With his first recorded regional tour win this past weekend (Feb. 4-5), Kirk Hixon launched what is already his best recorded earnings year, surpassing his previous-best (2021), when he got as close as runner-up (to Josh Heeter in April) on the PremierBilliards.com Q City 9-Ball Tour and finished 9th at the 2020 Tour Championships. Hixon went undefeated to the hot seat and lost the opening set of a true double elimination final versus Cameron Hollingsworth, but won the second set to claim the title at a $500-added event that drew 54 entrants to Action Billiards in Inman, SC.
Hixon and Hollingsworth advanced through the field to arrive at their winners’ side semifinal matches. Hixon faced Casey Looper, while Hollingsworth battled Josh Miller.
Hixon got into the hot seat match following a shutout over Looper. Hollingsworth joined him after downing Miller 6-3. In their first of three, Hixon claimed the hot seat over Hollingsworth 6-2.
On the loss side, Miller picked up Sammy Epps, who’d defeated Daniel Adams, double hill and Joe Bryant 5-2 to reach him. Looper drew Chad Dill, who’d leapfrogged over a Chris Cody forfeit and eliminated Dustin Brown 5-3. Miller advanced to the quarterfinals, double hill over Epps and was joined by Dill, who’d sent Looper home 5-3.
Miller and Dill locked up in a double hill fight in those quarterfinals. It was Miller who advanced to take on Hollingsworth in the semifinals. Hollingsworth gave up only a single rack to Miller and advanced to his double elimination rematch against Hixon.
In what tour director Herman Parker described as a pair of “great matches, the result determined by a few rolls, here and there,” Hollingsworth took the opening set 6-4. In the second set, Hixon came back, by the same score, to win the set and in effect, the event title.
Tour director Herman Parker thanked the ownership and staff at Action Billiards, as well as title sponsor PremierBilliards.com, Breaktime Billiards (Winston-Salem, NC), BarPoolTables.net, Dirty South Grind Apparel Co., Realty One Group Results, Diamond Brat, AZBilliards.com, Federal Savings Bank Mortgage Division and TKO Custom Cues. The next stop on the PremierBilliards.com Q City 9-Ball Tour, scheduled for this weekend (Feb. 11-12), will be a $250-added event, hosted by Bernie’s Billiards in Cary, NC.
If North Carolina’s Joey Tate had a notion to begin his third year as a junior competitor on the Junior International Championships’ (JIC) series of events with some sort of statement, he accomplished that objective well. In the first event of the 2023 JIC season, held this past weekend (Jan. 13-15) at Wolf’s Den in Roanoke, VA, he went undefeated through the 18U Boys division and came from the loss side to claim the ProAm division event; both drew 29 entrants. Skylar Hess, in the meantime, did much the same thing in the 18U Girls division (10 entrants), her ‘statement’ amounting to an undefeated run through the field to claim the first 2023 JIC title in that division and ending a streak of eight appearances in 2022 without a win. In all (with some crossover between different divisions and the gender/age-neutral ProAm division), the JIC season opener drew 88 entrants to Wolf’s Den.
We will cover the two 13U divisions in a separate report, though for now, we’ll report that Hayden Ernst went undefeated to claim the 13U Boys Division and Noelle Tate (Joey’s younger sister) came from the loss side (defeated in the hot seat) for a rematch against Arianna Houston and won the 13U Girls Division.
As Joey Tate and his perennial rival in these JIC events over the past two years (Landon Hollingsworth) came to the tables this past weekend, it’s likely that beyond their singular, cliched task of “taking it one game/match at a time” and “playing the table, not your opponent,” they had a portion of their sights set on the end-of-the-year 18U Boys Championship, an invitational event that plays out during the International Open in Norfolk, VA. Pitting the top players in thedivision at the end of each season each other, the inaugural 18U Boys Championship was won by Hollingsworth and Tate claimed the title last November. Though at this stage of the literal game, it’s a little early to be thinking about that, it’s hard to imagine that given their relatively short-history rivalry, they’re not thinking about that eventual ‘rubber match’ in the third 18U Boys Championship in November, at least once in a while.
