Springfield, OR, WPH Press, 3/3/20- 60 handball players from Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, California, and Arizona arrived in Springfield, Oregon on the last Friday in February to kick off the 2020 End of February Weekender.
The annual tournament, hosted by the Beall Family, is one of the most popular events in the Northwest, due to not only the ability to draw many top Open players, but also for the top notch hospitality. This year certainly lived up to expectations, as players were treated to homemade lasagna and salad for dinner Friday night, as well as blueberry pancakes, scrambled eggs, and turkey bacon for breakfast Saturday morning, and the highly anticipated “surf n turf” tri tip steak and shrimp barbecue on Saturday night.
The Open division consisted of 17 of the best players in the northwest region, with two ranked WPH R48 pros Aaron Garner and Dalton Beall, as well as reigning Pacific Northwest Regional champion Cody Townsend and former Oregon State champion Matt Steele.
Beall cruised to the final in the upper bracket, dismantling 2020 WAC champion Kyle English in the semifinals after struggling against English in their previous tournament matchup. Towsend started hot in the bottom bracket semifinal against R48 #20 Aaron Garner, dominating game one. Double A-Ron regrouped in game two, pushing the match to a decider. Townsend jumped on Garner quickly in the tiebreaker, stealing the MAC star’s momentum by finding the bottom brick with regularity to meet his good friend and tournament host in the final.
Townsend picked up where he left off in his semifinal tiebreaker in the final, jumping on the tournament host and taking a one-game lead. Beall settled into the match and found his game after dropping game one, matching and exceeding Townsend’s intensity and shot making to take the next two games and title comfortably.
“Great finals matchup,” stated WPH correspondent Nick Flores. “Cody had been beating Dalton for three weeks straight in club play so a lot of people picked Cody to win. He came out really hot in the first game but Dalton seems to always find another level at our tournaments and found his offense in the second game and the tiebreaker. The crowd of at least 40 people packed into a very small gallery and was enthralled with the match.”
Thank you to the Beall Family, including Dalton, Sean, Perry, and Kyndra, for putting on the tournament and providing such amazing hospitality!
First Round:
Curtis Christenson (Tillamook, OR) def. Travis Peevey (Spokane, WA)
Round of 16:
Dalton Beall (Eugene, OR) def. Curtis Christenson (Tillamook, OR)
Cody Townsend (Eugene, OR) def. Sean Sandau (Missoula, MT)
Aaron Garner (Portland, OR) def. Deavin Brownson (Eugene, OR)
Kyle English (Salmon Creek, WA) def. Michael Stenberg (Bingen, WA)
Matt Steele (Hillsboro, OR) def. Nick Flores (Portland, OR)
Josh Bateman (Beaverton, OR) def. Andy Romanchock (Brush Prairie, WA)
Pete Svennungsen (Spokane, WA) def. Stephen Stenberg (Beaverton, OR)
Bob Herrera (Portland, OR) def. Sean Steele (Hillsboro, OR)
Quarterfinals:
Dalton Beall def. Bob Herrera
Cody Townsend def. Pete Svennungsen Aaron Garner def. Josh Bateman
Kyle English def. Matt Steele
Semifinals:
Dalton Beall def. Kyle English 15-1, 15-3
Cody Townsend def. Aaron Garner 15-2, 10-15, 15-7
Dalton Beall def. Cody Townsend 8-15, 15-6, 15-8
Written by Nick Flores with contributions from David Fink