TUESDAY AUGUST 16, 2022 YPSILANTI TOWNSHIP, MI -- This quick 3 week summer league came to an end as fast as it started just 3 weeks ago. But no knocking the drama and suspense in the final week of competition followed by the playoffs.
We did get bad news that Renee Smith had contracted COVID, and she and Kellie Castle would not be able to participate in the final night as “Don’t Finger Your Cuphole". They were missed. Luckily, we had some great subs who had been sitting on the sidelines cheering the Phantom Fowlers all year long, Isabella Ferstle’s sister Madeline Ferstle and David Laff, visiting from Las Vegas had been joining us all season as spectators. They took over the reins of Don’t Finger Your Cuphole for the week. As luck would have it, they were slated to play family members Isabella and Terry Ferstle, The Phantom Fowlers. It would have just been bad luck if they took out the actual league team. It wasn’t so funny when they went up 2-1 over the Phantom Fowlers after 3 games. But Isabella and Terry righted the ship and took the next three games to win the match.
Over on lane 14, Bonkshells were taking on the champs and leaders Deflated Balls in their final match of the season. Using their previously mentioned “Dragon Slayer” superpower, Alicia and Brandon were hanging with Tommy and Mikhail throughout the match. But they needed to get the final pin in game six to tie it up and couldn’t as the Deflated Balls took a 4-2 victory over Bonkshells.
The most consequential final match was between 2nd place Haggis and 3rd place Pulled Pork Sandwich. The Scotts won the first game on collateral. Neil then heaved the perfect shot and BONKED for the win, WAIT. Scott Brown got a rebuttle shot and nearly bonked for the tie, but clipped the 9 pin on the throw. The Scotts won game 3. Game 4 went to overtime with Neil winning the flip and throwing a kill on the first toss. Haggis took game 5 picking off the last 3 pins one at a time. In back-and-forth form, Jenn and Neil took a 9-6 pin count lead only to have Scott Love throw a 4 piece to end the game and the match.
We did get bad news that Renee Smith had contracted COVID, and she and Kellie Castle would not be able to participate in the final night as “Don’t Finger Your Cuphole". They were missed. Luckily, we had some great subs who had been sitting on the sidelines cheering the Phantom Fowlers all year long, Isabella Ferstle’s sister Madeline Ferstle and David Laff, visiting from Las Vegas had been joining us all season as spectators. They took over the reins of Don’t Finger Your Cuphole for the week. As luck would have it, they were slated to play family members Isabella and Terry Ferstle, The Phantom Fowlers. It would have just been bad luck if they took out the actual league team. It wasn’t so funny when they went up 2-1 over the Phantom Fowlers after 3 games. But Isabella and Terry righted the ship and took the next three games to win the match.
Over on lane 14, Bonkshells were taking on the champs and leaders Deflated Balls in their final match of the season. Using their previously mentioned “Dragon Slayer” superpower, Alicia and Brandon were hanging with Tommy and Mikhail throughout the match. But they needed to get the final pin in game six to tie it up and couldn’t as the Deflated Balls took a 4-2 victory over Bonkshells.
The most consequential final match was between 2nd place Haggis and 3rd place Pulled Pork Sandwich. The Scotts won the first game on collateral. Neil then heaved the perfect shot and BONKED for the win, WAIT. Scott Brown got a rebuttle shot and nearly bonked for the tie, but clipped the 9 pin on the throw. The Scotts won game 3. Game 4 went to overtime with Neil winning the flip and throwing a kill on the first toss. Haggis took game 5 picking off the last 3 pins one at a time. In back-and-forth form, Jenn and Neil took a 9-6 pin count lead only to have Scott Love throw a 4 piece to end the game and the match.
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So again, Haggis won the Vice Presidents Trophy for a regular season second place finish. Deflated Balls again won the President’s trophy for the best regular season record.
