Serving the Big Horn Basin for over 100 years
Serving the Big Horn Basin for over 100 years
WORLAND - It was years and years of work, but at long last, Worland's Craig Smith crossed off his goal of winning a title at the World Horseshoe Pitching Championship.
Held in West Monroe, Louisiana, on July 11-23, over 600 horseplayers battled it out at the World tournament, playing up to five games a day. For Smith, he brought home the top prize in the Elder C2 class.
There are six age divisions, junior, cadet, open men, open women, seniors and elder. From there, players are separated into classes with two divisions, like A1, A2, B1, B2, etc. This year's tournament had classes from A to M.
The pitchers are sorted into their classes based on their ringer percentage. Smith's 46.94% landed him in the C2 class with 16 others.
Smith threw just above his ringer average to take first place, going 48.65% for the tournament. Winners were determined by win/loss record, to which Smith had an 11.5-1.5 record.
"It was a checkmark off my bucket list," said Smith. "I threw just a little bit over my average to win it. I threw 48.6% for the tournament. It went right down to the wire. I tied my last game, but it didn't knock me out of first."
Qualifying for the World tournament, a pitcher has to have a minimum of four sanctioned National Horseshoe Pitchers Association tournaments under their belt. Then the three highest ringer percentages from the past 12 months create a pitcher's ringer average.
Winning the title came down to Smith's final game and final throw. He was trailing Charles Moppin of Arizona and had to tie; otherwise, he'd go to a playoff against Inge Byrkjeland of Norway.
Smith nailed his throw, got the tie and won the championship.
"It was not nice," said Smith talking about the nerves for the final game. "I've been to 15 of these tournaments, and I've never gotten a first. I've been second through sixth, and that's what they pay back. It was the first time I've gotten a first, and this was the highest class I've participated in. It felt pretty good.
Avoiding a playoff with Byrkjeland was also on Smith's mind. He had beaten the Norwegian earlier in the tournament. However, after that loss to Smith, Byrkjeland was pitching lights out.
"I knew that if I lost, I'd have to play this Norwegian. We played earlier, and I beat him, but after I did, he was throwing games in the 70 percent or higher. I did not want to go into a playoff against him," said Smith.
The tournament took place indoors, which Smith was very appreciative of. "They had Kentucky blue clay in all the pits. The facilities were nice, and it was nice to throw indoor rather than in 100-degree weather," he said.
With the best of the best at the tournament, Smith also watched the top pitcher in the world, Alan Francis, cruise to a championship going 15-0 and sporting a ringer average of 89% for the tournament. Heading into the tournament Francis' ringer average was 87.10%.
"I did get to watch the Class A, and the top average went in at 89%, and the last in the class had a 69%. We watched the guy who has won the World Tournament the last 26 times, and he's like a robot. He just doesn't miss. He had two 95% games and one 97.5% game. That was kind of inspiring, bet I could play against him and not even score a point. It's something to shoot for," said Smith.
As for what's next for Smith, his goal remains the same. He won the Elder Wyoming State championship last year, and a World championship added this year. It's all about getting better and better.
"I'll probably go up one class. My goal is to get better and better. But it's like, and I won the Wyoming state championship last year, but it took me 50 years to get here," said Smith.
