St. Patrick's Day tournament

Yesterday was the kickoff of the 2018 bocce season with the St. Patrick's Day tournament.  The tournament was held in less than ideal conditions because of the cold and lack of sun.  The Glue's brought her Irish stew much to the delight of quite a few of the contestants.  Clutch and Herbster couldn't play so The Grumpy Shillelaghs picked up super subs Danny and Jean.
In the first game we played Love Is A Boccefield on the new court.  Coincidentally their sign was being put on as we were playing.  Inspired by their sign they were on fire in the beginning especially at the end me and the Glue played on.  Danny did a good job keeping us in the game until the others found their game.  We were behind the hole game but managed to finally tie the game 7-7 when me and the Glue left them a great opportunity with the point and two balls left.  With their first of the two our end thought the game was over and shook hands but Bake to the rescue.  He wasn't sure so they measured and it was still only one point and their last shot didn't get in either.  We returned the favor the next frame as we had point and a great chance to close it out but came up half a rotation.  With the score 8-8 the Glue went deep to hopefully get them off their game but they made a great throw.  With our second to last ball everyone thought was on the pallino but somehow missed and hit the back wall.  On our last ball we managed to hit the pallino and get in.  They shorted their two remaining balls and we walked away with a win we really didn't deserve.
In the second game we played Rolling Rocks, a new team with only one experienced player.  We jumped out to a big lead but then let them have a couple before we managed to close out the win moving us to 2-0 in pool play.
The next game was against Here For The Beer again playing on the new court.  We struggled again on it our good throws were knocked out or better quite often.  Even with that we managed to keep it close for the whole game, however this time we couldn't pull it out and lost 9-7 to force a three way shoot out.
This shoot out two players from a team threw one ball each which I ended up liking, also the second balls were thrown in the same order as the first instead of from furthest to closes which I have mixed feelings about.  Here for the Beer got both their balls pretty close but Love is a Boccefield managed to put theirs on the pallino. Our last throw was good and got inside Here For The Beer but no Boccefields so they moved on as first seed.  Against Here For the Beer they again got two close but we paid them back for what they did to by barely getting inside of them so we advanced as the number two seed.
In the quarterfinal we faced the Ringers who jumped on us right of the bat with a four point frame.  Not to be outdone we answered with a three point one of our own.  Things looked bleak when they got a three pointer of their own and a 7-3 lead.  We got a couple points to pull to 7-5.  We traded points then we got another and it was 9-8.  The Glue got one of her balls close and they used all their balls to no avail.  Our next throw wasn't a good throw but somehow made it just enough to win the game.
In the next game we played Deboccery in the semi-finals.  They must have run out of gas or something because we jumped on them early and cruised to a 9-0 win even though we left several big frame opportunities on the court.
In the finals we played long time nemesis Squatchy Bocce.  We threw well enough, especially Jean and the Glue with their first ball, to keep the Squatches scrambling.  The Squatches wouldn't go down without a fight and kept close but couldn't quite keep up and we ended up with the win and the championship.  I think the score was 9-6 but it was a long day and I'm not 100% sure.
At different times all four of us stepped up and carried the team on their backs.  It was a very fun day in spite of the weather.