MINNESOTA HORSESHOE PITCHERS'

Ringer Digest

November - December 2025

A Charter of the NHPA

Official Publication of the Minnesota Gopher State Horseshoe Pitchers' Association

From the President

By Russ Girtz

Greetings to all of the great horseshoe pitchers in Minnesota!  Fall indoor season is well underway as your outdoor practice cools down look for opportunities to join one of the many indoor tournaments.  Thanks to Mark Smith for creating his indoor venue, The Shoe Box, where he will have several more tournaments this winter.  

Reminder to look ahead to next summer at the World Tournament in Wisconsin.  Get your qualifying tournaments and reserve the time away for next July. Contact me if you have any questions.

Keep up your recruiting of new pitchers.  Bring a friend and showcase the fun that we all have playing competitive games against a wide range of players. I am willing to open up the Becker courts if we want to give a new person a chance to pitch the 100 shoes to establish an average.

Thanks again to the leadership of the NHPA and of the MGSHPA. Their commitment helps us all enjoy our competitions over the year.  

Secretary/Treasurer/Membership News

By Janet Roubinek

Wow, what a fast year! 

I want to let everyone know that the membership renewal for 2026 has begun. You can go online to renew or print out the form and mail it to me with a check made out to MGSHPA. If you plan to change divisions, you will do that through me. When division changes occur, you will need to establish a new ringer percentage.

If anyone has a new cell phone number, address, or email address, send me the information so I can update our database. 

The World Horseshoe Tournament in Wausau, WI, July 13-26, 2026, is just around the corner. We are fortunate to be so close and have an active winter tournament schedule. The 2026 World Tournament will be my third, and I am looking forward to it. The more who enter, the closer the ringer percentages within classes. If you have any questions, please ask.

Thank you to all of the tournament directors that sent in the dollar per pitcher for the State Prize Fund and the league presidents that sent the dollar per pitcher for the junior fund.    

I hope everyone has an awesome holiday season. Enjoy your family and friends.

 Janet 

MGSHPA Fall Membership Meeting Minutes

August 30, 2025

Genola, MN

Called to order at 12:12PM

Executive Board present: Russ G., Rocky P, Jeff W., Janet R., Josh O., Michelle F., Sue P., Sarah N., Jerry L., Helen H.

Membership attendees: 31 members

Treasure Report, Janet R.: There is approximately $5000 in our account.  

A motion was made to accept the report by Jeff W., and seconded by Rocky P. Membership voted and it was approved.

Membership Report, Janet R.: Total membership for 2025 is 311 members. This number is similar to 2024, which was 310.

Banquet, Janet R.: 85 tickets were presold and 4 more tickets were sold at the arena. The awards will occur at the banquet, along with the drawing for the quilt and door prizes.

Spring Membership Minutes were available to read. A motion to accept the Spring Membership meeting minutes was made by Josh O., seconded by Rocky P. Membership voted and it was approved.

President’s Report, Russ G.: Russ recognized the volunteers that make all the tournaments happen, and encouraged reluctant volunteers to do what they can to help out. The World Tournament will be held in Wausau, WI, July 13-26, 2026, and a goal was set to see if MN can be represented by at least 100 pitchers. He also would like to see if next year’s State Tournament can reach 150 participants.

He wondered if members who plan to pitch at the 2026 World Tournament would be interested in having a common pitching shirt made.

Russ also asked that people share where courts are located throughout the state and send him that info.

North Vice President, Rocky P.: Rocky encouraged all the sanctioned leagues in the northern region to make paper copies entry forms available for the State Tournament.

He also stated that he is not going to run again for the North Vice President position that will be up in 2026.

South Vice President, Jeff W: An update about the West St. Paul courts was given. Removal of the courts is expected to happen in the spring of 2026. He asked the city to keep him notified about the removal as members have stated they are interested in the clay and stakes. Jeff mentioned to the West St. Paul members the options of other clubs to join: Savage, Montgomery, Mankato, Brooklyn Park, Ramsey County, or Forest Lake. There are eight courts in South St. Paul which could be an option; however, these courts would need significant improvements at an expense greater than what the club has in order to become sanctioned courts.

