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2014 Western BCA 9-Ball Championships - Another Great Event |
Lincoln City, Oregon and Chinook Winds Casino Resort® once again welcomed Western BCA for the 17th Annual 9-Ball Championships, October 13-19, 2014. The weather outside was mixed as was the weather inside, depending on where you were standing at any given time. But the players and staff made the best of it and the Championships, with 14 divisions and 815 players, crowned first time champions in all divisions. Bad Boys Billiards Productions® again provided the 80 7' Diamond tables and lights as well as tournament bracketing. Lenny Marshall, On the Rail TV®, was the live streamer, recording many hours of match play to enjoy until March. Steve Marker and his staff of Tournament Officials (Andrew Monstis, Ray Cunningham and Steve Pulido) and Darryl Farley and his referee staff (Hal Sparrow, Pete Pozen and Pat O'meara) did their usual good job on the tournament floor. The Western BCA Podium (Pam Carraway, Ford, Elaine Eberly, Fran Johnson, Eileen Stephens, Kathi Giles and Mindi Henning), Payouts (Cathy Dunford, Pam Desmarais, and the rest of the crew and Store (Dayle Stroup, Tammy Williams, Ronda Clark) were pleasant, helpful, and efficient. Many thanks to the Chinook Winds staff for all their help and support as well as our vendors (Jessi's Billiards, Billiards and Barstools, EYOCues, Behind the Rock Tour, Truffles R Us and Turtle Tyme Treasures), for being there for all our pool needs. Special thanks goes to Ernie Omori, EYO Cues®, for his generous donation of a Roger Pettit custom cue valued at $1000 for the WBCA Raffle. The drawing was held Saturday evening and the lucky winner was Talya Makus (LTD). Shari Ross coordinated with Ernie and sold raffle tickets up til the time of the drawing. Over $1000 was raised and will support our regional events. THANK YOU, ERNIE! For the first time, the 9-Ball Championships followed the 2nd annual Chinook Winds Open 10-Ball Championships held October 10-12 (article to follow), making them two distinct events. So Fun Night was not only fun but also the setting for the CWO finals. The room filled rapidly with players waiting for the finals and/or practicing in preparation for the 9-Ball Championships. Mini-Tournaments started around 7p as did the Handicapped 10-Ball Singles. 54 entered and by the end of the night Francisco Silva/CWY and Randy Baker/CC were the last two standing and decided to split, each receiving $270. Cliff Maxson/NPL and Jeremy Gradwohl/NPL were 3rd/4th ($90). Travis Graves/COB, Dave Chastain/CC, Paul Marquez/NPL&CPL, and Roy Garza/NPL finished 5th-8th ($50). Gary Crane/CPL, Andy Jellison/SWI, Ken Bower/WWA, Tim Desmarais/CWY, Kenny Dodd/NPL, Larry Sowell/INL, Dave Schneider/NPL, and Todd Gooch/NPL finished 9th-16th ($20). The winners were a mixture of Master, A and B players with about half being B players which makes this such a popular event, the handicapping insures that players of any skill level can get in the money. Competition began with Mixed Scotch Doubles on Monday morning at 9am. There were 80 Open pairs playing for the $1510 first prize and 47 Master pairs after the $2140 first prize. The Master final would be a double dip for eventual winners Carissa Biggs and Steve Lingelbach (NPL) playing Kim Jones and Dave Bersenadze (LTD) who would take home $1530 for 2nd place. Kim/Dave made it to the point undefeated sending Carissa/Steve to the back side in round 5, little knowing they would meet up again in the final. The road was a little longer for Carissa/Steve but they were determined and, after getting by Linda Carter and Mark Fenn (PCGP), who finished in 3rd place ($1100), the rematch was on. The first final match was hard fought with great shot-making and safety play and ended 5-3 for Carissa/Steve. The double dip match was even harder fought with Kim/Dave feeling the pressure. Carissa/Steve shot off to a 4-1 lead. Kim/Dave just wouldn't give up, taking the next 3 games, including a break and run. Game 9 started with Dave making 3 balls on the break but Kim had to roll out. Steve missed a tough 1-Ball. Dave then tried a 1-9 combo but missed. After a couple of shots by each pair