Mid Atlantic Regional – SOFT TIP
Michael Frazier, ADA Member/writer
Greetings, ADA Family. I apologize for our lengthy hiatus on the news front, but we have become increasingly busier as we prepare for the official start of summer. Things couldn’t be better in our dart world as of late coming fresh off our Mid Atlantic Soft Tip Regional. The Sand Bar Grill and Pub of Newport News, Virginia played host to this year’s event. We couldn’t be happier with their efforts to accommodate us.
Once again, thanks to the brilliant mind of Kevin Malenfant, matches were available to stream online for the weekend. Live streaming match play began on Friday May 15th with Professional Pro/Am Mixed Doubles and Draw Doubles. Wesley Buntz and Beth Adams were victorious in the Pro Open Doubles Jack and Jill 501 while Richard Hooper and Mark Youngblood won their Draw Doubles Cricket match. We also had a very generous donation from our friends at Defiance Darts Friday Night. They kicked in an additional $250 to that night’s Blind Draw. We cannot thank them enough for that contribution both to the blind draw and the ADA Family!
Saturday saw the bulk of the competition with men’s and women’s doubles, Cricket singles and Draw doubles. The team of Mark Hinds and Wesley Buntz claimed first place in the Men’s Open Doubles contest while Jenica Rock and Erica Schwartz won on the women’s side. Robert Hare delivered an impressive performance winning in Men’s Neutralizer Cricket. Erica Schwartz bested Kris Ashley in the Women’s Neutralizer. Finally on Saturday, the team of Higinio Arreazola Arias and Shannon Frye took the top billing in Open Draw Doubles Cricket.
The final day of competition was just as exciting with events ranging from Pro Singles, Mixed Triples to Men’s and women’s single 01. In a bit of an upset, Mike Sarandos took down Mark Hinds in the Pro Singles 501 match. Mark Hinds is one of the best in the business, so big congratulations to Mike Sarandos for that win. Meanwhile in Open Mixed Triples action, the trio of Cyndi Johnson, David Roberts and Archie Bushey brought home the W. Wrapping up the weekend’s festivities, we watched Robert Hare take first place in the Men’s Neutralizer Singles 301 match while Crystal Hare topped Erica Schwartz in the Women’s Neutralizer Singles 301.
Obviously, there were far more events at the Regional than we could list above. As always, we truly appreciate everyone that made the trip from near and far to join us for a fun weekend of darts, friends and brews. The Sand Bar Grill put on a fantastic show for our members. They even allowed patrons to serenade us with a karaoke night, which proved to be a blast for everyone involved. Special thanks to our contributing sponsors, Radikal Darts and Defiance Darts. We’d also like to express our gratitude to local supplier Bit of England Dart Shop out of Pembroke Mall in Virginia Beach.
As we approach the end of June, all hands are on deck in preparations for Nationals in Orlando this July! We’re only about a month away and could not be more excited at the home office. More information to come; we’ll see you in Florida next month!