Junior Director, Kelly P.: not in attendance, no report given.

Statistician, Josh O.: He will be handing out the Pitcher of the Year award at the banquet. He said it was really close and there are already members who have signed up for winter tournaments.  

He said there were 22/23 members who pitched at the World Tournament and there were members who moved onto the Championship divisions from MN.

Communications Director, Jerry L.: He stated that the two proposals at the World Tournament meeting passed. 1) pitching division, NHPA wording for Junior males, would be a maximum of 19 years of age; 2) credit for a qualifying event could be less than 100 shoes if all assigned games have been played, this could happen due to weather.

If anyone is interested in learning how to be the editor of the Ringer Digest, please contact him.

Web Master, Sarah N.: Thank you for the summer league photos that have been sent in. A member asked if it was possible to find out how many visits there have been to our web page. She said she would look into it.

Nominations Director, Helen H.: She said she is willing to help anyone fill out the nomination forms for the awards. If you have any questions please contact her.

Media, Michelle F.: There was a table set up at the tournament with a lot of flyers with information about the 2026 World Tournament in Wausau, WI, and the 2027 World Tournament in the Tri-City area, WA. If you have any questions about the State Tournament or World Tournament please contact her.

She said the MN winter tournament schedule is out for the months of October 2025- April 2026.  

Constitution and By-laws, Sue P.: no changes to the CBL; however, there will be an update about awards and forms.

Old Business: None

New Business, Russ G.:

1.   Looking for a host club for the 2026 State Tournament at Genola. 

2.   Forest Lake Club said that they would be willing to do concessions.

3.   Non-sanctioned pitchers playing in Sanctioned leagues. We all need to consider what will happen if a non-sanctioned pitcher is injured during league play.  

4.   Vice-presidents need to communicate their intentions for running again by March 1. The North Vice President said he was not going to run again. If you are in the northern region and are interested you have until June 1 to let the President know.

5.   Future dates for the State Tournament, could it be a different weekend? It was stated that in ND and SD, they changed weekends and the numbers decreased. In MN, it cannot be a later weekend in Genola because the building is used for winter storage and people bring in their boats and campers starting Labor Day night.

The meeting adjourned at 1:12 pm.

Thank you Janet Roubinek for preparing these minutes, well done.

From the Editor

By Jerry LaBrosse

Now that the summer season has ended, some of you will hang up the shoes till spring. However, those of you who wish to keep the fun going throughout the off season, there is a schedule of tournaments happening at the Clank and Thud indoor club in Becker, and also at Mark Smith's fantastic new "Shoebox" indoor pitching facility in Darwin. Next year the NHPA World Tournament will be in Wausau Wisconsin and is a fantastic opportunity to pitch in the most exciting tournament in the world. For anyone needing qualifying events to enter World, sign up early for the Becker and Darwin tournaments because they will fill up fast. Remember, you need four (4) NHPA sanctioned events from mid-May 2024 to mid-May of 2025 to qualify for the World Tournament.

Regional Director / Stats Guy

By Josh Olson

On the Court with Josh

Top 15 pitchers of the year as of Oct 27th, all tournaments are accounted for, and you can see from the list below.

Top 15 Pitcher of the Year standings as of Nov 1st

Name  ----  Total Points ---- Events played

Josh Olson            35                     6

Harvey Burkman     32                     4

Al Blumer             32                     8

Tom Prokop           28                     8

Bill Danielson        23                     4

Marlys Timm         22                     5

Lance Van Wyhe     20                     5

Gary Kirckof          20                     3

Stan Barney          18                     5

Ginger O’Brien       17                     3

Rob Ciaciura         15                     3

Patti Oakes           15                     3

Taylor Hughes        15                     3

Jim Syverson         15                     3

Myron Vanderweyst  14                     4

Tournament Directors please get me your tournament information for the 2026 Spring and Summer season. I really would like to have all that information on our MGSHPA website and on eShoe before the 1st of the new year. I will send an email to all the tournament directors that ran a tournament last year, and if the tournament director’s duties are changing please let me know asap who is running the tournament this coming year and we can get that information updated. Don’t forget to get signed up for the winter tournaments, they are filling up very fast, I hope everyone is going to consider participating in the World Tournament next year in Wausau, Wisconsin, it is going to be a BIG one, and I think it’s going to be one that you won’t want to miss! If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to me, or any of the other officers/directors if you have questions about all things regarding the World Tournament.