the table was finally opened up and Steve made the deciding 9-Ball to take the crown. The Open Mixed Scotch Doubles division was 80 pairs strong, all eager to take home the 1st place prize of $1510. Only two pairs ultimately would have the chance, point winners Josh Sculley and Pam Carraway (MTV) and Tom and Debbie Cicchitti (LTD) who played Josh/Pam in the point match. Tom/Debbie had to play Peter Ploem and Kristin Cambas (NPL) for the 2nd spot in the final and sent Peter/Kristen home in 3rd place ($810) and moved on to the final. The first set was all team Cicchitti as they swept Josh/Pam 4-0. The second set was another story as the now warmed up pair from Port Angeles, WA took control of the match and won it by a score of 4-2 and pocketed the top prize ($1510). Tom/Debbie took home $1100. The Men'sB Singles led off the Singles competition on Wednesday, with 138 men getting on the tables at 9am, Wednesday. At stake was the first place prize of $775. By 8pm Thursday night there were 16 still alive. Wayne Hanson/LTD and Jose Chavez/SWI made it undefeated to the point match. Wayne prevailed and Jose went to the back side and waited to see who would come through and try to deny him the finals. Turned out that would be Chuck Nelson who he met in the 4th round and sent to the back side. Chuck had another plan and took out Jose (3rd place/$430) and moved on to the final. Wayne started out very strong, making very few mistakes, and looked to have the match well in hand, taking the first 3 games easily. Chuck answered back taking the next 3 games (3-3). Wayne got one more (4-3) before Chuck really came alive and won the next 3 games (4-6) and was hoping for a double dip. The second time around was the opposite of the first, with Chuck taking off and Wayne playing catch-up. Chuck proved to be too much for him, effectively keeping Wayne off the table by reeling off 4 Break and Runs on his way to a winning score of 6-3 and the title was his. Wayne ended in 2nd place ($575) and Chuck took home $775. At noon on Wednesday the Men'sA got their first taste of competition, fielding 123 players and all of them after the $1100 first place prize. Castulo 'Jesse' Garcia/NPL and Paul Timmons/CPL met in the point match with Castulo remaining undefeated and sitting on the point waiting for an opponent in the final. Paul would play Joseph Farmer/CC, who lost his first match and had to win 10 matches to get a shot at playing in the final. Joseph wasn't ready to go home yet and held on to get to the final, leaving Paul in 3rd place ($605). The final, however, was all Castulo, who rarely missed, had 2 Break and Runs and refused to let Joseph get into the match. Joseph won game 3 when Castulo fouled early in the game and he was able to run out but that was all he could manage against a very strong Castulo. For all his hard work, Joseph took home 2nd place and $825. Champion Castulo Garcia accepted the 1st place check for $1100 and should do just fine in the Masters. Next up were the GrandMasters, starting at 10:30a. The Women featured 7 GrandMasters and a Master who was more than up to the task. GrandMaster Kimberly Kirk (LTD) and the aforementioned Master Jing Liu (LTD) in the point match. Jing sent Kimberly to the back side to take on Mary Coffman (NPL) for the opportunity to play in the final. Kimberly wanted the rematch and Mary ended her singles in 3rd Place ($250). Both ladies played very well but Jing played just a little bit better. Kimberly finished in 2nd place ($400) and Jing took the title and the winner's share ($650) and may have earned her a spot in the ranks of the GrandMasters. The Men fielded 4 GrandMasters and 4 Masters. In the 2nd round, Stan Tourangeau/LTD met Dan Louie/LTD for the first time and sent him back where he made his way to the 3rd place match against Steve Lingelbach/NPL, who an undefeated Stan Tourangeau/LTD sent to the back side in the point match. Dan wanted another shot at Stan and left Steve in 3rd place ($250). The rematch was everything we've come to expect from Stan and Dan, simply superb shooting. We were not disappointed, as Dan rose to the occasion and put his A-game on the table, forcing a possible double dip. The first final had a