Sandy was in Las Vegas for the 9th straight year and this time she got the results she has dreamed of for so long, the ADO National Cricket Championship. She has long been one of America's best Cricket players and made some great runs over the last seven years with a pair of 2nd place trophies to go with four Top 4's and one Top 8.
With the east coast Winter storm approaching, she caught the last flight to Las Vegas before the airport was closed and got in early Friday morning, not ideal conditions to play for a title but at that point she was just happy to get there. She kicked off the Friday event with a short night's sleep but was able to hold up pretty well throughout the day.
She played sluggish at times but won her bracket going 19-2 and advancing to the knockout round. Her first match was against Lisa Ayers from Chattanooga, TN. When they played in the earlier bracket Sandy was able to sweep 3 games off of the veteran competitor but this match would be much different. Sandy built a 2-0 lead in the best of five match and had a shot at another sweep before Lisa powered back to quickly level the match 2-2. In a tense deciding leg, Sandy was able to establish the lead and barely keep Lisa at bay to advance to the Semi-Finals. There she met fellow Kryptonite Girl, 3 time National Cricket Champion and dear friend Paula Murphy. Sandy stepped her game up at this point and was able to sweep to a 3-0 victory and advance to the Finals for the 2nd straight year, this time against fellow L-Style player Brenda Roush who was also on fire at that point. Once on stage, Sandy's time had finally come and she rolled to a 4-0 victory and her first National Cricket Championship. She is the fourth straight Kryptonite Girl to capture this crown along with Paula, Marlise Kiel and Morgan McCormack. The victory also carries an invitation to the Winmau World Masters to be held later this year in London, England.
Saturday she played in the Las Vegas Open with Stacey Pace of Denver. CO. It was their first time playing together and they did quite well advancing to the Finals against Paula and Shea Cole who is also a former National Cricket Champion. Sandy wasn't sharp in this match and missed a key bullseye that could have won the first leg. Paula and Shea would sweep the match 2-0 to claim the title. They would also meet in the second round Sunday with the same results and again Paula and Shea claimed the title in 501. She played with fellow L-Style player and Canadian legend Bob Sinneave. They finished Top 16 in 501 Mixed Doubles and she was knocked out in the third round of Mixed Triples with partners Travis Stacy of Savannah, GA and her hubby Chuck.
The Singles events brought some disappointing results. Saturday is the long 501 event where she played great at times and not so well at other times. She lost in the Top 8 to a very talented, yet under-rated player Kelly Meares of Florida who has made a habit off beating top National players through the years. As disappointing as Saturday's 501 event was, Sunday was even worse as everything started to catch up to her resulting in her worst darts of the weekend. She lost a first round match in Cricket to the talented Asian player Dondov Mongolia 2-1 and she never hit a triple in the deciding third leg.
All in all it was a pretty surreal weekend where she entered the tournament ranked #1 in America and as the featured player in the new Bulls Eye News, which would not be possible without her amazing sponsors. Her signature darts are made by Winmau and her L-Style Flight/Shaft systems are available in dart shops across the country. As always she wore her Flying Bull sublimation dart shirts and she was her Spider Tech Kinesiology tape. Thanks also go out the Dutchman Darts and the Kryptonite Girls.
With the east coast Winter storm approaching, she caught the last flight to Las Vegas before the airport was closed and got in early Friday morning, not ideal conditions to play for a title but at that point she was just happy to get there. She kicked off the Friday event with a short night's sleep but was able to hold up pretty well throughout the day.
She played sluggish at times but won her bracket going 19-2 and advancing to the knockout round. Her first match was against Lisa Ayers from Chattanooga, TN. When they played in the earlier bracket Sandy was able to sweep 3 games off of the veteran competitor but this match would be much different. Sandy built a 2-0 lead in the best of five match and had a shot at another sweep before Lisa powered back to quickly level the match 2-2. In a tense deciding leg, Sandy was able to establish the lead and barely keep Lisa at bay to advance to the Semi-Finals. There she met fellow Kryptonite Girl, 3 time National Cricket Champion and dear friend Paula Murphy. Sandy stepped her game up at this point and was able to sweep to a 3-0 victory and advance to the Finals for the 2nd straight year, this time against fellow L-Style player Brenda Roush who was also on fire at that point. Once on stage, Sandy's time had finally come and she rolled to a 4-0 victory and her first National Cricket Championship. She is the fourth straight Kryptonite Girl to capture this crown along with Paula, Marlise Kiel and Morgan McCormack. The victory also carries an invitation to the Winmau World Masters to be held later this year in London, England.
Saturday she played in the Las Vegas Open with Stacey Pace of Denver. CO. It was their first time playing together and they did quite well advancing to the Finals against Paula and Shea Cole who is also a former National Cricket Champion. Sandy wasn't sharp in this match and missed a key bullseye that could have won the first leg. Paula and Shea would sweep the match 2-0 to claim the title. They would also meet in the second round Sunday with the same results and again Paula and Shea claimed the title in 501. She played with fellow L-Style player and Canadian legend Bob Sinneave. They finished Top 16 in 501 Mixed Doubles and she was knocked out in the third round of Mixed Triples with partners Travis Stacy of Savannah, GA and her hubby Chuck.
The Singles events brought some disappointing results. Saturday is the long 501 event where she played great at times and not so well at other times. She lost in the Top 8 to a very talented, yet under-rated player Kelly Meares of Florida who has made a habit off beating top National players through the years. As disappointing as Saturday's 501 event was, Sunday was even worse as everything started to catch up to her resulting in her worst darts of the weekend. She lost a first round match in Cricket to the talented Asian player Dondov Mongolia 2-1 and she never hit a triple in the deciding third leg.
All in all it was a pretty surreal weekend where she entered the tournament ranked #1 in America and as the featured player in the new Bulls Eye News, which would not be possible without her amazing sponsors. Her signature darts are made by Winmau and her L-Style Flight/Shaft systems are available in dart shops across the country. As always she wore her Flying Bull sublimation dart shirts and she was her Spider Tech Kinesiology tape. Thanks also go out the Dutchman Darts and the Kryptonite Girls.
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