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The American Darters Association would like to congratulate ADA Members Duane Timmermann and Karl Remick for having a perfect Cricket Doubles game in the American Dart League play! This happened during this past Spring Session at Classic Bar in St. Louis, MO. Duane and Karl played Bob Smith and Keith Rockwell in a doubles game on the Express League format, game 3 on May 13th, 2010.
After Duane won the cork for their team, he stepped up to the toe line and throws a Triple 20 and a Triple 19. After hitting the triple 19, he paused with that third dart in his hand and was standing at the line just staring at the machine. After another moment, he turns around to face his partner because he realizes that he has thrown out of turn! Karl remained unaware of Duane’s mistake until he admits to the other team that he threw out of turn. Bob and Keith agreed that it was a simple mistake. They give their “OK” and allow the scoreboard to be erased and to start the game over. Duane walks up to the new Shelti Eye2 board and corrects his mistake by erasing his darts and the score goes back down to zero.
Now that all corrections have been made, it is officially Karl’s turn. He steps to the line joking that there is no way he can follow Duane’s darts but his first shot is a Triple 20! He aims his second dart high, headed for the Triple 18…and he hits it! Feeling good and wanting to continue the flow of hitting triples he aims his last dart for the Triple 19 and the machine sings. It’s another hit! Karl turns back and looks at his partner, Duane and they both started laughing. It was like Duane had never left the line or corrected the darts for throwing out of turn.
Keith, jokingly comments that they should have called the foul as he steps up to throw his first round. He hits two 17’s. Duane follows Keith’s turn and throws his darts for a turn that will actually count towards the game. And what a turn it was! Like his partner, he hits all triples! Triple 17, 16 and 15 are all closed within in a matter of seconds! We have just witnessed back to back 9 counts! He pulls his darts and immediately yells to Karl, “I want that perfect game, Karl, come on bud. Let me add that perfect game to my resume!”
Along with this doubles match there was also another ADL team league playing a couple boards down. With the recent yells and excitement it seems that they along with some other patrons were now watching this game and wanting to see what all the noise and fuss was about on board 2. With an audience, Bob takes a chance at the board and throws his darts to represent his team and contribute to this game. He steps up, throws for the bull but hits a single 16, one 15 and a single 3 instead.
Karl gets to the line and you see by the look on his face that he is concentrating. He is serious about making Duane’s dream of a perfect game come true. He said later that evening “All I was thinking about was I had to get my first dart to hit the bull. But it felt like the whole bar went silent and they were all watching and waiting to see if I had it in me.” He went on to say, “It wasn’t just the pressure of hitting a bull but also the pressure of everyone focusing on me!”
Although not everyone in the bar was focused on Karl, there were enough of us holding our breath, crossing our fingers and wondering if he could pull this off. It all came down to Karl and his first dart. He raised his arm, aimed, paused for a breath and threw the dart. All eyes followed the dart and it was a HIT! Single Bull! We exhaled as he got his second dart ready. Now all it would take is one more dart to hit a double bull and it could be an 8 Dart Perfect game. Duane was quietly standing in the back of the crowd, willing his partner to throw that double bull. It was now or never. With a single stroke that our father, Glenn taught him years ago, Karl’s dart flew through the air and into the exact center hole of the double bull. He did it! Duane and Karl just shot a perfect cricket doubles game! Everyone watching went nuts! Cheering, high-fives and hugs were exchanged by everyone that had just witnessed this perfect game.
It was an exciting Thursday evening for the ADL. A perfect doubles cricket game had been thrown by not only two ADA Members who are great dart players but also by two guys that are long-time friends. Congrats to both Karl and Duane on an amazing accomplishment.
“That was one of the best things I have ever seen”, said Bob Smith who also added, “Glenn Remick would be very proud of his son.” After the entire match was over, both teams celebrated with a toast and a shot. The toast went to team, Last Chance: Captain Bob Smith, Keith Rockwell, Joe Schmiederer; and team, Duane’s Team: Captain Duane Timmermann, Karl Remick and Justin Revelle; Classics Bar, The American Darters Association, and Glenn Remick for making this all possible. Lastly Karl added, “Yes, Dad, this one is for you.”
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