In fact, it probably crossed their minds when they met for the first and only time in the opening round of the 18U Boys event, when Tate sent Hollingsworth to the loss side 7-3. They are, by the way, separated by only three Fargo Rate points; Tate, 700 and Hollingsworth, 697. Tate advanced and ran right into Landon Hollingsworth’s brother, Cameron, who battled him to double hill before Tate finished the match, eventually advancing to the hot seat against Nathan Nunes, who, on his journey to the winners’ side final, had defeated the other eventual finalist, Eddie Vonderau. Tate claimed the hot seat 7-2 over Nunes.
On the loss side, Vondereau downed Cameron Hollingsworth 7-5, Hunter Zayas, double hill and Niko Konkel to draw Landon Hollingsworth. Hollingsworth, after his opening round loss to Tate, had embarked on a five-match winning streak that had recently eliminated Logan Whitaker, double hill and Brent Worth in a shutout. His streak came to end when Vondereau defeated him 7-2 in the quarterfinals. Vondereau and Nunes engaged in a spirited semifinal, in which Vondereau edged out in front at the end to win 7-5. Joey Tate was taking no prisoners, as he completed his undefeated run by allowing Vondereau only a single rack in the finals to claim the event title.
Sklyar Hess
In the absence of one, Hess gets by two JIC opponents who finished ahead of her in 2022
Though she failed to win a JIC event in 2022, Skylar Hess was runner-up, twice; to Bethany Tate in Stop #3 and Sofia Mast in Stop # 7. Tate finished at the top of the series’ 2022 rankings, with Mast in 2nd place. Precilia Kinsley finished third in those rankings. Mast and Hess, in the first two years of the JIC, had created a rivalry dynamic similar to Hollingsworth/Tate in the 18U Boys division. Mast, though, was not present at this most recent 18U Girls event. Though present, Tate finished in 4th place and did not face Hess. Precilia Kinsley did.
Kinsley worked her way through Bethany Tate’s younger sister, Noelle and sent Hess’ eventual opponent in the finals, Courtney Hairfield to the loss side 7-5 in a winners’ side semifinal. Hess downed Hayleigh Marion and Sabrina Long to join her in the hot seat match. Hess claimed it 7-4.
Hairfield moved to the loss side and downed Marion in a double hill fight and eliminated Bethany Tate in the quarterfinals 7-2. Hairfield and Kinsley came within a game of double hill before Hairfield prevailed 7-5 to face Hess in the finals. In an extended race-to-9, Hairfield and Hess also came within a game of double hill before Hess pulled out in front to claim the title 9-7.
Tate and Hollingsworth square off in winners’ side semifinal of ProAm event
The marquee matchup of J. Tate v. L. Hollingsworth happened twice in the gender/age-neutral ProAm division of the JIC’s opening weekend. They split them, while the order in which the two matches were played proved to be significant.
They met in a winners’ side semifinal, while Nathan Nunes and Dustin Muir met in the other one. Hollingsworth sent Tate to the loss side 7-5 and was joined in the hot seat match Nunes, who’d defeated Muir 7-3. There are very few so-called surprises in the world of pool at any level, especially when two opponents are somewhat evenly matched. Hollingsworth entered the hot seat match with a Fargo Rate 59 points higher than Nunes (697-638). But it was Hollingsworth who moved to the semifinals, when Nunes claimed the hot seat 7-5.
The loss-side battles for advancement to the quarterfinals featured two, double hill matches; Tate versus Nathan Childress and Dustin Muir against Jas Makhani. Tate defeated Childress, as Muir eliminated Makhani. Tate earned his rematch against Hollingsworth with a 7-5 victory over Muir in those quarterfinals.
Surprise, surprise! The semifinal was a fight to the finish, known in the pool world as a double hill match. The three-point Fargo Rate differential gave Tate a slight edge in terms of probability, but it wasn’t one that you’d have been likely to have gotten any great odds, either way.
Tate advanced to the finals over Hollingsworth and (surprise, surprise) locked up in a second straight double hill battle, with the event title on the line. He claimed it 9-8 over Nunes to chalk up his first of two 2023 JIC titles on the same weekend.
