Irish sweep men's 4-wall open events, Mehilos stops Reilly and Ruiz / Hernandez win Big Ball Doubles

Ricardo Ruiz (at left) sets from deep on Sunday evening in the final win with Samzon Hernandez in the inaugural 3-Wall Big Ball Doubles event at the 2011 Simple Green US Open.

Robbie McCarthy (shown hitting against Shanks) completed an Irish Men's sweep of the four-wall events on Sunday.  McCarthy rallied to defeat Charly Shanks in an 11-9 tiebreaker.

Paul Brady teamed with Michael Finnegan to hand Vince Munoz and Marcos Chavez their first loss at the SGUSO.

Megan Mehilos rallied from a first-game loss to defeat Aisling Reilly (shown below) in three games.  Reilly had been unbeatable on US soil for two years.

Action moved outside for the remainder of Sunday on the specially constructed three-wall court.  "It looks like a festival, just as we had hoped," said Simple Green's Bruce FaBrizio, who underwrote the great weekend of handball action.

Samzon Hernandez and Ricardo Ruiz earned the largest purse in Big Ball Three-Wall history, defeating Gilberto Rosales and Raul Calvillo in the final.   One-Wall champ PeeWee Castro teamed with Ricardo's brother, Braulio, to take third over Edgar Arabjo and Andrew Diaz.

CLICK HERE to view the draws and results!

More Photos are available at USHA's Facebook Page.

The World Players of Handball filmed and broadcasted the event to Enet/WPH video subscribers at http://www.race4eight.com.

CLICK HERE to view the WPH Webcasting schedule!

Moreno, Team Idaho win points at Plummer Handball Bash

The Simple Green/WPH Race For 8 Pro Tour kicked off in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho in conjunction with the Plummer Family Helluva Handball Bash. The top 8 Men's Pros in the WPH Rankings were invited to the Bash, and were joined by four qualifiers to complete the 12-person field.

Charly Shanks, Dessie Keegan, Luis Cordova, and John Bike earned the qualifier spots in the 12-man field. After a blind draw, the qualifiers were drafted to one of the four Race Teams. Shanks joined Naty Alvarado and Tommy Little on the Tucson Gunslingers, Keegan joined Luis Moreno and Andy Nett on the Idaho Spuds, Cordova joined Allan Garner and Armando Ortiz on the Salt Lake City Aces, and Bike joined Sean Lenning and David Fink on the Seattle WACS.

Moreno had to go through Fink, Lenning and Alvarado Jr. to win the first stop on the race. He defeated Alvarado Jr. in the Saturday night final, 7, 17. In the women's final, Samantha England defeated Jennifer Hinman,10, 10.

The next WPH Race for Eight stop will be in Orange County at the Simple Green US Open of Handball, October 20-23.

CLICK HERE for more coverage from the WPH

Race Points:

Standings through Race Stop #1:

1st- Idaho Spuds: (160)
2nd- Tucson Gunslingers: (110)
3rd- Seattle WACs: (90)
4th- SLC Aces: (70)

(Photo Courtesy the WPH)

Chatten Honored with Porter Award

Chatten Hayes will be presented the Carl Porter Award at the 2012 Women's Classic in Portland.

The Carl Porter Award was established to honor those who have performed outstanding service to the USHA at the national level. Chatten will be the first woman to receive this award!     

Although she's been involved in countless events over many years, her most recent efforts include organizing the 2009 World Championships, 2004 National 4-Wall Championships, and now the 2012 Masters and Women's Classic (see more info in below story block).   

Chatten is also a contributor to Handball Magazine with her "Court Chatter" column (now running 17 years!).   

Congratulations, Chatten! Well deserved!

CLICK HERE to read some brief words from Chatten on when she got into handball and what the sport means to her!

Portland Preps for 2012 Handball Classic!