BELTON, MO -- Matt Griffith steam-rolled his way to a record fourth-straight MCA Nine Wicket Series tournament win claiming a 32-6 win over Greg Clouse in the final at the 2015 Missouri Open at Eagles' Landing Golf Course in Belton, Missouri on Saturday. And with the deepest, 10-player Pro Division in MCA 9WS history, it's not like the rest of the field didn't give it their all on ending Griffith's reign over MCA tournament titles.
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The day started with Griffith tying Paul Miller's 15-game win streak record with a first round 22-16 win over Jason Johnson. The streak ended there though as he then fell to Dylan Goodwin 14-10 as they battled on court three which proved to be the toughest court of the day.
Griffith then went into overdrive as he rattled off four-straight pegout wins to set a season record for pegouts, a tournament record for pegouts and now has eight career pegouts for another record. And during that run, he was able to payback Goodwin with a 32-5 pegout in the semifinals.
;)
Deborah MillicanIn the Gold Division, Deborah Millican with 3-1 in the four-game round robin to claim first place. Three players finished 2-2 and Bill Berg claimed second place with 97 wickets on the day. Nathan Oberg (2-2) had 86 points, Jodi Adams (2-2) had 83 points while Debbie Breeden (1-3) rounded out the balanced group with 79 points.
The Silver Division featured a dramatic finish as Ellie Kemp rolled in to the fourth round of the five player round-robin format with a 3-0 record. She faced off against Di Berg looking to clinch the Silver title, but fell 10-8 in a close on. That meant Berg, Kemp and Justin Marciniak with one loss each could potentially forge a three-way tie with the winner being decided by gross points.
Kemp had the last round bye, so she got to watch as Marciniak faced off against newcomer Trevor Adams and Berg took on Darin Watson. Berg was told she needed to win and score 22 if Marciniak won his game. Marciniak needed a pegout to win. As it turned out, Marciniak fell in final turns to Adams 7-6 and Berg followed instructions carefully as she won 22-9 over Watson. She took first place by virtue of the head-to-head win over Kemp, who claimed the second place medal.
The Bronze Division had two players on Friday night and ended up with just three players. Due to scheduling contraints, the first game was shortened and also started during the most steady rain of the day on court three. A fourth ball was randomly shot to center court to give this developing division more options for offense. Gwyneth Bowen took the win in game one.
For the second game, Bronze moved to court two and enjoyed dry weather in a longer and higher scoring game. Renee Potter won with 12 wickets. Overall, Gwyneth Bowen took first place with 15 points on the day, with Potter in just behind with 14 points. Elizabeth Goodwin finished with nine points on the day.
NOTES
- The event went on as scheduled, but players did get to endure a pretty steady rain throughout the mid-portion of the day.
- Greg Clouse has come up one game short in the last two events, but he has now made the final in five of the 11 MCA 9WS events. Dylan Goodwin has reached the final six times. Matt Griffith and Paul Miller have each made four appearances in the title game. Greg Adams, Matt Baird and Jason Johnson all have reached the final one time.
- No official count was made, but it had to be a record-setting day for referee clarifications. The MCA is working on listing out the issues of the day and publishing them as Rules Recaps.
- In Gold Division play Deborah Millican notched her second Gold tournament title and that matches Bill Berg and Taylor Airrington who also have two wins each. Jason Johnson is still the king of Gold with three titles.
PRO DIVISION RESULTS
Quarterfinals
Billy Bob Breeden 32, Keith Berg 11
Greg Clouse 32, Ron Millican 12
Dylan Goodwin 19, Paul Miller 11
Matt Griffith 32, Jason Johnson 11
Semifinals
Greg Clouse 21, Billy Bob Breeden 15
Matt Griffith 32, Dylan Goodwin 5
Final
Matt Griffith 32, Greg Clouse 6
GOLD DIVISION RESULTS
1. Deborah Millican 3-1 (100 pts)
2. Bill Berg 2-2 (97 pts)
3. Nathan Oberg 2-2 (86 pts)
4. Jodi Adams 2-2 (83 pts)
5. Debbie Breeden 1-3 (79 pts)
SILVER DIVISION RESULTS
1. Di Berg 3-1 (47 pts)
2. Ellie Kemp 3-1 (46 pts)
3. Justin Marciniak 2-2 (23 pts)
4. Darin Watson 1-3 (38 pts)
5. Trevor Adams 1-3 (39 pts)
BRONZE DIVISION RESULTS
1. Gwyneth Bowen -- 15 pts
2. Renee Potter -- 14 pts
3. Elizabeth Goodwin -- 9 pts