In case you missed Liam Mayo’s TV newscast about Saturday’s tournament… Great action shots of Erin McHugh and Chuck Rossiter! See link, below…

https://wareham.theweektoday.com/article/weekly-headlines-wctv-march-28/68776

Hi gang!
Last Saturday’s Sham Slam at the YMCA in Wareham was a slam-bam-o-rama! Drawing a large, boisterous, crowd of spectators, autograph hunters, and local media, Buzzards Bay’s best took to the courts for 15 rounds of spectacular play!

This tournament was really like three tournaments in one…

Rounds 1-5
Several familiar physiques graced the courts and DOMINATED in the first five rounds. Lean, mean, former champeen, Michele Blanchard, put on a Naples-worthy dinking clinic for her fan club. Delicious Blue Foot Café https://www.thebluefootcafe.com caffeine coursing through her veins, Buzzsaw and partners, “Smokin’” Joan Cragin, Wistar “Wimbledon” Wood, Matt “The Mountain” McCaffery, and his stunning spouse, “Slice” Lee McCaffery, littered the courts with dinking displays and powerful putaways.

The Mountain was looking pretty scary until Frank Pruchnik and Smokin’ Joan turned The Mountain into a mole hill with a blistering attack and big dill in round 5.

Not to be outshined, Katie “Fighter” Frink, having honed her impressive skills on the courts at https://www.southcoastpickleball.com and https://www.pickleballandmorema.com refused to give a pass to frustrated adversaries. With puma-like reflexes and blazing paddle, Katie was true to tournament sponsor DETAGU’s (https://detagupb.com) motto: “Don’t Ever Think About Giving Up!” Frink stymied even the sniper-like drives and dinks of Lisa Orlando, Ray “Guns” LeComte, Paulo Brito, Sandy Edgell, Charles “Chuckles” Rossiter, Mike Sadeck, and Erin “Brontë” McHugh (https://www.simonandschuster.com/authors/Erin-McHugh/477587828).

After 5 spine-tingling rounds, Smokin’ Joan, Fighter Frink, and Wimbledon Wood sat atop the pile tied for the lead with 5-0 records and a perfect 35 points! Buzzsaw Blanchard threatened just two points back.

Rounds 6-10
The middle rounds overflowed with endless rallies, twists and turns that provided openings to the ravenous pack of picklers chasing the leaders…

Rallying from a rusty start, Guns LeComte, oiled up, took the safety off, and proceeded to mow down opponents. With the speed and power of a blitzing M-1 Abrams tank, Guns launched his wild and ruinous run of 10 straight wins!

With sprightly Sandy Edgell covering his six, Guns unloaded on Slice Lee and Lisa Orlando. Next, Guns and Mike Sadeck trained their sights on Brontë and The Mountain, leaving a big gerkin at their feet. Guns wasn’t done crushing dreams… In round 8, he and Chuckles laid waste to none other than Buzzsaw and Lynne “The Surgeon” Velozo!

The Surgeon’s artful lobs were like catnip to the cheetah-like Chuckles. Chuckles sprinted (thundered!) to the baseline repeatedly retrieving and masterfully resetting Velozo’s exquisite lobs. Despite their best slicing, dinking and lobbing, Buzzsaw and Velozo took bread and butter back to the stands. As if sensing Buzzsaw’s legendary resilience and looming danger, Guns and Paulo Brito rained more fire down upon “The Saw,” in a 9th round 7-3 battle providing what proved to be the coup de grace to her quest to take back her crown.

Manly Mike Sadeck (real men stay out of the kitchen!) figuratively broke backs in the middle rounds delivering devastating body blows to Brontë McHugh, Mountain McCaffery, “Smokin’” Joan, and Velozo, surrendering a paltry and demoralizing 2 points over three matches!

Ever colorful, a resplendent Lisa Orlando, still hiding in plain sight, still one step ahead of Putin’s GRU hit squad (it’s obvious they don’t read Wareham Week), was stylin’ on the parquet! Making Anna Lee Waters look plain and frumpy, Orlando took to the courts in a brilliant, exquisite top designed exclusively for her appearance Saturday. She wasn’t just gorgeous and glamorous, however; ruthlessly efficient, Orlando helped Manly Mike batter and kick bedazzled opponents when they were down!