With only 6 teams, the 1 and 2 seed got a bye in the first-round while #3 Pulled Pork Sandwich took on the subs for #6 Don’t Finger Your Cup Hole while #4 Phantom Fowlers drew #5 Bonk Shells. It’s a 20-minute best of 5 match but Pulled Pork Sandwich didn’t waste any time dispatching the subs for Don’t Finger Your Cuphole 3-0. Meanwhile the clock was turned off in Bonkshells and Phantom Fowlers matchup. Isabella and Terry looked like they had won, knocking down the final pin in the final minute, but Alicia followed up with a rebuttal on their final pin. They flipped, played out the overtime and Bonk Shells knocked down the solo pin just as time ran out with the teams now tied at 2-2. By rule, they started a new game ... 10 pins up. Best pincount after each turn would win. Phantom Fowlers would throw first to knock down as many pins as they could. Then Bonk Shells could respond. Knock down fewer, they are out, knock down the same, the game continues. Knock down more and knock out the other team. Phantoms first throw? A miss. 0 pins. Bonk Shells first throw? A near miss that clipped the ten pin for the win. They moved on. Phantom Fowlers are Fowling For Dollars!!
With only 6 teams, the 1 and 2 seed got a bye in the first-round while #3 Pulled Pork Sandwich took on the subs for #6 Don’t Finger Your Cup Hole while #4 Phantom Fowlers drew #5 Bonk Shells. It’s a 20-minute best of 5 match but Pulled Pork Sandwich didn’t waste any time dispatching the subs for Don’t Finger Your Cuphole 3-0. Meanwhile the clock was turned off in Bonkshells and Phantom Fowlers matchup. Isabella and Terry looked like they had won, knocking down the final pin in the final minute, but Alicia followed up with a rebuttal on their final pin. They flipped, played out the overtime and Bonk Shells knocked down the solo pin just as time ran out with the teams now tied at 2-2. By rule, they started a new game ... 10 pins up. Best pincount after each turn would win. Phantom Fowlers would throw first to knock down as many pins as they could. Then Bonk Shells could respond. Knock down fewer, they are out, knock down the same, the game continues. Knock down more and knock out the other team. Phantoms first throw? A miss. 0 pins. Bonk Shells first throw? A near miss that clipped the ten pin for the win. They moved on. Phantom Fowlers are Fowling For Dollars!!
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The second round brought on the regular season trophy winners to take on the victors. It was a rematch between Pulled Pork Sandwich and Haggis. Still smarting from the collateral, the 4 piece kill and the bonk with no win, Neil and Jenn were on a mission winning the first 2 games. Haggis finally responded with a win in game 3 but could not bag the final pin in game 4 as Pulled Pork picked off one pin after another for the win. Off to the finals for last month's champs. Gone was the chance for Haggis to be a 3-time runner up.
Alicia and Brandon from Bonk Shells went into their playoff match with regular season champs Deflated Balls ready to slay the dragon. They traded victories with the score ending up 2-2 with time running out. Game 5 went to pin count and Tommy and Mikhail got 7 down quickly. Bonk Shells could only muster 2 and went down to defeat as time expired. |
The August finals would now feature the champs from our June and July leagues facing off against each other. The rest of the league pulled our stools up close for the best view. And it did not disappoint. A win for Balls. An overtime win for Pork. Balls takes a second victory. Pork grabs game 4 to tie it up 2 to 2. Game five goes back and forth finally coming down to one pin for each team. Tommy knocks down the last pin ... but Jenn responds with a rebuttal! The final match deadlocked after overtime comes down to 1 pin. The first two times through the order there were some near misses. Jenn even touched the final pin without knocking it down. But the second time through, Tommy dead-eyed the final pin. No rebuttal this time. It was over and Tommy and Mikhail had won their second championship in 3 months.Sadly, Mikhail has been reassigned and his new job is in Argentina, far away from the Fowling Warehouse. So the Deflated Balls went out with a bang. Tommy will have to find a new teammate for the AFA league starting on Tuesday September 13th.
Though short, this league was very competitive as the talent level in the YA2 keeps getting stronger. We are ready for the next step. THE AFA CHAMPIONSHIPS!!
We will be sending 4 teams to the American Fowling Association championships. So we want to make sure we have the best talent Ypsi Ann Arbor has to offer. So we are creating the best league! It’s $20 per week. This covers your Fowling, a league T-Shirt, your AFA Membership which includes an AFA Hat and a membership card. But wait there’s more. During the 10 weeks of the league (9/13 to 11/15), you can come and Fowl for free on non-league nights to get some practice. Is that enough? No that’s not enough! Local Breweries will come on many weeks and buy the first round for everyone! THAT’S enough!! So, join the league. Tell your friends what a great value it is. Get them to join not only will we all have a great time and Fowl a lot ... we might send some really good teams to the AFA Championship. Go to https://fowlingwarehouse.com/ypsiannarbor/leagues/ and sign up now!!
