Dartball title decided in last at-bat
Since 1968, Dartball league at Zondlo’s Bar and Ballroom in Rib Lake has been a Friday night pastime during the winter months and still going strong.
Teams from the Rib Lake, Athens, Tomahawk and Medford areas start the season the week after deer hunting season and compete through early March. The league has had as many as 12 teams, but since the Covid years, eight to 10 teams have typically competed. Many teams now even compete in the Wisconsin State Dartball Tournament which moves annually from different cities like Milwaukee, Green Bay, Oshkosh, West Bend. This year Eau Claire is the host venue.
The 2023-24 season consisted of eight teams shooting in two divisions. Final regular-season standings for the regular season in the American league were: Landmark Underdogs 25-5, Peche Bros. LLC 19-11, Bartelt’s Bus Service 17-13 and Zondlo’s 1 7-23. In the National League, the standings were: Zondlo’s Outlaws 255, Zondlo’s Kings and Queens 16-14, Travis Fuchs Trucking LLC 9-21 and Bartelt’s Bus Service Dart Divas 2-28.
The top six teams compete at the end of the regular season in a seeded overall league championship best two-of-three playoff which concluded Friday evening.
Peche Bros. LLC and Zondlo’s Kings and Queens shot for third place. Game 1 had Peche’s edging the K& Qs 7-6. Game two was a dramatic win for the K& Qs. Down 10-7 in the bottom of the ninth, they loaded the bases with six straight singles and, with two outs, Julie Judnic drilled a walk-off triple to even up the series. In the rubber match Peche Bros. prevailed with another exciting match 8-7 to take third place overall.
The championship match was also a competitive three-game fight. Game one saw the two-time reigning champs Zondlo’s Outlaws coming out strong with a 16-9 win. In game two, the Landmark Underdogs came back with a decisive 18-7 victory. The championship third game was a very close back and forth contest at 10-10 in the ninth. The Outlaws failed to get a hit in the top of the inning and, after a lead-off single by Joe Zocher, the Underdogs’ Joe Jones with one out had the game-winning triple.
Scott and Renee Zondlo thank all the teams for another great season and look forward to next year.