little bit of everything, including a 9-Ball Break and 6 Break and Runs. Here's how it went. Stan won the lag and broke first. Game 1: Stan fouled on the break, Dan ran out. (0-1) Game 2: Dan made 2 balls on the break and had to play safe, Stan made a good hit but popped the 2-Ball out and opened up the table, but Dan fouled on the 3-Ball, Stan ran out. (1-1) Game 3: 9-Ball Break by Stan. (2-1) Game 4: Break and Run by Dan. (2-2) Game 5: Stan broke, making the 3-Ball but had no shot on the 1 so had to jump for a good hit, Dan ran out. (2-3) Game 6: Dan Broke and Ran. (2-4) Game 7: Stan broke but had not shot so had to play safe, but not same enough, Dan ran out. (2-5) Game 8: Dan fouled on his break, Stan missed a tight but makeable 5-Ball, Dan ran out. (2-6) Game 9: Stan Broke and Ran. (3-6) Game 10: Dan Broke and Ran even after getting out of line on the 7-Ball and having to make some tough shots to get out. (3-7) Game 11, 12, 13: All Stan with 2 Break and Runs and a 8 ball Run Out. (6-7) Game 14: a back and forth safety game with Dan finally forcing Stan to foul so he could run out. (6-8) Game 15: Stan Broke and Ran. (7-8) Game 16: Dan made a couple of balls on the break, missed the 2-Ball but ended up safe, Stan had to kick and just missed and scratched, Dan ran out. (7-9) A great match with only 2 missed shots and a safety game making all the difference. On to final #2 which would be just a good, if not better than the first. After 8 games, the score was tied at 4-4 with 4 Breaks/Runs and 4 games that involved more strategy and patience and some rare missed shots. Game 9 started with Stan making 2 balls on the break but having to roll out. Dan made a good and was safe. Stan tried a 4 rail kick and fouled, giving Dan a couple of bad balls that he was able to break up on his way out. (4-5) Dan Broke/Ran game 10. (4-6) Game 11. Stan broke, making the 5-Ball but only had a bank on the 1 and missed it. Dan made the 1-Ball but found himself on the wrong side of the 2-Ball to get to the 3 easily (for most people) but had no problem and ran out. (4-7) Stan got game 12 after a messy break by Dan leaving a cluster and missing the 1-Ball leaving Stan an open table for a run out. (5-7) Game 13 started out with a couple of safeties before Stan missed a safe and Dan ran out. (5-8) Stan got the next 2 games, running out after a roll out and a kind of sloppy game and it looked like Stan was coming back. (7-8) Game 16, however, would be the last. Dan broke and had to roll out, Stan gave it back. Dan played a nice safety on the 3-Ball. Stan had to kick and missed, giving Dan ball in hand and no problem getting out. (7-9) Stan left in 2nd place ($400) and Dan completed the double dip for the crown and $650. A great match. Next to get on the tables were the Open Women, now split into Women'sA (51) and Women'sB (46). The ladies battled all day from noon to midnight. At that time there was one woman on the point and eight on the back side to see who would be in the Thursday evening final. Stacy Moses/LTD and Debbie Cicchitti/LTD played for the point Wednesday night with Stacy prevailing and waiting to see who would emerge to meet her in the final. So often it is the point match loser, but not this time. Traci Magnussen/CC lost her first match and played her way through the back side to get to Debbie. Traci wasn't about to give it up yet and sent Debbie home in 3rd place ($310). In spite of the fact that Traci was warmed up and ready to go, Stacy hit the table running and never looked back. She rarely missed if she had a clear shot and closed out the match with a Brake and Run for a 5-1 win. Traci finished in 2nd place/$450 and Stacy more than earned her title and the $650 purse that with it. 46 women vied for the title of Women'sB Singles Champion and the top prize of $400. Barbara McKinney Garza (NPL) met Tracey Cunningham (CPL) in the point match and won the hot seat. Tracey waited to see who would come through the back side and try to deny her a rematch with Barbara. Tracey ended Ashley Shafer's (SWI) hopes, leaving her in 3rd place ($220). Barbara again prevailed over Tracey (2nd place, $290) as she captured the title by a score of 5-3 and happily accepted the top