I would like to take this opportunity in closing to wish a Happy Holidays and a Happy New Year, we will see you on the courts!  

South Vice President

by Jeff Washburn

Happy Fall to all fellow horseshoe pitchers, families, and friends.  As of mid-October, when I am writing this, we are still enjoying continued good weather. Perhaps some of you recall the Halloween storm of 1991 when the Twin Cities received about 3 feet of snow, so hopefully not this year.   Our summer season of horseshoe pitching has come to an end, culminating with another successful State Tournament. This was our second year using a 3-day format for our State Tournament and it appears we will continue with this, which allows everyone to enjoy the Labor Day holiday with their family and friends.

 The Fall and Winter pitching season has started, with many tournaments scheduled in Becker and at Mark Smith’s Shoe Box in Darwin. For those avid pitchers who want to stay sharp over the winter, please check out the schedule either on our MGSHPA website or Eshoe by clicking “Events” and then selecting Minnesota in the “Charter” box. 

As always, the MGSHPA Executive Board welcomes any comments, positive or otherwise, as we continue to find ways to support our pitchers, leagues, weekend tournaments, and to enhance our State Tournament.  We had a significant increase in the number of pitchers at our State Tournament this year, and the plan is to continue to find ways to attract even more. For those who pitched, thank you, and don’t forget to encourage others to get back in next year. The World Tournament will be held in Wausau, WI in 2026 and we hope many of our MN pitchers will plan on attending

I would like to wish each of you and your families a Happy Holiday Season!    Stay safe and enjoy what is important in your lives: friends, family, and hopefully good health.   Don’t forget to renew your 2026 MGSHPA dues which started on October 1^st. For those who are changing pitching categories, don’t forget to make this change when you renew your membership. I look forward to seeing many of you on the courts again next year!       Take care, Jeff

Promotion and News Media

By Michelle Foard 

Fall is almost over and winter is fast approaching. Before you know it spring will be here. You still have plenty of time to get your 4 events in for the World Tournament. Deadline to have events done will be mid May. Up in Becker Russ and I are running tournaments every month. The Pumkin Patch filled up and the Turkey Toss is full for Nov. Still have plenty of spots for the Dec and on. 

 The Pumkin Patch was a great tournament. Had a couple of newly moved up Elders play. David Losen is new to Elders and placed 3rd. Tom Lashinski placed 5th. Also new is Rich Kvamme. Rich placed 3rd in A Class.

 Just a reminder the American Legion always has concessions during our tournaments. Hamburgers, hotdogs, soup, chips and snacks plus drinks. Each month the Legion supports a group with the profits from the lunch. October were the Boy Scouts and in November it will be the Archery club. So come on up for lunch as well. I may or may not have a basket of candy as well. 

Pumpkin Patch Tournament

A Class Tom Lashinski, Brad Bergerson, Sarah Nelson, Jerald Hagen, Marlys Timm, Rich Kvamme, Tom Prokop and Mark Smith. 

B Class David Losen, Barry Schilling, Al Blumer, Michael Hoffman, Mike Slininger, Brian Wipper, John Hustings and Bruce Swenson.

C Class Joy Brabec, Anthony Stach, Dale Novotny, Dennis Barut, Lu Cave, Ron Mead, Wayne Stach and Gene Schjervheim