We will be sending 4 teams to the American Fowling Association championships. So we want to make sure we have the best talent Ypsi Ann Arbor has to offer. So we are creating the best league! It’s $20 per week. This covers your Fowling, a league T-Shirt, your AFA Membership which includes an AFA Hat and a membership card. But wait there’s more. During the 10 weeks of the league (9/13 to 11/15), you can come and Fowl for free on non-league nights to get some practice. Is that enough? No that’s not enough! Local Breweries will come on many weeks and buy the first round for everyone! THAT’S enough!! So, join the league. Tell your friends what a great value it is. Get them to join not only will we all have a great time and Fowl a lot ... we might send some really good teams to the AFA Championship. Go to https://fowlingwarehouse.com/ypsiannarbor/leagues/ and sign up now!!
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TUESDAY AUGUST 9, 2022 YPSILANTI TOWNSHIP, MI -- With just 6 teams, this is all happening very fast. Last night was the “middle of the season” as all the teams were jockeying for postion in the playoffs and trying to cement their hold on the Presidents Trophy for best record in the regular season.
Match One had the two undefeated teams facing off against each other. June Champs Tommy and Mikhail from Deflated Balls and their 2-0 record took on July Champs Jenn and Neil from Pulled Pork Sandwich and their matching 2-0 record. The match started off quickly with Pulled Pork Sandwich grabbing two quick wins. But as quickly as that took place, Deflated Balls reeled of 4 straight victories and the match was over in 15 minutes with Deflated Balls keeping their unblemished record. On Lane 13 Alicia and Brandon from Bonk Shells took their one game winning streak against our newest team, the fire balling Isabella Ferstle and the sweet arcing Terry Ferstle, The Phantom Fowlers. The Phantoms took 3 of the first 4 and looked poised for a victory, but the Shells fought back to tie it up at 3. It came down to the last pin and The Phantom Fowlers knocked down #10. Bonk Shells missed on the rebuttal. Lane 12 featured Haggis with Scott Brown and wife (Kill Pin) Patty Brown subbing for the vacationing Scott Love against Renee and Kellie from Don’t Finger Your Cuphole. KPP didn’t miss a step and Haggis grabbed a 3-0 lead with game 3 taking a REALLY LONG TIME as no one seemed to want to knock down the last pin. The match looked in danger of running over the allotted time as Don’t Finger won game 3 and were looking good in game 5 as Patty lived up to the hype and made the 10th pin kill. Renee was not able to pick up the rebuttal and the match finished in regulation 4-1 Haggis. Round 2 ended up being more exciting than the hyped up Round 1. Haggis had to take out the newcomers Phantom Fowlers. Haggis lost the toss and took the west board and it ended up being the decision that won them the match. Whoever played on the west end won the game. So Haggis one the odd games and Phantom Fowlers won the even games including game 4 when Terry picked up the 7-10 split for the win. Down to the last pin in game 7, Scott managed to get a kill pin and Isabella missed the rebuttal giving the 4-3 win to Haggis. After taking it on the chin in round 1, you would think Pulled Pork Sandwich was out for revenge. But Bonk Shells has a reputation for being a dragon slayer and they were sowing their wild oats against last month’s champions. The games were all close including a rebuttal overtime that ended up going Jenn and Neil’s way. That was all the opening they needed and as the match wound down to the final pin the Pork Sandwich Pulled* it off and got the 4-3 victory over Alicia and Brandon. *see what I did there? Also looking for revenge from a round 1 loss was Don’t Finger My Cuphole. Renee and Kellie don’t take kindly to losses and it’s possible after taking out the champs, they might have overlooked Don’t Finger Your Cuphole. But fingering they were, taking the champs Tommy and Mikhail to a 3-3 count, before getting vanquished 4-3 and keeping both of their records consistent. No losses for Deflated Balls, no wins for Don’t Finger Your Cuphole. So with 4 out of 5 matches complete, it doesn’t look like anyone is going to catch Tommy and Mikhail from Deflated Balls. They are at 4-0 with 16 wins and 9 losses. It is again up to the dragon slayers Bonk Shells to defeat them next week. If that happens, Haggis