prize of $400. The Men's Senior Singles division got underway Wednesday evening at 6pm with 33 wily veterans after the 1st place prize of $450. Would this be 2-time runner-up Sonny Boggs moment in the sun? Well, no, but almost. Sonny would finish in 3rd ($210) and I bet he'll be back in March to give it another go. This final would feature Buzz Poleson/NPL on the point against Bob Green/LTD, point match loser to Buzz and back side winner. Bob, fresh off his win over Sonny, continued to roll and took the first final match and was looking for a double dip. Only problem was that Buzz was warmed up and ready to go for the 2nd final and only let Bob get 2 games before closing out a well played match by a score of 5-2. Bob received $310 for all his hard work and Buzz pocketed $450. Last to get on the tables were the Masters, with the men starting Thursday at 9am and the women a little later at 10:30am. The Men's Master division had 69 shooters, all after the top prize of $1450. Bob Olson/NPL and Nick Kruger/WWA would meet in the point match with Nick winning and sending Bob to the back side for one match to get another shot at Nick. Paul Marquez/NPL&CPL lost his second match to none other than the aforementioned Bob Olson and fought back through the loser's bracket to Mr. Olson, hoping for a different outcome. This time Paul won and went on to the final against Nick. Paul was ahead 3-1 before the two men settled in and reeled off 5 straight Break and Runs to bring the score to 4-5 in Nick's favor. Paul won game 10 after he ran out following a good safety that caused Nick to foul. (5-5) Nick took the next game with another Break and Run. (6-5) Paul closed out the set with 2 more wins and had visions of a double dip. The second set started out with Nick running out after Paul's dry break. (1-0) Nick almost had a Break and Run in the second game but left himself a difficult back cut on the 9-Ball and missed. (1-1) The next 3 games went like this: Nick jumped the cue ball off the table leaving Paul an easy run out, Nick fouled on the break, another easy run out and Paul set himself up on an early 2-9 combo. (1-4) The two went back and forth the next 5 games and the score was 5-6 in Paul's favor. In game 12, Nick Broke and Ran. (6-6) Paul broke in game 13 but had to play a safety on the 1-Ball. Nick jumped, made a good hit and almost pocketed the 9-Ball but left a nice 4-9 combo for Paul to run to. (6-7). Paul was on the hill but couldn't close out the match, fouling in each of the next two games (one forced, one unforced) to give Nick two easy 3 ball outs and the match by a score of 8-7. Paul finished in 2nd place ($1000). Congratulations to Nick Kruger, the 2014 9-Ball Master Champion. Of the 44 women entered in the Women's Master Singles, only one would be champion. Liz Jensen (NPL) had a shot at the final but ran into Jing Liu (LTD) and that ended her day in 3rd place ($465). Jing played Deby Welfringer (WWA) for the point and lost and the two would meet again in the final. Jing played a very solid first set against Deby going hill-hill and was able to force a 2nd set, hoping for a double dip. Deby had another plan and held Jing to only 2 games as she took the second set 6-2, the title and the 1st place check for $970. Jing took home $670. Excellent shooting, Ladies! While we're on the subject of Deby Welfringer, let's talk about junior players for a moment. Deby and her new room, Cue-topia in Lakewood, WA are looking to the future and offering juniors a place to play and learn. Two of her juniors, with their parents, came to Lincoln City from Spanaway, WA to see the big room. Tyler Reygers (age 12) and his brother Jacob (age 8), are very personable, polite and completely adorable and credit their parents with getting them interested in pool and teaching them the game. If you had the chance to watch them shoot, you can see they've been paying attention. Another junior who is making a name for himself, LTD's Daniel Sardoncillo (age13) from Puyallup, WA, is working his way up the ranks in a hurry. Daniel cashed high enough in the March, 2014 8-Ball Championships to be moved into the Men'sA for this event. Here, he again cashed, including pushing Men's Senior champ, Ray