Risky Shotz and S & T Billiards present . . . When the Smoke Clears!
The only thing that comes logically and immediately to mind is ‘What happens when the smoke clears?” which leads one to wonder and then, search for answers and the next thing you know, you’re looking at a poster telling you the who (junior competitors), the what (a $1K-added set of four tournaments on a single weekend), the where (Center Pocket, Bowie, MD), the when (Dec. 17-18) and the whyof it (cash prizes).
As the ‘name’ indicates, the tournaments were not held under the auspices of the Junior International Championships series of tournaments, spearheaded by Ra Hanna and his On The Wire Creative Media organization, but you wouldn’t have known it from the roster of people who organized it or the junior competitors who competed in it.
Tournaments first. There were three ‘main’ events: A Boys 20U (16 entrants), a Girls 20U (8), and a 13U, either-gender tournament (13). The fourth, a Sunday Second Chance for the 13U mixed-gender crowd, drew 13, as well.
And when the smoke cleared, D’Angelo Spain (aka Jawz), riding the crest of a home-town advantage, won two of the four. He won both of the 13U events. One on Saturday, one on Sunday. He went undefeated, downing Sofia Mast in Saturday’s final, and came from the loss side to take down Cameron Hollingsworth on Sunday’s Second Chance final. He placed 5th/6th in the 20U Boys division, too. If they’d let him play with the 20U girls, he might have made it a four-fer. Spain is 11 years old.
Sofia Mast
Joey Tate and Sofia Mast won their respective 20U divisions. Tate came from the loss side to take down perennial rival, Landon Hollingsworth in the finals of the 20U Boys division, while Mast went undefeated to take the girls’ title, with two Tate sisters (Noelle,13 and Bethany,16) in 2nd and 3rd place, respectively.
Recently, it was learned that Mast was among the country’s 100 top Fargo-rated female pool players, nestled in at #87 between Jennifer Baretta (#1) and Kia Burwell (#100). Mast is 13.
“It has been an amazing ride,” she posted on her FB page, of the four years since she first picked up a cue and the two years that she’s since been competing against fellow juniors and adult professionals. “There have been many ups and downs, long days and nights, many plane and car rides, many laughters, many tears.”
“I will get knocked down many times,” she wrote, “but I will always go out fighting and I will come back stronger.”
She wrote this after she’d gone undefeated in the 20U Girls division and after, a day later, she’d been sent to the loss side in the 13U Second Chance event (by Jawz 7-2), before fighting backthrough Lathan Elliott 7-3, Marlin Foster 7-2 and Tanner McKinney 7-3 to face Spain a second time, in the finals. She battled him to double hill and there, but for the fall of a single 9-ball, she might have been the one to claim half of the weekend’s events.
The Tate sisters played each other in the opening round and semifinals of the 20U Girls division; Bethany took the opener 7-3 and Noelle, battling to double hill, won their semifinal matchup. Mast played them both; downing Bethany in the hot seat 7-4 and Noelle in the finals 7-2.
Joey Tate
In the 20U Boys division, it was the Hollingsworth brothers who took a ‘shot’ at each other. Younger brother, Cameron, sent eventual winner, (the Tate family’s)“Big Brother” Joey to the loss side 7-4 in the second round and advanced to take a shot at his brother, Landon in one of the winners’ side semifinals. Landon won 7-5. Nathan Childress, in the meantime, got a shot at both members of the Spain family, downing 20-year-old Marine, Snipper Spain 7-2 in the opening round. The presence of Snipper Spain came as a surprise to his younger siblings. They didn’t know he was coming until he woke them up on Friday morning; an early Christmas gift.
“I think that gave Jawz all the boost and motivation he needed to compete at a high level in the tournament, which began the very next day,” wrote their father, Frank. “It was great to see all of my kids competing in the same tournament together like they used to do.”
That said, Childress faced Jawz in the other winners’ side semifinal and defeated him 7-3. Hollingsworth grabbed the hot seat, downing Childress 7-5.
