Sugar River Euchre

The first week of the Euchre league is in the books. A few of us wish that wasn’t the case as several teams failed to have anyone reach 100 points and we would like to rewrite history with a do over.
The Ott Haus was lucky enough to have one couple exceed 100 points, but Larry Disch and Keith Wenger weren’t the ones. They took this week’s low score honors with just 75 points to their credit. However, this wasn’t the highlight of the match between the Hay Shakers and the Cheese Eaters. Holding the jack of hearts, along with the queen, nine and ten of diamonds plus a suit ace, Jeff Judd ordered up the ace of diamonds. Having a fairly solid hand and an almost a sure point, Jeff went alone.
As the dealer, Kendal tucked the ace securely in his hand between the jack and king of diamonds, he quickly realized that he had Jeff between a rock and a hard place. Kendal informed Jeff he was taking him cross corners (to play Jeff one-on-one). Knowing that Kendal had a good hand against him, Jeff led the jack of hearts (the left bower) in an attempt to make at least two of his four trump good, along with his suit ace. Kendal took Jeff’s jack of hearts with the jack of diamonds and quickly played the ace and king of diamonds with a big smile on his face. By setting Jeff, Kendal secured 4 points for the Cheese Eaters. I’m guessing this hand will be in the front of Jeff’s mind the next time he is thinking of going alone. Unfortunately, one hand does not win a game. With Fred Ryser/Rick Skindrud scoring 117 points and Barb Judd/Al Zimmerman putting up another 110 points, the Hay Shakers secured a 100-point win.
The Norsk Pranksters pulled a fast one (well maybe not so fast, as the match didn’t finish until 12:30) over the Trolls defeating them by 56 points. Thirty-four of the Prankster points came at the end of the match after turning in a perfect 8th round.
The Express finished last season on a losing note and to their demise continued that trend Thursday night with team Uff-Da scoring 29 more points than the Express. Bruce Milestone and Jim Day scored 111 points for team Uff-Da while John Scheidegger and Dave Steinhauer loaded the Express with 110 points.
The Shufflers, one of the teams that just couldn’t get anything going, lost to the River Rats by 101 points. The only highlight for the Shufflers came in the first frame when Loretta Herfel and Dewey Haag stopped what would have otherwise turned into a perfect score by River Rats Scott Keys and Gordie Miller. As it turned out, Scott and Gordie finished with 118 points, this week’s high score. That coupled with the 114 points gathered by Rats Dan Palmer and Ernie Sarbacker kept the Shufflers off the dance floor.
The Cowboys, with Dean Disch and Dave Willborn scoring 111 points, wrangled 62 more points than the Pipe Benders could couple together.
Standings: Cowboys 1-0; J&M Bar 1-0; Kleeman’s 1-0; Pranksters 1-0; Red Mouse Uff-Da 1-0; Express 0-1; Jones Plumbing 0-1; Ott Haus 0-1; Shufflers 0-1; Trolls 0-1.
Schedule for October 13: Cowboys @ Ope Haus Express (7:00); Shufflers @ Jones’ Plumbing (7:00); Kleeman’s @ Pranksters (7:30); J&M Bar @ Red Mouse Uff-Da (7:00); Trolls @ Ott Haus (7:00).