Post Messenger Recorder -

With just three weeks remaining in the first half of the season, the Cheese Eaters of Sportsman’s Bar win their first match. It was obvious that Jones’ Plumbing forgot to properly tighten their fittings before the match as the score of 94 turned in by Tiny Zander and Ross Neshiem was the evening’s high score for the Pipe Benders. By the end of the night, the Pipe Benders were more than 70 gallons short of a win. Whereas losing only one game all night, Cheese Eaters Jeff and Bryan Buesser were able to store 112 lbs of cheese in the warehouse. Pipe Benders Jerome Krantz and Scott Prohaska were glad to prevent the perfect score.

The J&M River Rats weren’t as lucky as the Cheese Eaters. In their match against the Kleeman Hay Shakers, the Rats saw their fourth round 28-point lead slip away. With Barb Judd and Roger Truttman holding Ernie and Bob Sarbacker to just 1-point in the sixth round, combined with a perfect Hay Shaker round, the River Rats quickly found themselves down by 14. This proved to be too steep of a hill for the Rats to climb. The Hay Shakers stay perfect with a 20-point win.

Speaking of a perfect score, Pranksters Chris Hook and Jordy Schmitz nearly had one. They lost their first game by just 1 point to end the night with 119 tricks, this week’s high score. But the biggest story of the night came when Prankster Rodney Latham showed Cowboy Harold Schlimgen an unusual strategy. Under the gun, Rodney declared he had a lone-hand and ordered a heart into Harold’s hand. Rodney had the right, left and ace of hearts with the queen and ten of diamonds. Putting the heart in his hand, Harold tossed the ace of diamonds knowing that Rodney wouldn’t have a diamond. With Harold throwing the ace away, Rodney’s chances of making his loaner increased drastically. After Rodney took all five tricks, Harold questioned Rodney’s logic of ordering the heart when he should’ve waited to either set Harold if he picked, or to go alone in diamonds if Harold turned down the heart. Rodney just looked at Harold and smiled. I heard Harold is still shaking his head in disbelief. Rodney’s unique strategy apparently paid off as he and his partner Larry Losenegger finished with 114 points. Cowboys Dean Disch and Keith Legler had a 75 for this week’s low score.

The Starlight Express continues to steam down the track with their 23-point win over the Red Mouse Shufflers. Steve Hoffmaster and Dave Steinhauer built-up 112 lbs of pressure for the Express. As for the Shufflers, well, they were dead on their feet.

With all their experienced deputies saddled up and eager to go out on patrol, the Mounties decided early on that no prisoners would be taken in their match against the Trolls. With Tom Magnuson and John Baumgartner’s 117 convictions and Jim Day and Curt Herfel’s 110 and Mary Humphrey and Bruce Milestone’s 110, the Mounties trampled the Trolls by 90.

Standings: Kleeman’s 6-0; Starlight Express 6-0; Pranksters 5-1; Shufflers 4-2; Cowboys 2-4; Jones Plumbing 2-4; J&M Bar 1-5; Mounties 2-4; Trolls 1-5; Sportsman’s Bar 1-5.

Schedule for December 2: Sportsman Bar @ Starlight (7:00); Shufflers @ Kleeman’s (7:30); Pranksters @ Mounties (7:30); J&M Bar @ Jones’ Plumbing (7:00); Walk-On @ Cowboys (7:00).