EMMONS — It wasn’t a baseball game but it sounded like one.

One hundred and

sixty men crowded the social hall of Emmons Lutheran Church Monday night for the Brotherhood Dartball League tournament.

Playful banter was exchanged all night between six teams competing for the tournament title. Even the audience wasn’t shy about playing favorites.

Some of the phrases shouted most often were:

“Three up, three down,”

“Come on bring ‘em in,”

“Good darts, good darts,”

“Big out, no pressure,”

“That No. 1 is a lot smaller than it looks,”

and “You better watch out!”

Many of the dartballers agreed that harassing opponents is what

makes the game fun and that it’s often a contest to see who can be the loudest.

The trash-talking reached its climax during the last few innings of the championship game between Lunder-Round Prairie and Ascension.

Lunder-Round Prairie trailed 4-1 after two innings but stormed back to take an 8-7 lead entering the ninth. After Lunder-Round Prarie threw a scoreless top of the inning, Ascension needed just two runs to tie but only managed a single. After Ascension threw their third out, many Lunder-Round Prairie players and supporters in the audience jumped and threw their hands into the air in celebration.

Crossroads Lutheran Church won the league’s regular season, which consists of 15 teams representing local churches in the area.

In dartball, players throw darts underhanded toward a board resembling a baseball field. Areas on the board denote singles, doubles, triples and home runs, and also strikes, balls and outs, among others.

Dartball is managed like a baseball game with outs and innings, and runs are scored by advancing runners around the board by getting hits.

Before the tournament began, league members passed a hat around for donations for the Salvation Army food shelf. The $349.20 total was announced during the tournament.