is 2 wins and 1 loss behind them, Pulled Pork Sandwich is 2 wins and 3 losses behind them. A big defeat opens the door for either of these teams. But Haggis and Pork play each other so only one of them can advance and it will take a decisive victory to take the lead. Bonk Shells and Phantom Fowlers are both tied for 4th with a 1-3/12-15 record. Don’t Finger Your Cuphole is not far behind with 9 wins and 16 losses. Cuphole has a chance to better their own lot as they take on The Phantom Fowlers. They need a 4-1 victory to tie them or a 4-0 victory to pass them. Regardless, we will seed the tournament with #1 and #2 getting a bye in the first round. Let’s see if a hot team from the bottom of the bracket can take out a cold team coming off the bench. Sounds like fun to me. Let’s hand out some trophies and some cash next Tuesday and get ready for the AFA League in September. |
Team #1 - Don't Finger My Cuphole
(Renee Smith/Kellie Castle)
Team #2 - BonkShells
(Brandon Tuttle/Alicia Curley)
Team #4 - Deflated Balls
(Tommy Andre/Mikhail Hershfeld)
Team #5 - Phantom Fowlers
(Isabela and Terry Ferstle)
Team #6 - Pulled Pork Sandwich (Jenn Johnson/Neil Turchick)
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TUESDAY AUGUST 2, 2022 YPSILANTI TOWNSHIP, MI – Our third season of Doubles kicked off last night, just 5 days after crowning Pulled Pork Sandwich champions of the July Thursday Night Doubles league. We were 3 teams short, then a bunch of Thursday teams pledged their desire to join the league and when we went online to input their entry into the league, we discovered that another local Ypsi team had joined. Now we had 10 teams!! We put the word out that if anyone wanted to back out, that would be fine. OR we could go with 10 teams and 5 weeks. It turned out due to a series of auto accidents (yes, more than one), injuries, COVID and clerical error that by Sunday afternoon there were only 6 teams remaining. So we went with that; a three week 6 team schedule to finish the summer.
This month’s roster features 4 Ypsi/Ann Arbor local teams, 1 team of owners, 1 Hamtramck based team, 1 team of newbies and both previous league champions. We kicked off the evening by awarding Tommy Andre and Mikhail Hershfeld, our champs from June, their "official" trophies. They chose the name Deflated Balls. Then we kicked into Round One.
This month’s roster features 4 Ypsi/Ann Arbor local teams, 1 team of owners, 1 Hamtramck based team, 1 team of newbies and both previous league champions. We kicked off the evening by awarding Tommy Andre and Mikhail Hershfeld, our champs from June, their "official" trophies. They chose the name Deflated Balls. Then we kicked into Round One.
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ROUND ONE
Our newest team was Terry and Isabella Ferstle and named their team Phantom Fowlers. They had the unlucky draw of Pulled Pork Sandwich, our July champions in the first game and the second game with our June champs. Yikes! We thought they might get scared off, but we were SO WRONG. Both are very adept throwers and were not frightened by the competition. They lost the first three games to Pulled Pork Sandwich but then they came alive winning the next three. Before we knew it, both teams had only 1 pin standing, and the newbies were firing away at the champs with the hammer! It was not to be as Neil and Jen did what champions do; stood up to the pressure and made the shot. Meanwhile the June Champs, Deflated Balls, had drawn the owners and two-time runner-ups, Haggis, in round one. Haggis won the first two games very quickly and were well ahead in game three when Tommy took out a 4 piece to put the pressure on. Scott (take your pick) missed the rebuttal and Deflated Balls were off to the races winning the last four games to take the match 4-2. All of this took less than 15 minutes to accomplish. Both teams were playing well. |
BonkShells Alicia Curley and Brandon Tuttle are very evenly matched with their first-round opponent Renee Smith and Kellie Castle competing as Don’t Finger Your Cuphole. Renee is well known as our first social media fan and is always quickest to join the league. We are glad that BonkShells kept the faith and joined us again after going 0-8 in the July league with some very close and heartbreaking losses. The battle went back and forth, down to the last pin on both sides and finally Alicia and Brandon got the last pin breaking their winless streak.
