Kristie Martin and Natalie Sanders Carry the Day at 2010 Oden Cox Memorial Women’s B
ANN HARVEY
APRIL 10, 2010
SHELTER HARBOR INN, WESTERLY, RI
Last Saturday, April 10th at the Shelter Harbor Paddle Club, top seeds Kristie Martin and Natalie Sanders won the last of the season’s tournaments, the annual Oden Cox Memorial. Oden (Deni) Catullo established the event in memory of her mother, a nationally ranked paddle tennis player. The tournament proved true to its purpose in honoring her championship-winning mother in promoting the love of the game because for some teams, it was their first venture into tournament play.
Teams came from near and far: Albany, NY, Cape Cod, Providence, Long Meadow and a six-pack from the Boston area as well as locals from Stonington, Westerly, Watch Hill and Charleston.
Kristie Martin with Boston-based partner Natalie Sanders played hard and fought off a tough challenge against second seeded team, Norma Taylor and Heather Mahan to claim the title 2-6, 6-1, 6-4.
A local team, Leah Nero and Marilyn Bellesheim defeating Polly Handy of East Greenwich and Amy Chaffee of Middletown, RI 6-2, 6-4, won the Consolation. The Consolation Reprieve final went to Joan O’Connor of Albany and Kathy Kulig from Lakeville, CT versus Katie Martin and Kerry Alvino, 6-3, 6-2.
Leslie Haskins from Long Meadow and Sharon Edwards from Cape Cod won the playoff for third place in an exciting three set match against Katie Martin and Nindy Pike, both from Boston, 7-6, 4-6, 6-0.
Shelter Harbor is well known for hosting really fun events, and this proved to be no exception with an excellent lunch, hot tub on the roof (if only we had had the time), and Jim Dey, inn-keeper making sure it all went smoothly, which it did. Thank You Jim Dey! Look forward to next year.