On the loss side, Jawz had the misfortune of drawing Joey Tate, who’d followed his loss to Cameron Hollingsworth with victories over two Tanners, Elliott and McKinney (7-4, 7-5) and then . . . well, Jawz would put it this way on his fan page – “Took my L’s from Nathan Childress and Joey Tate took me out (7-4).”
Tate went on to defeat Cameron Hollingsworth in the quarterfinals 7-4 and Childress in the semifinals 7-5. In a single race to 9, when the smoke cleared, Tate was champion of the 20U Boys, having eliminated his arch-rival, Landon Hollingsworth 9-2.
Jawz rallied to put on a bit of a show for his surprise-Christmas-gift, older brother Snipper, by going undefeated in the main event, mixed gender 13U, going undefeated and taking out Sofia Mast twice; once in a winners’ side semifinal 7-4 and after claiming the hot seat from Tanner McKinney 7-4, again, in the finals in a double hill thriller.
“She is a BEAST,” wrote Jawz on his fan page. “I’ve always respected her game but never had to play her. That was a different experience (and) I loved every minute of it.”
Jawz went on to win the handicapped Second Chance Tournament on Sunday, but had to come from the loss side to claim that title. He advanced through the field to face Cameron Hollingsworth in the hot seat match. Cameron had just defeated his brother, Landon 7-7 in their winners’ side semifinal (Landon racing to 9) and carried that momentum into the hot seat match where he allowed Jawz only a single rack. In something of a surprise result, Landon Hollingsworth was eliminated by Tanner McKinney in the quarterfinals and Jawz eliminated McKinney 5-3 in the semifinals.
“Up to that point (the finals, Cameron), was untouched,” wrote Jawz on his fan page. “Well, when you dig deep and grind to the finish line, anything is possible. So that’s what I did. I managed to double-dip him and claim the title.”
With Hollingsworth racing to 7 and Jawz to 5, Jawz took the opening set 5-4. He let Cameron chalk up an extra rack in the second set, but won it and the title, 5-5.
“When the Smoke Clears was an independent event, in which I (as Risky Shotz, an apparel company and as a certified PBIA instructor, train students) partnered with S & T Billiards, a cue and accessories company,” noted Frank Spain. “Based out of Center Pocket in Bowie, MD, we organized it with Ra Hanna doing the streaming and Kory Wolford as the tournament director.”
Spain, Hanna and Wolford thanked Leia Burk and Taseen Abdulbarr and their Corner Pocket staff for their hospitality at which they are planning to ‘make the smoke clear’ on an annual basis. Spain also thanked Hanna for his streaming services, along with Madison Ortiz for a “generous donation” and his teaming with Hanna in the streaming booth for commentary.
Cameron Hollingsworth, Breaktime owner Sundeep “Sonny” Makhani and Larry Hughes.
Both finalists in the Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball’s 10th Tour Championships, held this past weekend (Nov. 19-20), had something to play for, beyond just the cash and whatever bragging rights they might claim later. Larry Hughes and Cameron Hollingsworth were both looking to record their first cash wins. Hollingsworth was also trying to take advantage of the fact that his older brother, the twice-defending champion of this event, Landon Hollingsworth, was in Puerto Rico. Ahead of the final match, each of them had recorded a single loss. Hughes took the last match to claim the title. Though the outcome could be attributed to any one of a number of factors, it would appear to be unlikely that it was due to which of them wanted it more. The $1,500-added event drew 56 entrants to Breaktime Billiards in Winston-Salem, NC.
Winning it was a breakthrough for Hughes. Coming from the loss side, winning seven and the opening set of the true double elimination, not to mention recording his first cash win was a breakthrough for Hollingsworth.
With Hollingsworth on the loss side, having lost a third round match to Billy Walker, Hughes advanced through the field to face Eric Stanton in one of the winners’ side semifinals. Clay Davis and Jason Blackwell squared off in the other one.
Davis defeated Blackwell 8-1, while Hughes was shutting Stanton out. Hughes grabbed the hot seat 6-2 and waited on the as-determined-as-he-was Hollingsworth to complete his loss-side run.