By the end of round 10, Wimbledon Wood held a slim lead over Fighter Frink and Manly Mike. Lurking a handful of points back, within easy striking distance, Guns, Slice, The Surgeon, and Fearsome Frank Pruchnik, stalked the leaders!

The Final Rounds
Graceful and pixie-like, Slice McCaffery performed a pickleball ballet for the YMCA fans. Gleefully unleashing her happy feet, deft and devastating slices, mesmerizing, purposeful dinks, timely and accurate lobs, Lee sliced and diced opponents to an impressive 8 wins her final 10 games!

As Slice gained ground on the leaders, Frink fought tooth and claw to stay beyond Slice’s grasp. Putting on her own virtuoso display for the pro scouts in the stands, Frink strung together a run of 6 straight victories, leading her 15 opponents with 85 points following 13 rounds, GOLD within reach! The ever dangerous Wistar Wood trailed Frink by a mere 2 points, however, and 2 points behind Wimbledon, Guns was gaining fast.

Then the world turned upside down in the final 14th and 15th rounds…

A single rough go for Frink in the 14th round gave Wimbledon and Guns the opening they needed to pass her. Katie pulled out the win she needed, though, in round 15 to hold off the surging Slice to secure the BRONZE!

Frink finished with an impressive 11 wins on the day and top honors among female contestants. She was followed closely by Slice Lee McCaffery, Michele “Buzzsaw” Blanchard, Smokin’ Joan Cragin, and Lynne “The Surgeon” Velozo to close out the top five female finishers. An exciting string of five wins rounds 10 through 14 (helped by a lucky leprechaun score boost in the 13th!) brought Ann Peardon just ahead of The Surgeon, but Lynne and Frank Pruchnik mercilessly pulverized Ann and partner Brontë McHugh into submission 7-0 in round 15 to end the threat.

Final podium honors all came down to the 15th, final, and decisive round… a head-to-head battle of the behemoths! Buzzsaw Blanchard and Guns LeComte dug in for battle with Mountain McCaffery and Wimbledon Wood. Wood needed 6 points to secure the GOLD. LeComte needed 7 to tie Wood! After the dust settled, Buzzsaw and Guns pulled it off!!! A 7-5 victory left Wood and Guns TIED with 95 total points won! Points “allowed” (lost) broke the tie. The ever-gracious, gentlemanly, and classy Wimbledon allowed 54 points to opponents, earning him SILVER. The beastly, brutal, unforgiving Guns, in contrast, allowed only 53 points, sowing 4 punishing pickles during the contest! Guns eeked out victory and claimed the GOLD!

Final results:

GOLD – Ray “Guns” LeComte
SILVER – Wistar “Wimbledon” Wood
BRONZE — Katie “Fighter” Frink

Many thanks to all contestants! Your tournament donation supports the YMCA pickleball program. We raised over $400 for the Y!

Many thanks to Lu Brito for his enthusiastic promotion of the Y’s pickleball program!

A big thanks to two-time champion, Mark Robidoux, who traded his paddle for a scorer’s pencil and donned his Head Referee jersey for this tournament!

Thank you to our Official Starter and DETAGU fashion model, Karen Butler!

Thank you to the paparazzi (Jimmy G!) and media pros from Wareham Week and WCTV Studios who documented Saturday’s action!

And a very big thank you to our tournament sponsors who contributed generous gift certificates to contestants. Please show your appreciation by stopping by to thank them:

Blue Foot Café, 379 Main St., Wareham
Lucky Goat Brewery, 379 Main St., Wareham (https://www.luckygoatbrewing.com)
Southcoast Pickleball, 4 David Drown Blvd., Fairhaven
Pickleball & More, 718 Dartmouth St., Dartmouth
Jess “Pickleball Professor” Rego

And a huge thank you to a man who launched his career on the courts of Gleason Family YMCA, CEO and President of DETAGU Pickleball Apparel International, Greg “G Man” Perkins, for his sponsorship and generous donation of DETAGU apparel to our three medalists!
Dan

The Sham Slam! 2024 photo gallery is now uploaded. There is a new folder called Sham Slam 2024 in the folder list under Photos $ Docs. These uploaded photos are not the highest resolution, but I do have better ones if anyone would like a copy. -- Jimmy G

Hot off the press!

https://wareham.theweektoday.com/article/tourna-net-triumphs-pickleballers-came-out-play/68693