Email  Print

Garrett, Hall, McTaggart claim women’s pétanque national title

VOM Pétanque Club members representing U.S. at World Championships

Having coming so close to winning a national women’s “boules” title not once, but twice, before falling just short over the past four years, three members of the Valley of the Moon Pétanque Club continued their high-level play, and battled their way back to the threshold of claiming the elusive crown.

Competing in the recent biannual United States Women's National Pétanque Championship tournament in Blue Hill, Maine, the Sonoma “triplette” team of Barbara Hall, Narin Garrett and Erin McTaggart outplayed their opponents through the first-day’s round-robin format to earn a second-ranking and reach the “final-four.”

After four more standout rounds of boules between the top-four teams who won their respective round-robin divisions, the VOM Pétanque team of Hall, Garrett and McTaggart managed to reach the championship final against the hometown Maine’s Blue Hill triplette team.

With the Maine representatives holding an 11-9 lead, California’s Hall, Garrett and McTaggart rallied back for four straight points to forge in front en route to capturing the women's national pétanque title.

“This is our team’s third attempt to win the title, and, as the saying goes, third-time’s lucky,” said Sonoma’s Hall. “It was a great feeling for each of us to finally be awarded gold medals.”

As the national champions, Hall, Garrett and McTaggart will represent the United States at next year's Women's World Championships, to be held in Tunisia, with national championship teams from all over the world competing internationally in the most prestigious and competitive event for women's pétanque.

Anyone interested in joining the Valley of the Moon Pétanque Club or for more information, call 343-9465 or visit www.vompc.org.