The room has been reserved. The main event is coming. It'll be the Massachusetts state championship. If pitchnutters from Connecticut or New York, come, it'll be the National Championshp. There will be at least 64 players, single elimination, best of 5. Whoever wins 6 straight matches will certainly be worthy of state champion. We'll send highlights in to ESPN.

Amherst Regional High School's second 32-player singles tournament was won by Kevin Norton, 3-2 over Amos Adams. Amos had beaten Lee Larcheveque 3-2 in the final four and Kevin knocked off reigning champion, Matt Jerry, 3-1.

See Mr. Larcheveque. Various sizes available, except for small. Get 'em while supplies last.Pitchnut TShirt: You know you want it.

The freshmen came out on top. No longer newbie, David and Owen knocked off Jesse and Patrick 3-2 in the championship game. Patrick and Jesse were left with one last piece in the center of the board in a match that could have gone either way. David and Owen refused to play any more games so as not to spoil the glow of their victory. They previously beat Kevin and Zach 3-0 in the semifinals. Jesse and Patrick knocked out Timmy and Ian in the semis. Their prize is a pitchnut T-shirt, whenever they come in. Ironically, both David and Owen have been eliminated from the January singles tournament.

I still need to write up my diary about the second day of my trip to St. Edwidge. I'll have time over vacation. Here are some pix. The champs: Me and some local moose-hunting, pitchnut playing Quebecois.
Bernard: Real cool guy.Andre: The wild red board. Sweetness.Adre's Board: They all have stands up there.A bunch of pitchnutters: Don't mess with 'em. They have knives.Woodworker: He's built a couple boards.

Veterans go 25-13 against newbies. On the one-year anniversary of Steven "Panda" Booth winning the first major ARHS pitchnut tournament, he fell 3-0 to Matt "MJ" Jerry, who has proven to be the Michael Jordan of American Pitchnut, rising through the losers' bracket to knock of the streaking and nearly unstoppable Panda- on Panda's own board, even. Although he lacks the wagging tongue, MJ used his upright posture and ability to clear the board to break his tournament curse. After falling to Kevin "K-Norts" Norton in the final four, Matt knocked off Zach Phillis 2-0, Newbie Amos 2-0To win it all.

On the one-year anniversary of ARHS' first 32-player singles tournament, won by Steven "Panda" Booth, the ARHS pitchnut club will have its first tournament of the year- a double-elimination matchup between the 9th grade "newbies" and the veterans. Sign up outside room 187. Early rounds will be 3 games each. Final four will be best of 5. Good luck!

Greetings from Dunham,Quebec! I woke up at 5 this morning and hit the road by 6:00 after waiting in a painfully slow line at the Noho Dunkin. By 10 I was in Coaticook. First stop was the bank to get Canadian cash. The bank was quite closed as was the one in Derby, VT. I was a little nervous about not having cash on me, but had plenty of green stuff. The librarian at Coaticook library didnèt really speak English and didnèt show any signs of recognizing the pitchnut photo I showed her. Next stop was Canadian tire. Neither the workers nor the customers there new pitchnut, so I decided to head out the St. Edwidge to get to the library there by noon. I crossed the town line and the first house I saw was on a farm and the silo was labeled Ferme de Raymond Scalabrini. Aha! The infamous Scalabrinis who built boards in the 1920s as remembered by Albert Brunelle in Newington, CT. I pulled up in front of his house to take some photos and video. While I was doing so a red truck pulled into the driveway and a 50ish guy got out, gave me a suspicious look and headed to the front door. I put the camera away, grabbed my Scalabrini family tree and walked towards him. Lets just say the conversation was awkward at best. Given that I dont speak a word of French and he doesnt speak a word of English our conversation consisted of a lot of fruitless gestures and polite grinning. He showed no recognition of the photos of the game. When I showed him the Raymond Scalabrini on the genaeology printout he did inform me that that was a woman. Oops. I thanked him for being so gracious. I figured he was a great nephew or something and headed off toward downtown St. Edwidge- which consisted of a church and two stores. Oh, and the Centre Recreatif, which I made my way into after hearing lots of female laughter floating down from a window on the second floor. I brought in the pitchnut board I had brought and found 10 women peeling carrots. Yes, they were all peeling carrots. There were four rows of tables with tablecloths and settings for several hundred people. I figured this was for Canadian Thanksgiving on Monday. The women all nodded in recognition of the pitchnut board. Only one of the 10 women spoke English. She informed me that every home in St. Edwidge has a pitchnut board- with screws and alleys. She had two. Finally, the pitchnut mecca Ive been searching for for the last 10 or 20 years! They invited me to dinner Sunday at 4. None of them knew the history of the game or how it got to St. Edwidge. I told them I would be back and headed to the cemetary next door. I found the gravestones of a few Scalabrinis and the infamous Ferdinand- who came from Italy and lived in Dunham for 10 years before moving to St. Edwidge. His son was the one who Albert Brunelle says was building boards in the 1920s. I even found the gravestone of Guillaume Martineau.