With two notches on that loss-side belt, Hollingsworth defeated Barry Mashburn 5-4 (Mashburn racing to 9) and Trent Talbert 5-4 (Talbert racing to 6), to pick up Stanton. Blackwell drew Josh Heeter, who’d defeated Jeff Howell and Thomas Sansone, both 9-3, to reach him.
Hollingsworth and Heeter advanced to the quarterfinals; Hollingsworth 5-2 over Stanton and Heeter 9-4 over Blackwell. Hollingsworth chalked up wins #6 and #7 with a double hill, quarterfinal win over Heeter and 5-1 victory over Davis in the semifinals.
With Davis racing to 6, Hollingsworth took the opening set of the true double elimination final 5-4. Hughes fought back in the second set to take a lead and stretch it to three games, winning it 6-3 to claim his first event title and the 10th Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour Championship title.
Tour director Herman Parker thanked tour sponsor Sundeep Makhani and his Breaktime Billiards staff for their hospitality, as well as title sponsor Viking Cues, Breaktime Billiards (Winston-Salem, NC), BarPoolTables.net, Dirty South Grind Apparel Co., Realty One Group Results, Diamond Brat, AZBilliards.com, Ridge Back Rails, and Federal Savings Bank Mortgage Division.
The tour will be off for the Thanksgiving weekend and return to the felt on the weekend of Dec. 3-4. The event will be a $250-added event, hosted by Mickey Milligan’s in New Bern, NC.
Hollingsworth adds ProAm title, Mast adds 13U final event and 13U Championship
It was quite a weekend for two of the top names in the pool world of junior competition. There were seven total events at the last regular season stop (#8) on the Junior International Championship (JIC) series, held last weekend (Sept. 23-25) at Wolf’s Den in Roanoke, VA. Between them, Landon Hollingsworth and Sofia Mast won five of them; Hollingsworth, chalking up the win in the 18U Boys and ProAm divisions, as Mast (just a little busier) won both the 18U & 13U Girls titles and then went on to win the 13U Championship event, which was run concurrently with that division’s final regular season competition. Mast did not compete in the other division (ProAm) for which she was eligible, but given the strength of her performance in the three for which she was eligible, there was idle speculation that she might have taken that title as well.
Along the way, in the finals of her three events, Mast faced and defeated two members of the Tate family (Bethany in the 18U Girls division and her sister, Noelle in the 13U Girls division) and her perennial rival in both female divisions, Skylar Hess, in the 13U Girls championship. Bethany Tate (17th) and Hess (13th) were among the seven young women who competed in the ProAm event, along with Savanna Wolford, Courtney Hairfield (13th), Kennedy Meyman (17th), Skylynn Elliot (17th) and Precilia Kinsley (17th).
The ProAm event, the last of the 2022 JIC season, drew the weekend’s largest field (27) and seemed destined to feature a battle or two between the top two competitors in the division’s standings; Joey Tate and Landon Hollingsworth, who, between them, had won six of the division’s eight events, including the last one, won by Hollingsworth. But a funny thing happened on the way to the event finals. Tate was sent to the loss side in a winners’ side quarterfinal battle versus Brent Worth (7-5) and lost his first match on that side of the bracket to Grayson Vaughan 7-5.
Hollingsworth’s undefeated path to the hot seat and finals was not an easy one. It started out well, with 7-1 victories over two of the seven females in the field, Bethany Tate and Skylynn Elliott. It moved on from there to successive double-hill battles versus Jayce Little in a winners’ side quarterfinal and Nathan Childress in a winners’ side semifinal, which put Hollingsworth into the hot seat match. Jas Makhani in the meantime, who’d sent Brent Worth to the loss side immediately after Worth had sent Joey Tate over, joined Hollingsworth in the hot seat match. Hollingsworth, apparently tired of having to play two successive double hill matches, gave up only a single rack to Makhani and claimed the hot seat.
