Hood, River, OR, WPH Press, 6/10/22
The 6th annual Hood River Invitational was held on June 4th at the Elks Lodge in Hood River, Oregon. More than 40 players from Oregon and Washington were invited to the tournament to celebrate the end of Oregon’s indoor handball season and to support a local child in a battle with cancer.
Players, family members, and handball fans arrived at the Hood River Elks Lodge early Saturday morning to prepare for the tournament. Action began at seven in the morning, as 40 matches were squeezed onto two courts in less than twelve hours. Division A consisted of 12 teams split into four round robin pools, and division B consisted of eight teams split into two round robin pools. At the conclusion of round robin pool play, teams were reorganized into brackets based on their round robin results.
In division A, Tyler Stevens and Jennifer Hinman reached the finals, defeating Cody Townsend and Stephen Stenberg in the semifinals. On the other side of the bracket, Dalton Beall and Ben Liebman advanced to the finals by defeating Aaron Garner and Sean O’Connell in the semifinals.
In division B, the two best teams in each round robin pool were matched up in the finals. Ron Lampe and Charlie Ikard advanced from pool A, and David McGarry and Kimberley Duval advanced from pool B. The finals match started relatively even, with Lampe’s ceiling shots giving McGarry trouble. However, McGarry’s quick feet and consistent dump kills proved to be too much, as McGarry and Duval closed out the first game and carried the momentum to win the second game, taking the division B championship. With this win, Kimberley Duval becomes the first female champion to have her name etched onto the Hood River Invitational trophy.
In division A, fireworks erupted as trash-talk between Eugene clubmates Dalton Beall and Tyler Stevens began hours prior to the match. Beall and Liebman would squeak out a game 1 victory, but Stevens and Hinman fought back to win game two and force a tiebreaker. The Hood River crowd was amazed at the athleticism and skill displayed by the two Eugene superstars, and just as impressed with Hinman and Liebman’s ability to hold their own in the high-level match. Ultimately Beall showed the crowd why he is a 9-time state champion, finding a higher gear and closing out the tiebreaker for the finals victory.
Following the action, the annual year ending banquet was held in the beautiful Elks Lodge banquet hall, and it was attended by players, spouses, children, friends, and handball fans. Members of the Stenberg Family spoke about the importance of the tournament and then honored James Herrera, son of handballer Bob Herrera, who is battling cancer. The Hood River Handball Association proudly announced that over $4,000 was raised to help the Herrera Family with medical bills for James’ treatment.
Thank you to the Hood River Handball Association and the Stenberg Family for hosting this wonderful event and thank you to the many tournament sponsors and participants, including the World Players of Handball, for helping to make this tournament possible.
Nick Flores, Chairman
Oregon Handball Association
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