Shoebox 5 Tournament

Class A 1st Al Larson 2nd Josh Olson 3rd Janet Larson 

Class B 1st Lori York 2nd Marlys Timm 3rd Tom Lashinski 

Class C 1st Sarah Kotila 2nd Stanley Barney 3rd Jenna Beckstrand

Shoebox 6 Tournament

A Class  Josh Olson 1st. Tom Prokop 2nd. Lance Van Wyhe 3rd

B Class  Colleen Szabo 1st. Bruce Swenson 2nd. Jenna Beckstrand 3rd

Alexandria League Summary for 2025

 By Janet Larson

The Alexandria Horseshoe League held their year end potluck and award presentation on September 21st. We started out our season by playing singles in May. We used this time to invite new pitchers and introduce them to our league. It also gave them, and anyone changing divisions, a chance to establish an average.  Then we used high/low pairing to form two person teams and used a handicap system to keep the league very competitive. This year nine teams competed in a round robin format throughout June and July. Finishing in first place was Janet Larson and Amanda Thurk with 61 wins/11 losses, second place went to Jerry Werk and Jay Lagoon 44 wins/28 losses and third place went to Barry Schilling and Darren Barton 43 wins/29 losses. 

 We then took a couple weeks to hold a club singles tournament where we were divided into four Classes. Results were: Class D 1^st Jeremy Thurk and 2^nd Steve Escobar. Class C 1^st Randy Werk and 2^nd Gene Ward. Class B 1^st Al Nicholson and 2^nd Steve Ziegler. Class A 1^st Gary Boots and 2^nd Alan Larson. 

We finished the season with a double elimination tournament using the same teams as the regular season. This time Jerry Werk and Jay Lagoon went undefeated, with Al Nicholson and Brad Niemeier coming in second, their only two losses were to Jerry and Jay. 

Other awards given out were to Alan Larson for high ringer average of 55%, high single game points of 124 points and also high game over average with his average points being 98.43/game. Amanda Thurk earned most improved, Jay Lagoon was recognized as rookie of the year and Steve Escobar was voted the sportsmanship award. 

We were blessed with four new members this year, three of them were new to the sport and one was also a member of the Alexandria Eagles Club. In July we had four members attend the World Tournament in Sandy UT, where Gary Boots and Janet Larson each made it to the Championships in their division. Labor day weekend nine of our members competed in Genola MN at the MN State Tournament, with five of them pitching in the Championships, Alan Larson, Gary Boots, Jerry Werk, Steve Ziegler and Janet Larson. 

The League also hosted two open tournaments at their Curtis Felt Memorial Park courts in Alexandria. The annual Alex Open took place on May 24^th with 32 pitchers competing and Falling Leaves was held on September 20^th with 21 pitchers. For seven pitchers attending the later one, it was their first time pitching on these courts. We welcome everyone to come “Try Horseshoes” with us.  

Standing: Darren Barton, Jeff Thompson, Barry Schilling, Bruce Swenson, Gene Ward, Gary Boots, Chuck Betterman, Amanda Thurk, Jeremy Thurk, Steve Ziegler, Al Larson, Randy Werk

Sitting: Jerry Werk, Jay Lagoon, Janet Larson, Al Nicholson, Brad Niemeier. 

Playoff Season Champions: Jay Lagoon and Jerry Werk. 

Regular season winners: Jerry Werk and Jay Lagoon 2nd place, Janet Larson and Amanda Thurk 1st place, Darren Barton and Barry Schilling 3rd place.

Playoff Season winners: Al Nicholson and Brad Niemeier on the outside 2nd place, Jay Lagoon and Jerry Werk in the center 1st place. 

North Mankato Season Highlights

By Brian and Linda Duenow

The North Mankato Horseshoe Club wrapped up a fun filled year with 72 pitchers. We started the year in February with an advisory committee meeting. They reviewed the rules, by-laws & awards guidelines and made suggestions to the managers. The Manager’s meeting was held on March 3rd at the North Mankato Legion. Our membership meeting was held on April 7th at the Mankato Eagles with 44 pitchers in attendance. We had a moment of silence for Rosie Tischer who pasted away in January, she was a charter member and was very active in the club with stats, yearbooks and tournaments. She will be dearly missed. We had clean-up night on May 6th with 32 members present to help get the courts ready for league play. 

