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Rezendes and Hemingway split top prizes on NE 9-Ball Series

(l to r): Mike Negrelli, Matt Rezendes & Ryan Hemingway

The last time Matt Rezendes and Ryan Hemingway cashed in stops on the New England 9-Ball Series, they both finished in third place; Hemingway in August and Rezendes, a month later. On Saturday, November 24, at a $500-added event (Stop #7), that drew 46 entrants to Stix & Stones in Abington, MA, they moved up a notch. Matt Rezendes claimed the official title by going undefeated, although he and Hemingway opted out of a final match, choosing to let the double hill hot seat match stand as the defining contest between them.
 
Coming out of the upper bracket, Rezendes (FargoRate – 543) advanced through George Morgan, Ryan Stevens, Jim Prather and Bill Gallagher, to arrive at a winners’ side semifinal match against Andy Maynard (513). Hemingway (484), working initially in the lower bracket with an opening round bye, defeated Kyle Downey, Cameo Moy and Mark Pulsifer to face Mike Nigrelli (438) in the other winners’ side semifinal.
 
In a straight-up race to 5, Rezendes shut Maynard out to get into the hot seat match. Hemingway joined him with a double hill (4-2) victory over Nigrelli. With Hemingway starting with a single game ‘on the wire,’ the hot seat match went double hill before Rezendes won what proved to be his last match 5-3.
 
On the loss side, Maynard picked up Ben Savoie, who’d gotten by Jim Prather 4-1 (Prather racing to 6), and, in a straight-up race to 5, Bill Gallagher 5-2. Nigrelli drew Mark Pulsifer, who’d eliminated Dave Morrison, double hill, in a straight-up race to 4 and Bob Lucas 4-2 in another straight-up race to 4. Savoie downed Maynard 5-3, as Nigrelli and Pulsifer locked up in a double hill fight that eventually sent Nigrelli to join Savoie in the quarterfinals (3-3).
 
Racing to 6 (Nigrelli starting with three ‘on the wire’), Nigrelli advanced to the semifinals 3-4. Nigrelli started the semifinals with a single rack ‘on the wire’ and battled Hemingway to double hill, before Hemingway concluded the event’s final match. Rezendes and Hemingway made the decision to forego a final match and opted to split the top two prizes, while the undefeated Rezendes claimed the official event title. 
Tour director Marc Dionne thanked the ownership and staff at Stix and Stones, as well as sponsors Predator Cues, USAPL New England, Fargo Rate, Bert Kinister, AZBilliards, Inside English, Professor Q-ball’s National Pool and 3 Cushion News, Delta 13 Racks, MJS Construction, Bob Campbell, Bourgeois Farms and OTLVISE Billiard Mechanics of America. The next stop (#8) on the New England 9-Ball Series, scheduled for this weekend (Dec. 1-2), will be the $3,000-added Bangor Bash, hosted by Rack City in Bangor, ME.

Hunt goes undefeated to take New England 9-Ball Series Stop #7

Eric Hunt, Cameo Moy and Jeff Furness

Eric Hunt took two matches over Cameo Moy to complete an undefeated run during the seventh stop on the New England 9-Ball Series. The event drew 29 entrants on the weekend of November 19-20 to Maxamilian's Billiards in Tyngsboro, MA.
 
 
They met first in the hot seat match. Hunt had downed Luca Bares 7-2, while Moy was busy dispatching Frank O'Malley to the loss side in a double hill win (4-5, with O'Malley racing to 6).
Hunt (a B+ player) claimed the hot seat over Moy (a C- player), double hill, which, with their respective handicaps, was a 9-3 win for Hunt.
 
 
On the loss side,  O'Malley picked up Bobby Hooker, who'd gotten by Andrew Tankerly and Edgar Acosta, both 6-1. Bares drew Jeff Furness, who'd defeated Dana Mackenzie and Steve Sutton, both 6-4. O'Malley and Bares got handed their second straight loss with Hooker shutting out O'Malley and Furness eliminating Bares 7-3.
 
 
Furness took the quarterfinal match over Hooker 7-3, before having his loss-side streak ended by Moy in a double hill semifinal (4-8, Moy, with Furness, a B+ player, racing to 9).
 
 
In their second matchup, Moy and Hunt came within a game of duplicating their double hill hot seat match in the opening set of the true double elimination final. Hunt, though, pulled ahead to claim the event title in a single 9-2 set.
 
 
Stop # 8 in the New England 9-Ball Series, scheduled for Saturday, November 26, will be a $500-added event, hosted by Towne Billiards in Hamden, CT.