On the loss side, Logan Whitaker, who’d lost his opening round match to Payne McBride, embarked on an eight-match, loss-side winning streak that would take him to the finals against Hollingsworth. He’d recently defeated Cameron Hollingsworth (Landon’s brother), double hill and Grayson Vaughan 7-3 to draw Nathan Childress. Worth drew Hayden Ernst (eventual winner of the 13U Boys division tournament), who’d defeated McBride, double hill, and Cole Lewis 7-5 to reach him.
Worth and Whitaker advanced to the quarterfinals, won by Whitaker 7-1, who advanced to down Makhani in the semifinals 7-5.
Whitaker, appearing in only his third ProAm event of the JIC series (previously 5th and 7th) gave Hollingsworth a run for his money in the finals. He came within a game of forcing a deciding 17th game. Hollingsworth claimed the ProAm’s last 2022 JIC title 9-7. He and Joey Tate, who finished 2nd and 1st, respectively, in the final ProAm standings were awarded entry fees to a Pro event of their choice. Tate will attend next month’s International Open in Norfolk, VA, while Hollingsworth opted to attend the Puerto Rico Open 10-Ball event in mid-November.
The expected matchup of the two top competitors in the 18U Boys division – Hollingsworth and Tate – happened in that division’s 23-entrant regular season finale, twice. Hollingsworth’s path to the finals took an unexpected turn when he lost his opening match in a double hill fight against Niko Konkel, who’d entered the tournament outside of the division’s top ten in the standings and finished in 5th place. It took Tate five matches to get into the hot seat. It took Hollingsworth eight loss-side matches to reach him in the finals.
Joey Tate got by Cole Lewis, Jas Makhani and Payne McBride to get into the hot seat match against Logan Whitaker. Runner-up in the ProAm event, which finished some three hours after the 18U tournament, Whitaker would figure prominently in this event, as well. Right after Konkel had sent Hollingsworth to the loss side, Whitaker sent him over and advanced through D’Angelo Spain and Brent Worth to reach the hot seat match against Tate. Tate claimed the hot seat 7-2, sending Whitaker to a semifinal matchup against Hollingsworth.
Hollingsworth’s loss-side run faced its most serious challenge when Payne McBride, in his first loss-side match, forced a double-hill deciding match. Hollingsworth advanced to successfully navigate his rematch against Konkel in the quarterfinals 7-2 and then dropped Whitaker into third place 7-3 in the semifinals.
Anticipation of the final was probably stronger than the match itself. Hollingsworth downed Tate 9-4 to claim the last regular season event for the 18U Boys division. They’ll both be moving onto the 18U Boys Championship in Norfolk, VA at the end of the month.
Sofia Mast
Mast played in all three of the events she won, simultaneously
The “Pink Dagger,” Sofia Mast, struck three times on the weekend, winning the 13U Girls Championship at 8 p.m. on Saturday night, the 13U Girls regular season finale at 1 p.m. on Sunday and the 18U Girls title at 4 p.m. on Sunday. She went undefeated in all three, downing Skylar Hess in the finals of the first, Noelle Tate in the finals of the second and Noelle’s sister Bethany in the finals of the third.
In what proved to be her final title-claiming event, Mast faced and successfully navigated two double hill challenges, from Precilia Kinsley in the second round and Bethany Tate in the battle for the hot seat. Until she reached the hot seat match, Tate hadn’t faced an opponent who’d chalked up more than two racks against her, including her sister, Noelle, who chalked up that many in their winners’ side semifinal matchup.
Mast’s victory in the hot seat match sent Tate to the semifinals, where she ran into Courtney Hairfield, who chalked up two against her, as well. In the finals, when Mast chalked up her second rack, on her way to a title-claiming 9-5 victory, she had already won more games against Tate than all of Tate’s opponents combined.
As it happened, while Mast drew a lot of the weekend’s spotlight, it was Bethany Tate who ended up at the top of the 18U Girls division standings, significantly ahead of Mast in 2nd place. Tate won four of the division’s eight events, to Mast’s three; all in a row, including one in which she defeated Mast in the finals and two in which Mast finished in the tie for 5th place. Precilia Kinsley, Skylar Hess and Kennedy Meyman rounded out the division’s top five. Meyman won the only event that Tate and Mast, both of them competing, did not; the first, in January. They’ll all move on to Norfolk, where they’ll compete in the 18U Girls Championship, in the latter days of Pat Fleming’s 9-day International Open between October 28- November 5.
