Clyde Martz – Washington Pennsylvania March Open Champion

The Washington March Open Tournament was won by Clyde Martz of Pittsburgh in a tightly fought playoff battle among Jim Solomon of Uniontown, Dale Carson of Baltimore, and Sam Sutton of Washington. After the Norman 4 man play off of Class A-1 and Class A-2, Dale, Clyde, and Sam were tied with one loss apiece requiring another playoff. In this final pitchoff, no one shot under the 80% mark, and Clyde narrowly emerged victorious.

Some of the miscellaneous highlights of the tournament were Sam Sutton’s tremendous come back – especially in the playoff where he narrowly missed winning the tournament; Dale Carson’s excellent clutch pitching which forced the final playoff (How many times have we seen Dale do this?); Jimmy Solomon’s opening 90% game without having thrown a shoe for a month. (Jimmy later fell ill, but gamely finished the tournament.); Gene Durham of Baltimore coming out of retirement and throwing a solid 71.5% ringers; Howard Shriver, one of the most improved Class A pitchers in the United States, missing a crucial ringer to allow Martz to enter the playoff; Pete Sowa in Class B-11 starting the tournament with an 87.5% game; Clyde Sprowls going undefeated; John Ruskin in Class B-2 establishing a personal high of 75.5% ringers, but losing a close game to Vince Sedlacek who also went undefeated.

Class A-1

Jim Solomon	3	1	77.8
Sam Sutton	3	1	73.4
Gene Durham	2	2	71.5
Oscar Engle	2	2	68.4
John Fulton	0	4	48.5

Class A-2

Clyde Martz	3	1	75.6
Dale Carson	3	1	71.4
Howard Shriver	2	2	72.4
Rich Maroni	2	2	66.1
Frank Peluso	0	4	60.0

Class B-1

Clyde Sprowls	4	0	63.3
Pete Sowa	3	1	68.8
Chuck Sowa	2	2	56.0
Charles Semans	1	3	49.5
Ron Banko	0	4	33.3

Class B-2

Vince Sedlacek	4	0	64.2
John Ruskin	3	1	74.4
Vernon Wellington	2	2	60.2
Ray Henry	1	3	46.8
Clyde Falk	0	4	50.4