Pete Zeigler was the victor at the Twentieth Summit Open Scrabble Tourney, which was held on May 31 - June 1, 2008 at the Holiday Inn in Hudson. Zeigler garnered his victory by winning three out of five games in a pitched battle against second place finisher Dan Stock in the best of five finals match. Play was back and forth throughout the day, with the player going first winning each game. Successive blow outs were followed by successive tight, defensive games. Pete then edged out a victory in the medal match to take the title.
The third through sixth place match play semifinals were modified, because a player withdrew due to illness (which would have forced a player not in match play to take two byes). As a result, all players except for the top two played KOTH in the 8th and 9th rounds, after which Christopher Sheppard and Dallas Johnson, in 3rd and 4th place at that point, played a best of 2 match for third place, while the remaining players remained in the general pool games. Christopher Sheppard defeated Dallas Johnson to take 3rd place.
Dallas Johnson won the first of the two games. After Dallas played his only available bingo (PRONATES) to take a small lead, Christopher took advantage of the P hanging in the triple-triple column to play the 3x3 CA(P)TAINS for 167 points and a 146 point lead. Dallas was down, but not out. He came back with a 51 point X play, an 80 point play of FOIBLES, and a 76 point bingo (MErLINS) to get back into the lead. A thrust and parry endgame ensued, where Dallas sought to close down the board, while Christopher sought to open lines for his racks with the last blank and good tiles. In the end, Dallas was able to close out the available lines, and held on for the victory. Things were much different in the final match, however, where Christopher Sheppard used turns 2 and 3 to bingo-bango, playing TENDERS for 82 and the double-blank, triple-word-score (C)ReAtIONS for 77. Christopher rode that lead straight through to the endgame, and Dallas never came close to getting back into the game.
Following are the final results for the tournament:
1. Pete Zeigler - 9-3 +775
2. Daniel Stock - 9-3 +636
3. Christopher Sheppard - 8-4 +187
4. Dallas Johnson - 6-5 +83
5. Midge Skwire - 6-5 +296
6. Pat Hardwick - 6-5 +87
7. Joyce Stock - 5-6 +17
8. Dennis Tomlinson - 5-6 -266
9. Timothy Smith - 2-9 -672
10. Mary Kay Quinn - 1-10 -1143