In the early hours of Sunday, August 14, Chad Dill, occupying the hot seat at the time, entered the second set of a double elimination final against 16-year-old Hunter Zayas on the Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour. Dill fought Zayas in the second set, battling him to a double-hill, final game, which he won to claim his first Q City 9-Ball Tour title and enter the AZBilliards database of players for the first time. The $250-added event drew 28 entrants to the new venue, Action Billiards in Inman, SC.
Dill and Zayas were among the winners’ side final four, but did not face each other. Dill faced Jason Blackwell in one of the winners’ side semifinals, while Zayas met Dalton Messer in the other. Dill got into the hot seat match with a double hill win over Blackwell, and was joined by Messer, who’d sent Zayas over 6-3. Dill sent Messer off to the semifinals 5-3 and claimed the hot seat.
On the loss side, Zayas and Blackwell, got ‘right back onto their horses’ with victories. Zayas picked up Cameron Hollingsworth, who’d defeated Terry Cannon 5-3, and his older brother, Landon Hollingsworth 5-5 (Landon racing to 9) to reach him. Blackwell drew Marc Rochester, who’d recently eliminated Cory Edwards with a shutout and Katie Bischoff 6-2.
Zayas downed Cameron Hollingsworth 6-3. Blackwell joined him in the quarterfinals, after ending Rochester’s day 6-4. Zayas then took out both Blackwell in the quarterfinals and Messer in the semifinals 6-3.
Entering the finals, as Saturday turned into Sunday, Zayas was looking for his first recorded cash payout in 2022 and his first win on the tour since February, 2021. Hot seat occupant Dill was also looking for his first 2022 cash payout, his first ever, along with his first win on any tour, anywhere. Zayas had the ‘experience’ upper hand in the double elimination final and took the opening set 6-3. But Dill came back in the second set to knot the proceedings at double hill; 4-5 (Zayas racing to 6). Dill won the 10th and final game to claim his first title.
Tour director Herman Parker thanked the ownership and staff of the tour’s newest venue, Action Billiards, as well as title sponsor Viking Cues, Breaktime Billiards (Winston-Salem, NC), BarPoolTables.net, Dirty South Grind Apparel Co., Realty One Group Results, Diamond Brat, AZBilliards.com, Ridge Back Rails, and Federal Savings Bank Mortgage Division. The Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour will be off this week and be back at the tables on the weekend of August 27-28 at Janet Atwell’s room, Borderline Billiards in Bristol, TN.
Currently riding atop the 18U Boys division of the ongoing second season of the Junior International Championship series, having won three of its six stops in 2022, North Carolina’s Joey Tate made his way to the West Coast last weekend (August 6-7) and with a hot seat ‘hiccup’ and a subsequent rematch against Adrian Prasad in the finals, claimed the BEF’s Junior National-qualifying spot at the CA State Junior Championships. The $5,000-added boys’ division drew 17 entrants to Hard Times Billiards in Sacramento, CA.
On the opposite end of the gender spectrum, two of the best-known, not to mention youngest female competitors in the sport – Sofia Mast (14) and Savannah Easton (12) – battled in the hot seat and finals of the $5,000-added, 18U Girls division of the event, which drew 7 entrants to the same location. Easton claimed the hot seat, but Mast came back from defeating her long-time (well, two-year) rival, Skylar Hess, in the semifinals and returned to defeat Easton in the finals to claim the event title.
The California event was just one of many tournaments that have occurred in this calendar year which are manifestations of the Junior International Championships (JIC), founded by Ra Hanna and his On the Wire Creative Media company in 2021. At the conclusion of the first season and just prior to the second, Hanna made note of the fact that the first season was “just practice” and that “practice was (now) over.” His intent, at the start of the second season, was to encourage his junior competitors to step away from tournaments restricted to their peers and get themselves out in the ‘real world’ of tough competition against older opponents. And the top JIC competitors have been doing just that. While not leaping to the top of ranked players, they’ve been cashing in a lot of tournaments and impressing veteran players on a lot of the tours, as, by way of just a couple of examples, the Viking Cues Q City 9-Ball Tour on which the Tate family (Joey, Bethany and Noelle) has been competing regularly and a number of Florida tours and independent events, on which Tampa-based Sophia Mast has been playing.
