Dodd goes undefeated to take Ladies title

 

Trying to figure out how many times Joey Gray has defeated Shane McMinn in the finals of a regional tour event is like looking for two needles in a haystack. To make matters worse, it seems likely that a lot of needles, representing the number of times that it’s happened, have been left out of that haystack, not reported for any number of reasons. We were able to find one event – The 3rd Summer Heat 9-Ball Classic Open Division in Midwest City, OK in 2014 – at which Gray went undefeated, downing McMinn in the hot seat and finals. We found a few instances in which McMinn had bested Gray in the finals, all dating back to 2008. These two, along with another Midwest notable, Chip Compton, have been pounding the pool pavement for over a dozen years now, and they’ve probably traded picking up first-place cash at least that many times, but again, hard to know really. There’s nothing quite like history to make a rivalry, any rivalry, compelling to hear about, and if you’ve been lucky enough, to watch.

 

On the weekend of March 30-31 at Magoo’s Bar & Grill in Tulsa, OK, Gray and McMinn went at it again at a stop on the Midwest 9-Ball Tour, where, it’s relatively safe to say, this long-standing rivalry has occurred the most and arguably, most times not in the finals of a given event on the tour. This time around, Gray chalked up his second (known) victory over McMinn in the finals. They met three times; once in the hot seat and twice in the finals. Gray took two of the three, double-dipping McMinn in a double elimination final. The $1,550-added event drew 56 entrants.

 

In a $450-added Ladies event that drew 17 entrants, Alisha Dodd downed Jenny Shaffer twice and undefeated, claimed the Ladies title (more on this later).

 

Gray and McMinn got into their first match, battling for the hot seat, after two, 7-6 double hill matches in their respective winners’ side semifinals. Gray sent Jackie Melton to the loss side, while McMinn sent Cody Pratt over. McMinn sent Gray to the semifinals in a match that fell a single game short of double hill (7-5) and left McMinn in the hot seat.

 

On the loss side, Melton drew Ryan Robinson, who’d eliminated John Gabriel and Jonathan Kitchen. Pratt picked up Marshal Roney, who’d defeated Neil Drews and Tony Vue. Pratt and Robinson downed Roney and Melton and advanced to the quarterfinals.

 

Robinson then defeated Pratt 5-3 in those quarterfinals, before having his loss-side run terminated by Gray 5-3 in the semifinals. Gray took the opener of the double elimination final 7-5, and then shut McMinn out 5-0 in the second set to claim the event title.

 

In what might be considered a mega-event, within the tournament itself, AMC’s Remodeling in Mullinville, KS sponsored a ‘bounty hunt.’ Spectators at the event selected a competing candidate as the individual most likely to win the actual event. Any player who sent that individual to the loss side earned himself $50. If a player eliminated that player from competition, he’d earn $100. Shane McMinn was the player selected as the likely winner of the event, so when Joey Gray sent him to the loss side by winning the first set of the double elimination final, he earned himself $50. When Grey defeated him the second time, thus eliminating him, he earned the other $100.

 

Dodd goes undefeated to claim title, runner-up Shaffer collects bounty on Brittany Maynard

 

Alisha Dodd went undefeated through the 17 entrants in the Ladies event, downing Jenny Shaffer twice in the hot seat and finals. Shaffer, however, was the player who sent the spectator-selected Brittany Maynard to the loss side, earning herself $25, and then, in the semifinals, when she defeated Maynard a second time, she picked up an additional $25.

 

Dodd and Shaffer met first in the hot seat, once Dodd had sent Jessica Westbrook to the loss side and Shaffer had sent Kat Snelling over. Dodd claimed the hot seat 5-3 over Shaffer and waited on her return.

 

On the loss side, Westbrook picked up and defeated Laura McDermott. Snelling drew Maynard, who defeated her. Maynard shut Westbrook out 4-0 in the quarterfinals and then fell to Shaffer 4-2 in the semifinals. In a repeat of the hot seat match, Dodd defeated Shaffer in the finals 5-3 to claim the event title, while Shaffer collected her bounty for her two victories over Maynard.

It is, of course, a hot seat occupant's worst nightmare. After all the effort, time, energy, and sometimes a lot of waiting to arrive at 'last winner' status, a loss-side opponent (more often than not, someone already defeated previously) steps up to the plate in the finals and negates (at least, psychologically) all that work by snatching an event title away. On the weekend of April 9-10, at a stop on the Midwest 9-Ball Tour, Greg Hogue was the hot seat occupant and Chip Compton was the nightmare. Compton took two out of three against Hogue to win the $1,900-added event that drew 51 entrants to Jamaica Joe's in Midwest City, OK.

 

On the Ladies' side, Tara Williams avoided the 'nightmare' by downing Brittany Maynard twice to go undefeated and claim that title. The $600-added Ladies tournament drew 16 entrants.

 

Compton and Hogue met first in the hot seat match. They'd both defeated opponents 9-6 to get there; Compton, defeating KC Massey and Hogue, downing Jacob McMichael. Seemingly hooked on the 9-6 idea, Hogue defeated Compton to claim the hot seat and waited on his return from the semifinals.

 

On the loss side, Massey picked up Daniel Herring, who'd defeated Lawrence Sanders 9-4 and Bobby Coston 9-5 to reach him. McMichael drew Joey Gray, who'd been sent to the loss side 9-1 by Compton in a winners' side quarterfinal, and defeated Jeff Williams 9-5 and Norman Small 9-4. By identical 9-7 scores, Massey and Gray advanced to the quarterfinals over Herring and McMichael.

 

Gray downed Massey 9-3 in those quarterfinals to earn himself a re-match versus Compton in the semifinals. Gray put up more of a fight the second time around, chalking up six racks, but Compton prevailed for his own second and then, deciding match against Hogue in the hot seat.

 

Compton took the first of the two, double elimination matches 9-3. Hogue fought back in the second set, but a single game away from a double hill game, Compton finished it at 9-7.

 

Tara Williams' path to the winners' circle in the Ladies' event went through Brittany Maynard twice. She downed her in the hot seat match 7-4. On the loss side, Renee Young defeated Rachel Peterson 7-1 in a quarterfinal match that set her up to face Maynard in the semifinals. Maynard prevailed 7-5 for a second, and potentially third shot against Williams in the hot seat. Williams rendered the second set point moot with a shutout over Maynard in the finals.

 

The next stop on the Midwest 9-Ball Tour, a $2,500-added event, scheduled for this coming weekend (April 16-17), will be hosted by a new-to-the-tour room – Astros, in Lawrence, KS. On the long weekend of June 2-5, the Midwest 9-Ball Tour will play host to another Mosconi Cup qualifying event, the latest of which, in Raleigh, NC, drew 128 entrants and featured the sport's top opponents. The event will feature a One Pocket tournament, and, as the Mosconi Cup qualifying event, a 9-Ball tournament.