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Mark Kenas Banishes British Words From Head and Prevails

1st Mark Kenas, fresh from a successful trip to Chicago playing the Collins dictionary, ignored the extraneous words floating in his gray matter to finish 4-0 +213.  Beating Mary Becker 454-338 in the first game proved to be the highlight of Mark's evening as he bingoed with DEPONES and RENTIERS.  Some power-tile bingos were on the menu in Mark's close 397-390 win against Andy Bohnsack: Mark played ENZYMES and the more pedestrian TONNERS; Andy got CAJONES (n. CAJON, a canyon - only pluralizes with the -ES) and TAILSPIN.  Despite this win, Andy still has a slight lead on the lifetime series, nine wins to eight.

2nd Chris Vergeront bid us farewell as he begins a summer of Ultimate Frisbee playing, and sent himself off in style, finishing 3-1 +316.  It was a fairly average club session, all things considered, until the final game, where Chris dropped an incredible 612 points on spectator Betty Hasselkus, who scored 272.  This score of 612 is tied for second-highest score this year (after Charles Reinke's 629), and Chris' five bingos is also tied for the most played in a game by one player this year.  Those bingos were: AUBRETIA (n. a flowering plant, also AUBRIETA), MAILERS, ROTATIVE, DECISIVE, and DOMAINE.  Hopefully this game is not indicative of a trend, where, returning from his hiatus, Chris averages 600 a game while unhaltingly demolishing his opposition without remorse.

3rd Bryan Benwitz went 3-1 +265, winning his first three to attain an eight-game streak before falling to Mark Kenas 338-404.  A sole bingo of BLEEDERS simply failed to outmuscle Mark's PURLINE and ISOSPIN (n. a type of quantum number).  This sad loss was offset by Bryan's easy victory over Lynda Finn, 476-278, a lofty score which was reached with the help of only one bingo, STRAINED.  A somewhat closer game was played when Bryan was matched up with Thomas Reinke and prevailed 424-395, handing Thomas his only loss.  The bearded twin got down ENTRAIN and POSTMEN, while the bearded non-twin played ORPINES and a nice find of FRIJOLES (n. frijol, a type of bean, again only pluralizing -ES).

Sharlie Miura Smashes Her Yearly Average in Undefeated Night

1st Sharlie Miura averaged 388 points per game and played three bingos while going 2-0 +106.  The phony one of the bunch, SMOTING, was played straight-facedly against June Scott en route to a 377-316 victory.  Then, two valid bingos, SETTEES and CRUSTED, came down against Sue Goldstein.  Barely missing the 400-point mark, Sharlie scored 399 to Sue's 354.

2nd Sue Goldstein went 2-1 -3, playing the bingo DURATION in the one game she lost.  She triumphed in what must have been a very frustrating game, 292-267 against June Scott.

Bryan Benwitz Bends Wits

1st Bryan Benwitz did not face any major impediments to victory, finishing 4-0 +481 and averaging 437 points per game.  His closest game was 434-404 against Dave Gilligan; Bryan played CESTOID and OVULATES to Dave's FEMINIST and BRAIDING.  Two bingos, though, is nothing compared to the four he played in the course of defeating Mary Becker 493-356: LEMONADE, TOOTERS, SENARII, and the phony ENWRAPT.  ENWRAP and WRAPT are both good, so ENWRAPT is a logical combination of those two words.  So logical, in fact, that the same phony was played by Andy Bohnsack just a few months ago.

2nd Thomas Reinke went 3-1 +246, the best of four players who finished 3-1.  He defeated relative newbie Jordan Parker 470-292, playing AUDITEES, POODLES, and RENDERS for some timely 50-point bonuses.  He then got a victory against Andy Bohnsack, one of the few players who currently has a winning record against him.  The final score was 462-413, with Andy's 413 being the highest losing score of the night.  Thomas played TRIVETS, DUMBING (an appropriate word considering what he played next), and a phony CURATION; Andy played HURDIES and VERITIES.