Though the California event drew a number of the JIC competitors back among their peers, it also had a way of demonstrating the impact of the JIC throughout the country. Ten of the 17 California event competitors in the 18U Boys division were JIC veterans and all but one of the seven girls in the 18U Girls division were regulars on the JIC series. The top four finishers in both divisions of the California State Junior Championships came from the ranks of the JIC.
Joey Tate has proved to be the JIC’s top competitor this year, not only winning the three of the series’ six events thus far in the 18U division, but two of the series’ six in the ProAm division. With the exception of Adrian Prasad, who made somewhat of a surprise showing in California, finishing third, the top four finishers among the boys in California were the top-ranked competitors in the JIC 18U division.
Tate got by his first two opponents in California, Nathan Nunes and Cody Hill, giving up just a single rack to Nunes. Cameron Hollingsworth, brother to Landon (#2 among JIC 18U Boys), chalked up three against him in their winners’ side semifinal. Adrian Prasad, in the meantime, got by Cash Lance and Gabe Martinez (who’d previously sent Landon Hollingsworth to the loss side) before defeating Carlos Jinez to join Tate in the hot seat match. Tate and Prasad locked up in a double hill fight that did, eventually, leave Prasad in the hot seat.
On the loss side, the Hollingsworth brothers were looking at the possibility of meeting in the event quarterfinals. Landon did his part, defeating Carlos Jinez 7-2, but Lazaro Martinez, #3 among the JIC 18U Boys, battled Cameron to double hill before eventually defeating him. Martinez made it two brothers in a row, defeating Landon in the quarterfinals 7-4, but Tate stopped Martinez 7-5 in the semifinals for a second shot at Prasad in the hot seat.
Tate completed his title run with a 9-6 rematch victory over Prasad in the finals.
Sofia Mast (Photo courtesy Cris Constantin)
The “Pink Dagger” and “Roadrunner” square off in CA 18U Girls hot seat and finals
You can almost imagine these two young women facing each other before a match. The “Pink Dagger,” (Sofia Mast) pretending, with a quiet smile, that she has a dagger and pretending to thrust it, while the “Roadrunner” (Savannah Easton) takes a step back and with a twinkle in her eye, says, “Beep! Beep.”
The Pink Dagger found its target this past weekend. While the Roadrunner “beep-beeped’ her way into the hot seat, the Dagger came back and downed her in the finals.
The short field made for a short run to their first match. Mast got by the only competitor not drawn from the JIC ranks, Emars Selgado, in the opening round 7-2 and walked into the JIC’s #1-ranked competitor in the 18U Girls division, Bethany Tate, in a winners’ side semifinal (Mast is 4th and Easton 9th in the JIC 18U Girls division). Easton, in the meantime, opened with a 7-4 win over Kennedy Meyman and drew Skylar Hess in the other winners’ side semifinal.
Mast defeated Tate 7-2, as Easton was downing Hess 7-4. Easton then defeated Mast 7-2 and claimed the hot seat.
To absolutely no one’s surprise, it was Hess and Tate who squared off in the event’s quarterfinals, once Hess had eliminated Hayleigh Marion and Tate had defeated Meyman, both 7-3. Hess (5th among the JIC 18U Girls) defeated Tate in those quarterfinals 7-3, but fell to Mast in the semifinals 7-5. The “Pink Dagger” flashed the sharp blade of her precision shooting and cool-as-the-proverbial-cucumber demeanor in the finals, giving up only a single rack to Easton and claiming the CA State Junior Championship title.
After this BEF Junior National qualification gig, the girls and boys of the JIC will be back at itlater this month (Aug. 19-21), when they visit Big Dog Billiards in Des Moines, IA.
