Scott Roberts and J.T. Ringgold opted out of a second set in a double elimination final and with each sporting one loss, split the top two prizes on the Saturday, March 25 stop on the Viking Cues' Q City 9-Ball Tour. The $300-added event, which found itself with some unexpected attendance competition nearby, drew 15 entrants to a new venue for the tour, Peninsula Billiards in Newport News, VA.
The winners' side final four in this event became the final four winners and only players to cash. Ringgold and Roberts played their first match battling for the hot seat. Ringgold had sent Chad Pike to the loss side, double hill, while Roberts sent Greg Sabins over 8-5. Ringgold claimed the hot seat 9-2 over Roberts and waited for him to get back.
On the loss side, Pike and Sabins picked up Tony Plumb and Bobby Glenn, respectively. Plumb had gotten by Tyran Williams 6-1 and Daniel Adams 6-5 (Adams racing to 7). Glenn had eliminated J.T. Ringgold's father, Terry 5-1, and Wayne Richards 5-3. Pike moved into the quarterfinals with an 8-1 victory over Plumb and was joined by Sabins, who'd defeated Glenn 8-3.
In a straight-up race to 8, Pike downed Sabins in those first-money-round quarterfinals, double hill. Roberts then defeated Pike 8-5 in the semifinals. Roberts then defeated Ringgold 8-5 in the opening set of the true double elimination final, before they chose to accept the match tie at 1-1 and not play a second set. As the hot seat occupant, Ringgold claimed the event title.
Tour director Herman Parker thanked the ownership and staff at Peninsula Billiards, as well as title sponsor Viking Cues, Delta 13 Racks, AZBilliards and Professor Q Ball. The next stop on the Viking Cues' Q City 9-Ball Tour, a $250-added event, scheduled for this weekend (April 1-2), will be hosted by Mickey Milligan's in New Bern, NC.
It's the point where the thinking rubber meets the playing road. An undefeated competitor in the hot seat faces an opponent who's warded off elimination for a long time on the loss side of the bracket. The final match goes to double hill and in that last deciding game, the two face different kinds of stress that amount to the same thing; to have worked so hard and have it come to this – one game to decide, as if the rest of the tournament hadn't even happened.
And so it went for Matt Fralin and Chad Pike as they squared off for the first time in the finals of the January 16 stop on the Q City 9-Ball Tour. Fralin in the hot seat, Pike at the end of a seven-match, loss-side winning streak. Scored tied at 6-6. Fralin hung on to win it and complete the undefeated run. The event drew 33 entrants to Breaktime Billiards in Cary, NC.
As Pike was toiling away on the loss side, Fralin advanced to a winners' side semifinal against Alex Johnson. Brian Pate, in the meantime, faced Bobby Glenn. Fralin sent Johnson over to the loss side 7-3, as Pate was downing Glenn 6-1. As Fralin and Pate squared off in the hot seat match, both were mindful of the fact that they'd gotten to that point with the help and sponsor support of their (Doug) Beasley Custom Cue. Fralin's Beasley Custom Cue defeated Pate's Beasley Custom Cue 7-4, and Fralin was in the hot seat.
Over on the loss side, Pike was working his way towards a meet-up with Glenn. He won his third and fourth loss-side matches against Zack Wilson, double hill, and Michael Robertson 7-3. Johnson drew Robert Ash, who'd defeated the man responsible for sending Pike to the loss side, Rashad Brooks, 4-3 and shut out J.T. Ringgold.
Pike and Ash advanced to the quarterfinals; Pike, 7-3 over Glenn, and Ash, 4-3 over Johnson. Pike then chalked up his third straight 7-3 win (over Ash), and let Brian Pate get one more on him in a 7-4 semifinal victory.
So there they were; Fralin and Pike down to this. Last match, became last game, became last ball, became an undefeated run for Fralin and a Q City 9-Ball title.
