Spring Has Sprung Sand Kubb Tournament 2019 Recap

EAU CLAIRE, Wisc. — Eau Claire Kubb League welcomed spring on Saturday, April 6 for the third year with the Spring Has Sprung Sand Kubb Tournament. As in years past, the tournament took place at Wagner’s indoor sand volleyball facitily, The Complexx. The sand was soft, the shoes were kicked off, and the spirits were high as 24 teams played nine qualifying rounds of the Klassic system. It’s easy to see that they’ve created a great kubb experience at these Eau Claire sand tournaments.

Teams were then broken into two brackets with the top eight in the championship, and the remaining 16 in the consolation. Championship matches switched to best of three battles while the consolation side stuck to a one-and-done.

The championship semi-finals matched up local Eau Claire teams Team Kubboom (Gina Klages, Pat Klages, Steve Nelson) and Scott, Scott, and NOT Scott (Scott Forster, Gregg Jochimsen, Grant Scott). Another local team, Master Splinters (Brian Evans, Jeff Gibson, Cory Shay), matched up with Kubb Society’s Special Friends (Steve Dolan, Tim Motzko, Brian Winistorfer).

The defending national champions Scott, Scott, and NOT Scott stayed cool under pressure and made quick work of Team Kubboom. The other semi-final took a bit more time, going to a fairly long three games before Master Splinters prevailed.

In the finals, Scott, Scott, and NOT Scott won the toss and opened with a kubb that went unanswered by Master Splinters. As often happens in sand, there were a few pesky kubbs that tilted but didn’t quite fall for both sides, which lead to a few more blasting batons than you might find in a grass game for teams of this caliber. Eventually a few rounds later, Scott, Scott, and NOT Scott cleared their baseline and Scott knocked down the king. This was not the end though, as Shay called the shot a helicopter and the king was re-raised. Luckily, Scott had a spare baton and took a second shot, but it did not make contact. The game moved on, but Master Splinters had a lot of work to do. They managed to clear and add from their back row increasing the kubbs in play to eight. Jochimsen tossed over a tight little pile that Scott, Scott, and NOT Scott were able to clear in four, leaving Scott a redemption king shot that he nailed without controversy.

In game two, it started as a steady back-and-forth with both teams adding a kubb or two per turn. Scott, Scott, and NOT Scott were the first to clear their baseline. Nine kubbs were now in play. Evans inkasted the kubbs and the team got to work on knocking over the pile, which proved to be more difficult than they had hoped. They weren’t able to clear, giving Scott, Scott, and NOT Scott a juicy line to take care of eight kubbs. They only needed three sticks before they could attack the king and take home top prize.