Week 9 was supposed to be its own Thursday. The May 21 storms had other plans, so the last four guaranteed games of the spring got pushed to May 28 and ran in the first hour of championship night, before a single bracket bag was thrown. First toss went up at 7:23 in shorts weather, with the whole league loose and friendly, and nobody yet thinking about what came after. These were the games that locked every seed for the double-elimination finals. Win here, and you set your table. Lose, and you set someone else’s.
This is part one of the night. The championship is part two, and we will cover it in its own recap. First, how the seeds got set.
Who we missed
Five teams sat out the makeup. Corny Bastards, Nuthin Butt Holes, We thought the sign said Corndogs, Mother Shuckers, and Hole Patrol each take a 0-4 for the week. With the brackets locking that night, there was no climbing back. We will send them all off properly in the season recap because each of them is part of this spring.
Top 3 of the seeding night
Department of Bagriculture put up the most points of anybody, 4-0 with 93 and a plus 61, the B bracket’s runaway top seed. Splash Bros. went 4-0 with 92 and a plus 78 to cap a perfect 36-0 regular season and lock the A bracket’s one seed. And Corndoggs, one week after an 0-4, ran a clean 4-0 with 91 points to climb from the bottom of the bracket to the two seed.
A bracket: the top seed was never in question
Splash Bros. closed the regular season the only way they know how. Charles and Dutty went 4-0 again, beating Air Mail 24-1, Lucky Sacks 21-5 and 23-3, and These Effin’ Guys 24-5. That makes it 36-0 for the spring. A perfect regular season, the first since their old mentors Crackle and Pop in 2024, and the number one seed was locked before the night even got cold. The only thing left to prove was whether they could finish it in the bracket.
BagStreet Boys grabbed the two seed with a 4-0 of their own, including a 21-0 shutout of Air Mail and a 21-15 over DEEZ NUTS that flipped the seeding order between them. Anthony and Brian wanted the bye and went and took it. Fairways went 3-1 and were rolling, 22-7 over Baggin Dragons, 21-1 over Lucky Sacks, and a 24-6 over DEEZ NUTS, with their only loss coming in the first game of the night to a team that had not even been there the week before.
That team was Born Fish. Chas and Mary were out sick for Week 8, and they came back swinging, opening the night with a 22-19 upset of Fairways before the rest of the seeding caught up to them at 1-3. DEEZ NUTS took the three seed at 2-2, with a 23-0 shutout of Baggin Dragons and a 21-10 over Your Hole is My Goal on the good side, and the losses to BagStreet Boys and Fairways on the other.
The rest of the A bracket bunched up at 2-2 and let points sort it out. These Effin’ Guys opened with a 22-0 shutout of Your Hole is My Goal and closed with a 22-16 over Born Fish. Your Hole is My Goal answered with a 22-3 and a 24-5 over Baggin Dragons. Air Mail took an opening 24-1 beating from Splash Bros. and bounced back with a 23-8 over These Effin’ Guys and a 22-14 over Born Fish. Baggin Dragons and Lucky Sacks both went 0-4, drew the wrong end of the night, and locked the bottom two A seeds. None of it would matter in an hour, because the bracket resets everyone to zero.
B bracket: a couple of statements and a first meeting
The Department of Bagriculture was the best team in the B bracket all spring, and they made sure the seeding reflected that, running the table 4-0 with a plus-61. Justin and Trevor opened 23-13 over Barnyard Baggers, handled Back to Black 22-13 and Shuck Your Cornhole 23-1, and closed with a 25-5 over Natural Corn Killers. Top seed, no argument.
The story of the seeding, though, was Corndoggs. A week after going 0-4 in the bracket opener, Caitlyn, Victoria, and I went a perfect 4-0, beating Shuck Your Cornhole 21-7, Barnyard Baggers 21-13, Ginger Ash Tornado 26-12, and Tossin’ Turtles 23-9. From last in the bracket to the two seed in one Thursday, both girls secured their victories for another week…or season.
Then there was the first meeting nobody had gotten all season. Natural Corn Killers and Back to Black are two couples who are all friends, Tim and Nikki against Tim and Melissa, and for nine weeks, the draw had kept them apart. The seeding finally put them on the same court, and Natural Corn Killers took it 24-17. File that one away, because it was not the last time these four would see each other tonight. The Killers finished 3-1 with a 24-0 shutout of Shuck Your Cornhole and a 21-19 squeaker over Barnyard Baggers, with the lone loss to Department of Bagriculture.
Ginger Ash Tornado split 2-2, with a 24-17 over Shuck Your Cornhole and a 26-19 over Back to Black, who returned the favor 21-15 later in the night to finish 1-3. Barnyard Baggers limped into the bracket at 1-3, their only win a 23-13 over Tossin’ Turtles, which is worth remembering once you see what they did an hour later. Shuck Your Cornhole went 0-4 and would carry the bottom seed into the bracket.
And Tossin’ Turtles almost did not make it at all. Half the team was there early but would not throw ghost bags without Gina, so they waited, and Gina rolled in right in the nick of time. Gina and Marilyn got two games in before their window closed, 0-4 on the night, but on the boards 0-2, which is the whole point. Slow and steady, right to the buzzer.
Week 9 standings
A bracket seeding night
| Rank | Team | W-L | Points | Diff |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Splash Bros. | 4-0 | 92 | +78 |
| 2 | BagStreet Boys | 4-0 | 86 | +65 |
| 3 | Fairways | 3-1 | 86 | +50 |
| 4 | DEEZ NUTS | 2-2 | 65 | +10 |
| 5 | Your Hole is My Goal | 2-2 | 56 | +5 |
| 6 | These Effin’ Guys | 2-2 | 57 | -6 |
| 7 | Air Mail | 2-2 | 46 | -21 |
| 8 | Born Fish | 1-3 | 54 | -30 |
| 9 | Baggin Dragons | 0-4 | 15 | -76 |
| 10 | Lucky Sacks | 0-4 | 13 | -75 |
B bracket seeding night
| Rank | Team | W-L | Points | Diff |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Department of Bagriculture | 4-0 | 93 | +61 |
| 2 | Corndoggs | 4-0 | 91 | +50 |
| 3 | Natural Corn Killers | 3-1 | 74 | +13 |
| 4 | Ginger ash tornado | 2-2 | 77 | -6 |
| 5 | Back to Black | 1-3 | 70 | -17 |
| 6 | Barnyard Baggers | 1-3 | 68 | -10 |
| 7 | Tossin’ Turtles | 0-4 | 22 | -24 |
| 8 | Shuck Your Cornhole | 0-4 | 25 | -67 |
Tossin’ Turtles played two and took losses for the two they could not get to. The seeds above are how every team walked into the bracket an hour later.
Week 9 photos
Freddy J’s
Dollar wings and two-dollar Yuenglings every Thursday at Freddy J’s Bar and Kitchen, with buckets of High Noon, Stateside, Surfside, and beer. The seeding hour is the calm before the bar fills up. Thanks to Freddy J’s and Kneble’s Auto Service Center for the lot and the boards.
Then it got serious
The seeds were locked just before nine. Splash Bros. and Department of Bagriculture sat on top, the friendly hour was over, and the double-elimination brackets meant two losses sent you home. You could watch every team flip from social to serious at the same moment. What happened next, the perfect run, the worst seed that caught fire, a scoring mix-up that changed a title, and a last bag that did not land until 11:18, is the championship recap. Read that one next.