Scorpion Stings on Day Three

The Scorpion, Johnny Archer, sprung to life on Saturday, the final day for the regular round robin portion of the inaugural Bonus Ball event. With the top four players advancing to the play-offs on Sunday, Johnny came alive today after a slow start, winning only six of his first sixteen games on Thursday & Friday. Saturday's performance was enough to edge out John Schmidt for the fourth and final play-off spot. Johnny played loose today and played the crowd, as well. The spectators and  the organizers are happy to see Johnny make the final four. He is a real crowd pleaser, not to mention one very talented Bonus Ball player.

Shane Van Boening, fresh off a big win in the Aruba Ten Ball tournament, kept the wheels turning and after a very strong start to this event, held on enough to finish in a solid third place. Shane will play Johnny in the quarter final match at 1:30 pm on Sunday, May 9 with the winner advancing to the semi finals. Shane's cue ball control has been nothing short of brilliant in this event to date. He is also a fast learner of Bonus Ball.

Nick Varner! There are no nick names, no puns, nothing except amazement as to how well this gentleman has learned this game so quickly. We sat in amazement as to how well he executes and despite the fact that Nick has had many faux pas over this weekend, he's still managed a second place finish and will be waiting for the winner of  Archer versus VanBoening this afternoon. I have never seen so many banks made in one day as this eight time world champion has made today. Wow! Nick woke up on Friday evening after being crushed by Charlie Williams. Nick has earned a bye to the semi-finals.
Doctor Bustamante was in attendance at the clinic once again today and things went just as he had planned. Talk about putting on a Bonus Ball exhibition! One of the funniest lines of the day was when Johnny Archer was playing Francisco and said, "You already have first place locked up, you don't have to win EVERY game you know!" The only player to split with Bustamante was Corey Deuel. For Corey it was a case of  too little  too late! In defense of Corey taking it on the chin in the round robin event, he was one of the better players on the final day of round robin play. "Django", by virtue of his first place finish in the round robin, earned a bye into the finals.

Fifth and sixth place finishers,  John Schmidt and Erik Hjorleifson will face off Sunday, May 9th for a consolation match at high noon. With any luck at all and a couple of shots each they'd like to take back, these players could have very easily made the final four. I guess if it's any consolation, (pun) we'll get to see them play again on Sunday. John made so many great shots this week end it makes you wonder how he missed out of the final four and for Erik, playing at home adds that extra bit of pressure that just made him try maybe a bit too much. Still a great player by anyone's measure! You can go to playbonusball.com and click on the WPBL header to see the final round robin results.