MDCQL #3

Last night's outing was a fine evening indeed, all around.  The company was great and the darts were also great.  I played last night against one of my favorite people in league, Jeff C.  He is a happy-seeming person, always has a smile and a friendly demeanor, and whats more, he loves darts as much as I do.  Even better:  He is willing to play non-standard games with me.  Last night after the match, despite the both of us being a little darted-out, we snuck in a quick game of Wickets & Bats.

The evening was a good win for me, which was needed psychologically I think, given my recent failure at the Singles Shoot.  The highlights of the match for me include: a Ton-80 (yay!), six Ton-40's, 2753 total points in tonnage, a 94-out, and (in one game) a 79.1 3 Dart Average. The win itself was a little be landslidey (forgive me Jeff); 5-0 win in sets, 15-4 win in legs, and I out score my opponent 9400 total points to 8000.

The two lowlights on the evening were: a meager 50.7 three dart average across all 19 legs, and I was really hit and miss on finishing, sometimes spending several rounds to either finish, or ultimately lose a leg.

Why did I lose the four I lost?  In no case was I simple walloped. In each lost leg I had 2, 32, 4, and 9 remaining respectively, so it is safe to say that three of my losses was an inability to finish. In only one leg did I lose due to anemia. And I'd follow that up by saying that in some of the legs I won my finishing was sloppy enough that I was lucky to win at all!

The first set I won 3-1. In the leg I lost I was sitting on 124, and hit an 81 to leave 43.  Then I busted, then I hit a 39 to leave 4, then I whittled that down to 2, then I spent busted again. During all of this piddling around my opponent caught up to me and took out 112 for the high out of the evening.  Up until my finishing troubles I was averaging a respectable 57 3DA.

The second set I won 3-2.  In the first lost leg I didn't put up any numbers at all, and actually only had one dart at the out.  I was sitting on 70, missed the T18 into S18, hit the S20 squarely, and then missed D16 outside.  My opponent finished easily before I had another chance.  It is hard to say that this loss was due to an inability to finish since I only gave myself one dart at the out.  Rather, this was an anemic effort from the start of the leg.  The second leg I dropped in this set was a sorrowful loss indeed.  I whittled the score down to 60 in 15 darts, averaging 88.2.  Then I floundered like a boss. I hit 40 to leave 20 (2 misses at the double ring), then 10, to leave 10, then a bust, then 6 to leave 4, then three misses outside the D2 before my opponent finally put me out of my misery.  That was shaping up to be my best leg of the evening until I collapsed.  In all, I missed the double ring 14 times.  ouch.

The third and fourth sets were both 3-0 wins.

The fifth set I won 3-1. In the dropped leg, I was hot and cold.  I hit three tons, but I also hit three 26's! I was sitting on 236 and hit a ton to leave 136, then I hit another ton to leave 36.  Then I missed the D18 outside and inside, and the D9 inside to leave 9.  Then I busted, then I lost.  But cheers to my opponent who hit D16, D16 to take out 64!  Always nice to have a double-double for a win.

So what about my finishing when I did win? Here were my 15 wins:

1. DO: 4 -- 17 darts spent to get it from a one-dart out.
2. DO: 94 -- 2 darts spent to get it from a one-dart out.
3. DO: 60 -- 2 darts spent to get it from a one-dart out.
4. DO: 2 -- 18 darts spent to get it from a one-dart out.
5. DO: 8 -- 9 darts spent to get it from a one-dart out.
6. DO: 38 -- 6 darts spent to get it from a one-dart out.
7. DO: 32 -- 5 darts spent to get it from a one-dart out.
8. DO: 32 -- 2 darts spent to get it from a one-dart out.
9. DO: 40 -- 4 darts spent to get it from a one-dart out.
10. DO: 2 -- 14 darts spent to get it from a one-dart out.
11. DO: 9 -- 8 darts spent to get it from a one-dart out.
12. DO: 32 -- 1 darts spent to get it from a one-dart out.
13. DO: 20 -- 3 darts spent to get it from a one-dart out.
14. DO: 53 -- 2 darts spent to get it from a one-dart out.
15. DO: 10 -- 7 darts spent to get it from a one-dart out.

So all totaled, that is exactly 100 darts spent aiming at the double ring with only 15 successful hits.  I had some lousy finishing in there, and some quite good finishing.  The average is a rather satanic 6.66 darts spent to hit a single double.  Not good!  I need to boil that down to about 3 at least.  

This was my 94 out:

The darts I used last night, exclusively, were the 19 gram Voks Nobus with #6 carbon stems and slim Fit Flight Airs.  I have found this to be my go-to darts.  I have continued my recent trend of only bringing one set of darts to a match.  This way I am forced to correct any variance in my mechanics as opposed to just swapping darts.

All in all, it was a good night.