Women’s Cup is back!

After eighteen months of sitting idle in Steve Heyman’s garage, the Women’s Cup came alive once more on November 22.

Two teams stepped up to contend for this title. For Cloud 9, it was Randi Valentine, Vicki Hill, Dani Turner and Krystina Grachek. For Dawson’s, it was Kelly Papuzza, Janis Baker, Sheila Harris and Patty Owings. Considered the resuscitators of this iconic representation of Puget Sound women’s darts, they were rewarded with a $600.00 pot going to the winner to sweeten the deal.

In order to generate more activity for this cup, the point cap has been lowered to 18 total team points with no cap on the individual rating. We would like to mention that any of the sanctioned challenge cups are open to all locations, large and small, that are participating in Medalist dart leagues. So, all of you owners, coordinators and players out there that know four permanently rated ladies (only three need to shoot out of your location) that would like the chance to test their mettle against other female shooters around the Sound, please contact Karen Kringle at (425) 772-9649 and sign your team up. This is a great way for a location to express their appreciation of their female shooters’ loyalty to the house and get your name and location in the Medallion.

Though this cup has been idle, it was obvious that the ladies had been keeping their darts in shape by flexing Hat Tricks, Low Tons and too many six, seven and eight-counts to mention along with the all important big outs, all the while looking good while doing so. Especially Randi, who is making pregnancy look not just pretty, but fantastic. Many of us moms wish we could have carried with the grace that she does.

Dawson’s came out of the gate firing, decidedly taking the opening team 901 games. Cloud 9 worked the kinks out, got loose and rolled off the next four games in a row for a 4-2 lead. The ladies split the next six games though they were not uneventful; Kelly put away game ten with a 104 and Sheila knocked out a 113 to end game 13.

Vicki, Dani and Pat had the members of the opposing team sweating bullets whenever they stepped up to the line firing off jaw dropping darts, they were the quiet but deadly three of the match!

Krystina showed just what a 2 can do when she Shanghai’d the 16s in game 16. Game 17 was a marathon, taking 28 rounds, they got their money’s worth for sure, Pat eventually put the game out of it’s misery, much to the relief of all of the players.

After that speedbump, the match accelerated, with the girls lighting up the board round after round, showcasing why they were chosen to represent their locations for this momentus occasion.

The ladies went back and forth game after game with no real momentum swings after the opening games, until game 25 when Cloud 9 hit their stride and closed the match out with four straight games in a row to bring the Women’s Cup home in grand style. Way to go ladies!