ROUND TWO
As we said, our newbies Phantom Fowlers had to play Deflated Balls, our June Champ in the second round. They stood up to the champs and did not flinch, but were unable to win 4 games before Tommy and Mikhail. They do that. You think you are playing better than they are and then look up at the scoreboard to see they are winning. Isabella and Terry Ferstle are going to take someone out, be careful when you see them on your schedule.
BonkShells were still giddy from their first victory but Haggis was still pissed about their speed trouncing in round one. Again, Scott and Scott (Love and Brown) took the first two games and thought they were on their way. “No sirs” replied Alicia and Brandon who took games 3 and 4 to tie it up. Deja Vu all over again. Then Haggis won game 5 killing that off. Alicia kicked off game 6 with an 8 piece. Brandon picked up one of the two leaving a lone pin standing. But Haggis picked away at their 10 pins as the final pin eluded BonkShells, and Haggis eventually took out the last pin for a 4-2 victory.
Don’t Finger Your Cuphole didn’t have any time for moping about their loss in round one. It looked like they were on a mission to take down the July Champs Pulled Pork Sandwich winning games one and two pretty quickly. But Jenn and Neil woke up and started a comeback that was completed with four straight wins over Renee and Kellie. Much respect but no match wins for the Cuphole.
ROUND TWO
As we said, our newbies Phantom Fowlers had to play Deflated Balls, our June Champ in the second round. They stood up to the champs and did not flinch, but were unable to win 4 games before Tommy and Mikhail. They do that. You think you are playing better than they are and then look up at the scoreboard to see they are winning. Isabella and Terry Ferstle are going to take someone out, be careful when you see them on your schedule.
BonkShells were still giddy from their first victory but Haggis was still pissed about their speed trouncing in round one. Again, Scott and Scott (Love and Brown) took the first two games and thought they were on their way. “No sirs” replied Alicia and Brandon who took games 3 and 4 to tie it up. Deja Vu all over again. Then Haggis won game 5 killing that off. Alicia kicked off game 6 with an 8 piece. Brandon picked up one of the two leaving a lone pin standing. But Haggis picked away at their 10 pins as the final pin eluded BonkShells, and Haggis eventually took out the last pin for a 4-2 victory.
Don’t Finger Your Cuphole didn’t have any time for moping about their loss in round one. It looked like they were on a mission to take down the July Champs Pulled Pork Sandwich winning games one and two pretty quickly. But Jenn and Neil woke up and started a comeback that was completed with four straight wins over Renee and Kellie. Much respect but no match wins for the Cuphole.
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STANDINGS / NEXT WEEK
Both of our previous champs went undefeated and are on top of the table with Deflated Balls in the first position one fewer game lost. Same with Haggis and BonkShells, only one loss separates the 3rd and 4th place teams. Phantom Fowlers and Don’t Finger Your Cuphole have identical 0-2/5-8 records and are tied for 5th. At the end of the first round next week, we will have a leader since the two first place teams, Deflated Balls and Pulled Pork Sandwich, take on each other in round 1. Haggis has Don’t Finger Your Cuphole and BonkShells has to deal with Phantom Fowlers. Round 2 features Pulled Pork Sandwich v BonkShells, Deflated Balls v Don’t Finger Your Cuphole and Haggis v Phantom Fowlers. This reminds me a bit of the College Footbal season. There are so few games that one or two losses can take you out of contention. Every game matters. Good thing we’re not competitive and are just doing this for fun! (right?!?). We should have info on the AFA Qualifying Fall Doubles League by next week. It will be a 10 week Tuesday night league starting on September 6th and going until Election Day. There is no limit to the number of teams so tell your friends. AFA membership is required and it will be included in the costs if you are not already an AFA member. There isn’t a cash prize for this one, just pride and a gift card. Just have to work out the costs. We are looking forward to four teams getting a seed in the AFA National Championship tournament in January 2023 and representing Ypsi Ann Arbor. I think our talent is there, just need to work on finishing!! Let’s do this!! |
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