It wasn’t just Italy soaking up tungsten last weekend – across the pond, Massachusetts hosted the Witch City Open. Yes, that’s Salem, the place best known for witch trials in 1692, mass hysteria, and people shouting Burn her! Monty Python fans will know the vibe.
What that has to do with darts is precisely nothing – but it does make for a cracking tournament name. And to be fair, with everything on offer – Cricket, Mixed Triples, 301 Double In-Double Out – it really was Salem’s Lot. Basically, if you can throw a dart at it, they held a competition for it.
Leonard Gates Does What Leonard Gates Does
Let’s start with the main course: the WDF 501 Open. Over 200 hopefuls entered, but it was no surprise that The Soulger marched off with the silverware. The Texan beat fellow American Lorne Langlais 5-1 in the final, averaging a modest 75 – proof that sometimes all you need is to be better than the bloke in front of you.
Not exactly Soulger’s greatest statistical outing, but he did enough earlier in the day to set up camp in the final. Canada’s Jeff Smith – yes, that Jeff Smith, the one I dubbed The Maple Leafed James Bond despite having never ordered a martini mid-match – bowed out in the semi-finals, undone by Langlais.
Jalbert Takes the Ladies Title
In the Ladies 501 Singles, it was another all-American affair, with Aaja Jalbert defeating Tracy Feiertag 5-3 in the final. Eighty-seven players entered, but when the dust settled the top four seeds filled the semi-finals, proving once again that darts is cruelly predictable at times. Jalbert, seeded third, toppled top-ranked Feiertag for the title. Nicely scripted.
Cricket, But Not the Sunny English Kind
Elsewhere, Cricket was on the menu. No sunhats, no tea breaks, no slips or silly mid-ons – just darts. Canadian duo Jeff Smith and Albert Anstey beat Americans Jay Waugh and Scott Estle in the Open Doubles Cricket. For Smith, it was a sweet win after his earlier 501 heartbreak, and he added another to the tally by pairing with Trish Grzesik in the Mixed Doubles.
The Soulger wasn’t about to let him get too comfortable though. In the Singles Cricket, Gates got one over on Smith to claim the cross-border bragging rights. Not exactly a revolutionary battle, but it’ll do.
Salem’s Spell
All told, it was a spellbinding weekend in Witch City – part darts festival, part history lesson, and part reminder that Leonard Gates is still the man to beat in North America, even when he’s not at his sharpest. Salem once burned witches. Now it just burns through dartboards.
—–ENDS—–
Images: World Seniors Darts
