Cindy Clausen’s good aim rings up horseshoe pitching championships

Cindy Masters Clausen is the reigning Washington state women’s horseshoe pitching champion, a crown she has held since 2017. She is also a two-time state doubles title winner and has captured top honors at numerous other tournaments.

Clausen most recently was part of a four-member Washington pitching team that placed sixth out of 24 entries at the Team World competition in Beloit, WI.

The quartet played 96 games and threw 3,840 game shoes.

“It was our first appearance at Team World and a great honor to participate,” Clausen said.

She traces her success to having played softball at La Conner schools.

“I grew up playing slow-pitch softball – grade school through high school – and then played on co-ed rec teams for many years,” Clausen said. “I’ve always been the pitcher and that movement used for slow-pitch is the same movement used for pitching a horseshoe. So, it was very easy for me to pitch a horseshoe.”

The example provided by “Freddie,” as Clausen fondly calls her stepdad, Fred Mesman – a founder of the Skagit Valley Horseshoe Club – has been a huge bonus.

“I grew up with him going to horseshoes on Tuesday nights,” she recalled. “Sometimes I would tag along, but never pitched. I also went several times to tournaments he pitched in, but again didn’t participate.”

Over the years, Mesman tried recruiting Clausen to the sport.

“He had been trying to get me to come up and pitch with his buddies on Tuesday nights at the club,” Clausen said. “But I had been busy with work and our younger son’s high school and select baseball teams. The time to commit wasn’t there. But Freddie kept persisting and I went to pitch on Tuesday, May 21, 2013 and had a blast.”

The date is firmly etched in her memory because two days later the I-5 bridge over the Skagit River between Mount Vernon and Burlington collapsed.

“That prevented me from going up to pitch for a couple months,” she said.

Using the softball pitching technique she perfected as a youth, Clausen tosses nearly 58% ringers, which are worth three points each at tournaments.

“You always pitch two shoes in each play,” Clausen said. “So, the most points you can get are six. If your opponent also scores a ringer, each ringer you get is canceled and no point is awarded.”

She explained that pitchers want to keep track of how many ringers they throw because that is the recorded statistic by which contestants are seeded for tournaments.

The appeal of horseshoe pitching is historic and universal. Variations of it date at least to the Roman era. Today, the sport draws folks of all ages, men and women, boys and girls.

“There is no age limit,” confirmed Clausen. “All are welcome.”

In July Clausen flies to Monroe, LA to pitch in the World Tournament. She’ll prep for that by pitching 100 shoes each night in the pits at her house and competing at the Strawberry Open and Skagit Memorial in Burlington this weekend.

“If I’m honest,” she said, “it’s the competition. I’m a pretty competitive person and I like to win. Plus, it’s fun to beat the men.”