This year we had 2 divisions and 10 teams. We played on Wednesday and Thursday nights. We held the 34^th annual Celebrity Tournament on July 11th. Mankato defeated the North Mankato team with a 13 – 3 record. We had beautiful day for our Fun Days Tournament with 38 pitchers. Jim Bilderback won 1st place in Class A. Steve Miller took 2^nd place and 3rd place went to Dan Seys. As we headed into August, we ran 2 more tournaments. The Club singles tournament was held on August 2nd with 32 pitchers. The Class A champion was Cecilia Elmore with a 35.20% average. Mike Creech won 2nd place and Zen Albrecht took 3rd. Our Club Doubles Tournament held on July 30th & August 6th with 15 teams (30) pitchers). The team of Bob Klein & Steve Miller won the Class A championship followed by 2nd place awarded to Zach Fuhrman & Richard Hunstad and 3rd place went to Michael Klein & Jameson Klein. 

In Division 1 Wayne’s World took 1st place with 91 wins & 53 losses, 2nd place went to North Mankato Legion & 3^rd place to Northwest Gas. Division 2 champions was Victory Bowl/Enterprise CNC Machining, 2nd place Frandsen Bank and 3rd Hromadko Construction.

We had 8 members attend the state tournament in Genola. NHPA membership longevity patches were given to the following pitchers, 10 year patch went to Jeff Flowers & Riley Petty, 20 year patch went to Doug Elmore, 30 year patch went to Steve Miller & Bob Klein, 40 year patch went to Brian Duenow, 50 year patch went to Erwin Tischer.

We concluded the year with the annual banquet and awards on September 8th at the Mankato Eagles with 70 people in attendance. Sponsors were acknowledged and thanked for their support. National awards were given to the following: Division 1 High Game Steve Miller with 35 ringers and Division 2 Ronald Lane with 22 ringers. Division 1 High Average Dan Seys with 46.56% and Division 2 Ronald Lane with 29.72%. High Game Over Average Division 1 Steve Miller with 26.41% and Division 2 Jeff Flowers with 16.25%. Most Improved Division 1 Steve Miller with +10.38% increase and Division 2 Robert Allen with +7.20% increase. 

Medallions were given to the top 3 teams in each division (as listed above). Player of the Year awards were given to 1 person of each team (see picture below). From these winners, an Overall Player of the year was awarded for each division (see picture below). Rookie of the Year for each division was also awarded: Division 1 Jim Benton, Division 2 Lori Dundas, Cadet Rookie of the Year Vennalynn Wojciechowski. The Achievement awards were given to Kevin Plath in Division 1 with a record of 17 wins and 2 losses. Division 2 award went to Cecilia Elmore with a record of 18 wins and 4 losses. 

Recognition awards for 20 years with the North Mankato Club were awarded to Doug Elmore. 25 year award was given to Mike Hromadko, 30 year awards was given to Bob Klein & Steve Miller & 35 year award was given to Mike Frederick.

The Presidential Award was given to Bob Klein & Steve Miller for their outstanding service & dedication to the North Mankato Horseshoe Club.

Now that the season has come to a close, we would like to thank everyone that participated in the club, whether you were a pitcher, scorekeeper, sponsor, manager, officer or spectator. Without you the club would not be a success. Have a great winter and we are looking forward to next season!

North Mankato Celebrity Tournament

1st Mankato, 2nd North Mankato 

North Mankato Fun Days Tournament Class A

2^nd place Steve Miller, 1st place Jim Bilderback, 3^rd place Dan Seys,

North Mankato Singles Club Tournament Class A

1st Place Cecilia Elmore

North Mankato Doubles Club Tournament Class A

1st Place Steve Miller & Bob Klein

Division 1: 1^st Place Wayne’s World

Jim Klein, Jameson Klein, Dave Klein, Bob Klein,

Steve Miller, Rachael Kunkel, not pictured Michael Klein

Division 1: 2nd Place North Mankato Legion

 Ken Neidecker, Gary Graff, Kevin Plath, Erwin Tischer,

            Mike Forlti Sr, Linda Duenow, not pictured Tom Maus,

            Mike Forlti Jr & Matt Paap.

Division 1: 3^rd Place Northwest Gas

   Carl Bloedel, Dan Christensen, Don Landsteiner,

                       not pictured Mike Lawrence, Duane Anderson, Ron Swift,

 Brad Nawrocki & Jim Benton. 

