After a stressful day back in class, UNK students come together in Mantor Hall for a free pitch tournament
Braydon Conell
Antelope Staff
UNK Intramurals once again hosted a pitch tournament in Mantor Hall on Jan. 25. Sixteen teams came together to battle it out for the top prize: two IMLeague T-shirts. Teams consisted of two members who sat opposite of each other and played against another team. Many groups even came with code names such as Life’s a Pitch, Trump There It Is, and Don’t Be Pitchy. Additionally, the Learning Commons and the First Year program provided Barista’s coffee to all participants. As the night kicked off, one student approached a table to watch one of the matches. Andrew Winscot, Assistant Director of Campus Recreation, wasn’t optimistic: “It’s going pretty rough; the cards are just not going our way.”
The tournament, single-elimination in format, was both intense and relaxed as each team stressed over which card was the most strategic to play, but the night was also full of lasting memories and friendships.
One of the first teams eliminated was Itch to Play Pitch, consisting of Sheven Rodocker, an undecided major from Halsey, and Zoe Ritz, an elementary education major from Comstock. Both students entered the tournament out of a desire to compete and to win. However, the team’s plan did not exactly work out as a “pro-player had a newbie she had to carry around,” Ritz jokingly said.
Ritz said she grew up playing pitch with her family and continues to play periodically with friends on campus and whenever she is home.
Rodocker was quite the opposite story as he learned how to play the game only a mere two weeks prior to the tournament. “Our dignity was at stake and we wanted to win the shirts, but we still had a lot of fun and met two cool guys even though we only played one match,” Rodocker said.
Overall, the consensus was that UNK should host more of these types of card game tournaments as those attending were happy they chose to go instead of just staying in their rooms. However, one suggestion for improvement was to better advertise the event to have a larger draw of students. “I only knew to come to the tournament because I happened to glance at the UNK newsletter in my email a few days ago,” one participant said.
The night finally capped off after around two and a half hours of competition with a sole team reigning victorious. The champions of UNK’s Intramural pitch tournament was Don’t Be Pitchy: Wyatt Pfeifer, sports management major from Spalding, and Austin Jacobsen, an exercise science and sports communication major from Sidney.
