After a three week hiatus, yes three weeks, the WPTL finally got back to business on Tuesday night. As referenced in the last column, which seems likes years ago, the matches on the 14th were cancelled due to St. Mikey C day, whoops, St. Valentines day. Mikey C stood up for all the paddle widows out there and single handedly cancelled the matches scheduled for said holiday. For more color on this you can reference the paddle pro message boards in the WPTL thread.
Division 1
Well, the WPTL certainly lived up to it’s reputation as the Wild Westchester league in this division. Specifically, I refer to the Greenburgh 1 at Manursing 1 match. One would have thought with the national champs holding court at the 1 spot, that would have been the highlight of the night. One would have been wrong, for the highlight, or lowlight, occurred in the 3 spot. As capsulated best by Chris Berman in the above mentioned message boards, it was “the chest bump heard round the paddle world”.
I am not taking any sides here, despite writing for Patricio’s website, and I did not witness this, but I have heard several accounts of what happened. The cliff note version is that local foot fault enforcer, Patricio, called a number of foot faults on hall of famer, Steve Baird. There was some grumbling and then it all came to a head in the second set at 2-1 Patricio. For the hall of famer, one too many foot faults had been called, and this sent Baird over the net, paddle waving and culminating in a chest bump to Patricio.
Patricio’s 6’6” partner stepped in the middle, Patricio walked off the court, and the match ended. After the match, Baird apologized and the point was awarded to Greenburgh. Again, no editorializing, just relaying the facts. However, it seems to me, that something needs to be done about the foot fault rule. Perhaps I will devote another article to this issue. With Greenburgh wining this match 3-2 it left them in second place, for the second half, with 19 points, but first for the year, and left Manursing tied for fourth place with 16 points. In other action, Bronxville 1 beat Country Club of Westchester 3-2, New York Athletic Club 1 zeroed the foxes of Fox Meadow, and Flint Park 1 beat Orienta Beach Club 1, 3-2. The top four teams for the season qualify for the playoffs, and with one week left the top four teams now are GB1, NYAC1, BV1, with Flint Park and Manursing tied for fourth.
Division 2
Division leaders Bronxville Village 3 and Pelham Country Club 1 remain on top after both suffering 3-2 losses. BV3 lost to Scarsdale Golf Club, while Bronxville Village 2 helped their Bronxville brethren by defeating PCC1 3-2. BV3 andPCC1 each have 18 points, while SGCand BV2 each have 16 points. Also tied with 16 points is Sleepy HollowVillage,who beat Wykagyl1, 5-0. The final match had Larchmont Yacht Club 1 defeating Scarsdale Village 1, 4-1. The battle to stay up in d2 comes down to Wykagyl1 vs. SV1 with SV1 slightly ahead in points, 12-10. In the final week, Wykagyl1 plays BV3, and SV1 plays SHV.
Division 3
Siwanoy Country Club continues to take care of business, and it looks like they will make their stay in d3 very brief. They are atop the division with 24 points. At the other end of the spectrum, Pelham Country Club 2 and Orienta Beach Club 2 are in a battle to stay up in d3.
Division 4
Larchmont Shore Club remains comfortably ahead in d4 with 26 points, and Wykagyl 2 is at the other end.
Sean’s Predictions
My D1 predictions are looking good.
D2 prediction for promotion still alive, but for demotion I do not look good.
D3 promotion looks wrong and demotion is still alive
D4 promotion and demotion both look wrong.