       Division 2: 1st Place Victory Bowl / Enterprise CNC Machining

                                   Lori Dundas, Zachary Fuhrman, Joshua Lane, Richard Hunstad,     

Tony Nichols, Derek Almich, not pictured Ashton James,

Devon Almich, & Chelsey Hoehn

 Division 2: 2nd Place Frandsen Bank

 Matt Adams, Cecilia Elmore, Diann Brooks, Ron Evan,

 Bob Brooks, Gerrie Swanson, Olivia Elmore, Doug Elmore,

not pictured Riley Petty

      Division 2: 3rd Place Hromadko Construction

Randy Albrecht, Doug Nielsen, Mike Hromadko,

Nick Lane, not pictured Ronald Lane & Tom Thissen 

Division 2 Player of the year

Nick Lane, Robert Allen, Brad Stinocher, Cecilia Elmore,

Zachary Furhrman

Division 1 Player of the year       Kevin Plath, Dan Seys, Drew Tews, Steve Miller,

not pictured Mike Lawrence

Overall Player of the Year 

Division 2 Robert Allen

Division 1 Steve Miller 

Achievement Award

Division 1 Kevin Plath

Division 2 Cecilia Elmore

Recognition Awards

  Mike Frederick - 35 yrs

  Doug Elmore - 20 yrs

 Steve Miller - 30 yrs

Bob Klein - 30 yrs

 Mike Hromadko, not pictured - 25 yrs

Presidential Award

Steve Miller & Bob Klein

      Rookie of the Year

Division 2 Lori Dundas

Division 1 Jim Benton, not pictured

Cadet Vennalynn Wojciechowski

Ringers of Rice Horseshoe League Summary

By Kathy Stueve

The Ringers of Rice Horseshoe League concluded their 2025 season on Monday, August 25^th. League pitching was done in two shifts each Monday night for twelve weeks. Shift one teams included Auto Body 2000, St. Wendel Saloon, Rudolph Redneck Roost, and Polish Palace. Shift two teams were Backhoe & Bobcat, Cave Dwellers, Bialka’s, and K/S Construction. 

Members enjoyed a pizza buffet at their home courts located at O’Brien’s Pub in Rice, Minnesota. Awards were announced and drawings were held for door prizes. The winning team from each shift played off to determine the league champion. Auto Body 2000 members Imogene Worm, Myron Vanderweyst, and Randy Danzl competed against Bialka’s team consisting of Mike Holz, Rich Hanson, and Tony Omann. After some very close games, the team of Auto Body 2000 claimed the victory.

This season’s most improved players were Billy Lashinski and Sheryl Stein. Billy increased his average by 4.6% and Sheryl’s average went up by 6.9%. Pat Stumpf had the seasonal highest average for the first shift with 57.9%. Second shift high average was 38.3% held by Mike Holz. High ringer percent over average ringer percent went to Dennis Woltman and Barry Schilling. Dennis pitched a game 20.6% over his average and Barry pitched a game 28.9% over his average! The most games won on the first shift for their team this season was 22.5 games by Imogene Worm and on second shift the highest total game winner was Don Claseman also with 22.5 wins.

We had a fun, competitive season and look forward to next year. Special thanks to Annette Grebinoski for keeping our stats up-to-date. Thanks also to the staff at O’Brien’s Pub for their service and to our members who helped keep the courts maintained. Happy pitching!

Front Row: Kathy Welle, Pat Stumpf, Garry Loidolt, Lu Cave, Brian Wipper, Don Claseman, Myron Vanderweyst, Sheryl Stein

Middle Row: Kathy Stueve, Imogene Worm, Bev Grose, Annette Grebinoski, Jerry Zyvoloski, Barry Schilling, Roger Lodermeier, Jerry Rajkowski

Back Row: Billy Lashinski, Tom Lashinski, Dennis Woltman, Ginger O'Brien, Randy Danzl, Rich Hanson, Mike Holz, Tony Omann

(Not Pictured: Harlen Frank)

Alexandria Falling Leaves Tournament

By Janet Larson

With 24 hours of rain on Friday and frequent misty weather on Saturday, the clay was a bit of a mess. Thankfully all 21 pitchers showed up anyway. A heavier shower created a lunchtime break and then they went back out to finish up on even wetter clay. Surprisingly only a third of the pitchers pitched more than 5% below their averages and another third were above their averages. Ron Thom is figuring out his new 30’ distance and pitched 13.75% over his average to take 1st place in Class C. Class C had the wettest courts, and were able to move to drier ones the last two games which definitely improved their games. In Ron’s last game he landed 18 ringers for 45%.  

