, and I were also doing well, but we'll never know who the champs would have been.  Guess it would have been us  ; )

The best news was that we raised nearly $500 for HART along with boxes of food and toys for the animals AND a couple of pets were adopted by folks at the tournament.  That made it all worthwhile.

There was also a raffle with great prizes.  The main prize was $70 in restaurant gift certificates for two winners followed by a dozen Pickleball balls with a 25 dollar gift certificate to Ace Hardware.  It was a very lucky day as we won one of the restaurant certificate packages and also the balls and Ace Hardware stuff.  Must be the clean living.....

And thanks to Donna and Rich for putting on a great tournament.  Well done.