Galli, hill-hill before being eliminated (by a 9-Ball snap on the break by Galli, to his great relief). Men, watch this kid and do not take him lightly. And so ended the Singles competition, bring on the teams. The Men'sB Teams started first, at 5pm Friday with a field of 51. By Sunday morning there were just 2 teams left. It was a rematch of the point match with undefeated Barbara's B Team [Brian Barnett, Jeremy Gradwohl, Barbara McKinney] taking on The Green Sea [Adam Jelinski, Niels Larson, Scott Pahl], two NPL teams. Barbara's B Team remained undefeated and The Green Sea went to the back side for one more match to decide the who'd play in the finals. The Green Sea handled Got Hustled (3rd Place, $750) and went on to have another go at Barbara's B Team. Unfortunately for The Green Sea, the result was the same as Barbara's B Team (1st place, $1500) won decisively, 11-4. Brian and Jeremy each had 4 wins for the Champions and Adam stood out for the 2nd place ($1050) team, winning 3 of their 4 games. There were 50 women's teams vying for the title and $1830. They got started at 9pm Friday night, playing one round Friday and all day Saturday to get the field thinned down to 6 teams to finish off Sunday. Two NPL teams, The Bigg's Crew [Carissa Biggs, Kristin Cambas, Dara Koch]and Leave it to Beaver [Kimberly Engh, Trish Semoe, Cindy Sliva]played for the point Saturday evening. Leave it to Beaver sent The Bigg's Crew to the back side and waited for an opponent. LTD's Chalk and Awe [Cassie Francois, Staci Moses, Mary Olson], after a 4th round loss to Leave it to Beaver, played their way to The Bigg's Crew, each hoping for a spot in the final. The Bigg's Crew, however, was denied and finished in 3rd place ($915) as Leave it to Beaver went on to the final. Another double dip was waiting to happen. And happen it did as Chalk and Awe won the first set 9-7 led by Cassie Francois with 4 wins. The second set had Chalk and Awe in the lead most of the way, with Leave it to Beaver nibbling away until the match was hill-hill. Leave it to Beaver's 4 game winner Kim Engh kept her cool in the final game and clinched the title for her team. Chalk and Awe split the 2nd place prize of $1290 and Leave it to Beaver walked away with the title and the $1830 first place prize. Nice shooting, ladies. The last final of the Championships was the Men's/Mixed Teams. This, the largest division, boasted 107 teams and a first place prize of $3300. The teams got started at 5pm Friday and played through Saturday until there were just 16 teams left. WWA's JND [William 'Jack' Heggie, Nick Kruger, David G. Williams]and NPL's East-side-Boys [Castulo 'Jesse' Garcia, Sammy Moul, Dave Schneider] met in the point match early Sunday with East-Side-Boys securing a spot in the final and sending JND to the back side hoping for the other spot. Only NPL's Like Dominos [John Lewis, Paul Schweigart, Chris Sykes]stood in their way. Unfortunately for Like Dominos, JND was too much for them and they had to settle for 3rd place ($1800). The rematch was on, would it be yet another double dip? No, but not for lack of trying on JND's part. East-Side-Boys couldn't get ahead of JND until the very end when they got to the hill first, they needed just one of the last two games to clinch the title. With Jack and Nick leading the way with 5 wins each, JND slammed the door on the 1st set and another double dip was possible. Maybe. East-Side-Boys came out fired up and showed JND no mercy, letting them win only 5 games before closing out the match 11-5 and sending them home in 2nd place ($2430). Sam and Castulo lead the East-Side-Boys with 4 games each on their way to the title and $3300. Way to go, Boys. As time and tables permitted, 2nd chance tournaments were held for all eligible divisions. Here are the winners:
There were winners off the tables too:
And so ended the 2014 9-Ball Championships. It was a long week but a successful one with lots of great competition and camaraderie and, in spite of a couple small glitches along the way, overall a great event. Coming up in next in March of 2015 is, believe it or not, the 20th Annual Western BCA Regional 8-Ball Championships. Will you be there to celebrate with us? |