Carolyn Brigner pitched 6.25 % over her average in Class B, but unfortunately lost three very close games to keep her from placing. Rob Ciaciura and Jerald Hagen tied 5W/2L, with Rob getting 1st by pitching slightly over his average including two 50% games.  

Class A was very competitive, ending in a three way tie at 4W/2L. Jim Syverson, being the only one over his average, took 1st place. Mark Smith had a high game of 67.5%, and on the last game Tim Brigner threw 60% against Jerry Werk to take Jerry out of the running for first place.  

Class A: Jerry Werk 2nd, Jim Syverson 1st, Al Larson 3rd.  

Class B: Jerald Hagen 2nd, Rob Ciaciura 1st, Jeff Thompson 3rd

Class C: Gary Kirckof 2nd, Ron Thom 1st, Don Sem 3rd

Gary Kirckof and Dominik Littell pitching in the mud.

Leprechaun Open Tournament 2025

By Kathy Stueve

The 2025 Leprechaun Open Tournament was held on Saturday, August 9th at O’Brien’s Pub in Rice, Minnesota. There were twenty pitchers competing in four classes. Class A pitched forty shoes or forty-one points. Classes B-D pitched forty shoes. Classes B and D were handicapped. Cash prizes were awarded. Lunch was available on the grounds and a 50/50 cash drawing was held. Robert Ciaciura was the lucky winner of the drawing!

Harvey Burkman and Josh Olson tied for first place in Class A. Harvey won the very close scoring playoff game to claim first place. Harvey’s ringer percent was 57.63% and Josh’s was 52.54%. Gary Boots earned third place with two wins and three losses and an ending ringer percent of 52.53%.

Class B was won by Ginger O’Brien. She lost only one game and ended with a ringer percent of42.50% which was 11.28% over her entry average! Myron Vanderweyst earned second place. He also won four out of the five games played and ended with a ringer percent of 43.00%. Robert Ciaciura was the third-place winner ending with a ringer percent of 35.50%.

In Class C, Deborah Thomsen won all six of her games and ended with a ringer percent of 37.92%. That was 10.80% over her entry average. Don Claseman took second place honors with winning three of his six games. He ended with a ringer percent of 28.33%.

Al Blumer did not have a loss in the six games he played in Class D. He pitched 5.03% over his entry average to claim first place. Terry Thomsen won three of his six games to earn second place. He ended with a ringer percent of 18.75%.

The Ringers of Rice Horseshoe Club members thank all of the participants for competitive games and great sportsmanship. Thanks also to the staff of O’Brien’s Pub for their service. A huge thank you goes to Josh Olson for not only pitching in our tournament but also recording the stats and completing the tournament paperwork! We are looking forward to next year’s event.

Class A  Bill Danielson, Jerry Werk, Gary Boots (3rd), Jeff Washburn (1st), Harvey Burkman, Josh Olson (2nd)

Class B  Brian Wipper, Annette Grebinoski, Ginger O'Brien (1st), Jerry Rajkowski, Myron Vanderweyst (2nd), Robert Ciaciura (3rd)

Class C  Stanley Barney, Kathy Welle, Deborah Thomsen (1st), Don Claseman (2nd)

Class D  Tony Omann, Al Blumer (1st), Michael Hoffman, Terry Thomsen (2nd)

Publishing Schedule for the MGSHPA Ringer Digest

January-February-March

April-May-June

July-August-September-October

State Tournament Issue

November-December

Send all digest materials to the Editor

Jerry LaBrosse  Jlabro6186@aol.com