December 20, 2010 Gig Harbor Sportsmans Club Plate Match Report

10 Guns Entered      MATCH WINNER:  GEORGE FLAHERTY

     2nd Place:  Hal Hansen

     3rd Place:  Jeff Berres

We had one lady in our match tonight, Stephanie Stevens.  Stephanie did very well indeed in yesterday's GHSCs Clays Match, and has already decided to expand her repertoire to plates.  Stephanie, we like your attitude.  Welcome, and welcome back.  See you next year. 

 

     Good evening Ladies & Gentlemen, and welcome to the last GHSC Plate Match of 2010.  It was a dark & crisp evening for a plate match, but the lights were all on, the heaters were all on, and 10 Guns came out to brave the elements.  There was a lot of shooting, virtually no standing around, and it was Fast & Furious competition. 

     Congratulations to our match staff for all the great matches during the year.  Our Match Director, Mike Blondin runs a good show.  Our Score Keeper & DJ George Flaherty runs the scoretable, the scoreboard, shuffles & deals the duels, and shoots his Smith & Wesson 1911 well enough to have virtually dominated the field for a lot of this year's matches.  Thanks also to Wolfgang and Mathew Seagraves, our head Stage Managers this year.  It's the Christmas Season, and we had a fairly low turnout for tonight's match, so everyone waited to be sure enough people were going to show up to have a match, and everyone!! pitched in to set up the stage.  Thanks everyone, and thanks Mathew & Wolfgang for all your efforts this year.

     At the end of the Sudden Death Finals of tonight's match there were 2 guns still contending:  George Flaherty and this reporter,

Hal Hansen.  George had started out fast!! tonight, then sped up as the evening progressed.  Hal started off slowly, but finally got it together barely in time to avoid early retirement, and it was Hal with 1 number vs. George with a lot more than 1.  Shooters, Load & Make Ready!  Shooters Ready?  Stand By!!  At the Tone Hal & George engaged the plates, there followed the rattle of falling steel as The Thunder Rolled!!  When the steel was all down, and the Thunder subsided, George Flaherty had crossed the line narrowly ahead of Hal.   It was close, but George Flaherty is tonight's winner.  Hal Hansen finishes 2nd, and Jeff Berres finishes 3rd. It should be noted that Jeff is new to our crowd of shooters, and we welcome him to our sport.

Jeff sure did well tonight, and appears to be a force to be reckoned with next year.  Jeff, Welcome!! 

     That's it for this year folks.  We'll meet right back here next year, January 3, 2011 at 6:00PM, Rain or Shine.  Well, we can bet it'll be dark, and cool, that the LIGHTS & HEATERS will be blazing, and between those and the competition, it'll be summer in January.  We'll see you then.  Use the time to practice fundamentals and techniques, practice properly, and always remember:

 

"SHOOT FAST!  SHOOT ACCURATELY!! BUT MOST IMPORTANTLY, SHOOT SAFELY!!!"

 

Hal