Airrington went 4-0 to get his first Gold Division title
LEE’S SUMMIT, Mo.—Gabe Airrington took his success at the Lee’s Summit T-Bone Croquet Tournament to the next level on Saturday.
Returning to Howard Park, the site of his first tournament victory in the Silver Division in 2015, Airrington went undefeated in combined Gold/Silver Division block play in the morning and knocked out the four and two seeds to take first place in the Gold playoff in the afternoon. His block wins over the eventual Silver Division finalists, Eddie Mondt and Wanda Jackson, and his triumphs in the Gold Division proved he belongs in the Gold group in 2017 after a dominant 2016 in the Silver Division.
PHOTOS | BLOCK RESULTS | GOLD KNOCKOUT | OFFICIAL SCORESHEET
In the Gold Division final, Airrington and Joshua Reed played a balanced match. Both balanced quick partner play with more deliberative attempts to attack the opponent. Each player had chances to break the game open. In the end, Reed, who played close games all day, could not chip away at the score enough. Airrington prevailed 21-19 in his tightest match of the day.
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Gold Finalists Gabe Airrington and Josh Reed. Greg Adams presented the awards. Click to Zoom.Like Airrington, Reed had gone 2-0 in morning block play. With the No. 2 seed, he defeated three seed Steve Jackson, the third player with a perfect record in the morning.
To reach the final from his side of the bracket, Airrington repeatedly attacked five seed Justin Marciniak whose blue ball was a bum and stuck on the fourth wicket after a promising start.
Marciniak had advanced to face Airrington by defeating Brevin Millican in the play-in game. Millican had a solid day to make it to the Gold Division playoff. He went 1-1 in block play and scored 30 wickets to earn his bid based on gross points.
Marciniak squeaked into the Gold Division with a 1-1 record and 25 wickets scored in the morning. Tied with Wanda Jackson’s 25 points, Marciniak won the net points tiebreaker by virtue of playing two one-wicket decisions in the morning.
--Justin Marciniak