Mother Nature clearly has it in for pickleball tournaments at The Landings. The Club Doubles Championships, scheduled for Saturday, were moved to Sunday as yet another deluge drowned the courts. Fortunately, Sunday’s weather was pickle perfect.
Peter Dorward deserves a huge round of applause. Peter, who is relocating to Burlington, Vermont at the end of the month, is the second person and first male pickler in Club history to win gold in pickleball singles, doubles and mixed doubles. He won the Men’s Singles last fall, as well as Mixed Doubles, playing with Krista Poppell two weeks ago. Yesterday, Peter won a gold in Men’s Doubles, playing with Andrew Jones in the Championship Division. The only other person to accomplish that lofty achievement was Tina Kelley in 2017. Congratulations Peter, you and your pickleball prowess will be missed, but I suspect we will see you back at The Landings playing in future tournaments. Now it’s off to Vermont, black flies, maple trees and mud season.
While Peter and Andrew were unbeatable in the Championship Division, the silver medal was taken by Scott McKessy and Adam Hecht, and the bronze went to Max Lemaigre and Brad Whitfield. The women’s Championship Division was more competitive. After a long afternoon of play, Kristen Berger and Krista Poppell beat Dinah Zapatka and Amy Paderewski for the gold medal. Dinah and Amy won silver, while MJ Martin and Katelyn Hilliard pocketed bronze.
The Men’s ”A” Division was no less exciting. According to Alex Fox, with twelve teams playing, the “A” Division was the largest bracket he’s seen in his tenure at The Landings Club. The gold medal was won by Wayne Pero and Rich Nielson, who didn’t lose a game until the first game of the gold medal round. They lost 9-11, but won the second and third games 11-2, 11-1 to take gold. Max Braun and Daniel Brody won silver, while Dan Simmons and Dean Moesch took home the bronze.
Woman’s “A” was thrilling and exhausting. By the end of the day Joanie Belair and Betsey Andersen defeated Claire O’Donnell and Jane Beckley in three games to win the gold medal, while Claire and Jane won silver. Parenthetically, this was Joanie Belair’s last Landings Club pickleball tournament as she is moving back to Cleveland to be closer to her daughters and new grandchildren. Best wishes Joanie, you too will be missed. Eileen Moson and Hillary Dramis won the bronze.
In the Men’s “B” Division, Fred Tompkin and Tim Dorian won gold, while John Sivak and John Buckman took home silver. Spencer Wheeler and Spencer Woodbury rounded out the Men’s Division with the bronze. Trish Tallon and Kay Yablechi beat Kristin Sivak and Karyn Buckman to win the gold medal in the Women’s “B” Division. Kristin and Karyn won silver and Kerri Moran and Christie Bergen got the bronze.
And so, another Landings Club Pickleball Doubles Championship is now in the record books. The pickle bar continues to rise as our program and players get stronger.