Local pickleballers headed to Nationals

Riley McHugh and Georgie Scott recently won the mixed doubles 4.0 level Gold Medal at the 2021 USA Pickleball Pacific Northwest Regional Championship in Boise, Idaho.

This win provides them a “Golden Ticket” to the national championships in December in Indian Wells, California.

Riley, a Sisters resident, plays at the Pineview tennis Club in Sage Meadow and is a member of the Sisters Country Pickleball Club. Georgie lives in Eagle Crest and plays for the Eagle Crest and Bend Pickleball clubs. Central Oregon was well represented, as Ron Bessling and Kathy Trench, from the Bend Pickleball Zone, took the silver medal. The temperatures were hot — in the 90s.

Riley and Larry Boyd took the silver medal in men’s doubles 4.5 level.

The Boise Regional five-day tournament attracted 910 players from across the West, in mens and womens doubles, mixed doubles, and singles matches.

Pickleball is the fastest growing sport in the nation. There are over 4.2 million active players and 35,000 courts nationwide.