3rd Peter Schmiedicke went 3-1 +178, pulling off the vaunted double-Reinke upset for two of his wins.  In the first game of the night, he stifled all of Charles' attempts at scoring, coming out triumphant 417-328, riding on the back of his three bingos: EPIGONES (n. EPIGONE, and inferior imitator), DREDGERS, and REIMAGES.  He later defeated Thomas Reinke in a somewhat closer contest, 441-377.  Again, three bingos were on order for Peter (MANGOES, SNORTED, and word-of-the-week LENTISKS), but he did not manage to hold the second Reinke bingoless as Thomas played ATONERS and CAVALIER.  Things were looking great for Peter until he had to face Bryan Benwitz in the final round; that game ended with a severely lopsided 243-406 score. 

Sue Goldstein Makes Easy Work of Opposition

1st Sue Goldstein finished a perfect 3-0 +233.  She did not average much more than usual, 337 per game, but her absolutely smothering board control resulted in her opponents averaging a piddling 260 per game.  Sue saved the best for last when she destroyed June Scott 368-257 in the third game of the night.

Peter Schmiedicke Lives Up To "Defeater" Nickname

1st Peter Schmiedicke steamrollered his way to a flawless 4-0 +387 record, easily snagging first place in the process.  It was not an anxiety-free journey, though; in the closest game of the night, Peter just barely squeaked out a win against Richard Lauder, 385-382.  Peter desperately needed every point that his three bingos provided him: THEREIN, TANNERS, and EXTRADOS (n. the outer curve of an arch).  The rest of Peter's contests were not as closely-fought, culminating in a near-200-point drubbing of Barb Besadny, 481-285.  Three of Peter's nine total bingos were played in that game: AIGRETS, RETAINER, and TROUPIAL.

2nd Charles Reinke scored over 400 in each of his games en route to a 4-1 +355 performance.  Things got off to a good start when he played two-on-one for the first game and won both: 463-399 against Lynda Finn (with bingos of BANDIED, CREDITOR, and PENDULAR) and 449-290 against Chris Vergeront (GRIEVOUS and AMENTIA).  His win against eternal nemesis Thomas Reinke was less convincing, ending 422-413 with just one bingo, SOARING (anagrams ORIGANS and SIGNORA) for the victor.  Meanwhile, the loser played three bingos, somewhat lessening the pain of his loss: ANTEING on the first play of the game, EQUALLED on the second, and later, DIARIES.

3rd Mark Kenas went 3-1 +201, continuing his run of solid play that has pushed him up to second place on the yearly standings.  To make a statement, Mark thoroughly crushed the former second-place leader, Thomas Reinke, by a score of 564-411, one of the highest combined scores of the year.  Thomas played MASSIER and PLATONIC, but even that goodly amount of bingos was rendered impotent by Mark's four: TAILWIND, CATHODE, LAPIDATE, and SQUINTER.  Fittingly, Mark's only loss was to Charles Reinke, who prevailed 495-356.  Mark would have been awarded bingo of the week for playing SHIPHAND in the course of his 417-340 win versus Susan Vergeront, but it turns out that SHIPHAND is phony.  Better luck next time, Mark!

Super-special 4th place goes to Barb Besadny, who won her first three games before running up against the immovable Scrabble juggernaut otherwise known as Peter Schmiedicke.  Barb pulled off an upset win against Charles Reinke, 426-410, by bingoing out with the find of VASTIER.  Charles played NONRATED and COTHURNI for some style points but not many of the other kind of points (the kind that matter).

June Scott Tops Intermediates For Second Straight Week...Who Can Stop Her?

1st June Scott finished 2-1 +32, her second straight 2-1 performance.  She defeated both Miuras, one after the other, for her two wins.  Against Aki, she bingoed with SORTING to propel her to a 330-288 win.

2nd Sue Goldstein ended up with a 2-1 +27 record, a mere five spread points behind rival June Scott.  She had the chance to take first place for herself when playing June in the third game, but didn't quite win by enough; the game finished at a score of 335-319.