It was another busy weekend in Olathe, KS, as the Midwest 9-Ball Tour ran three events on the weekend of July 8-10; a One Pocket tournament, a Ladies tournament and an Open event. In the $1,000-added One Pocket event, which launched the proceedings and drew 51 entrants to Shooter's in Olathe, Joey Gray successfully stopped a loss-side bid by Chip Compton to claim the title.
After sending Compton to the loss side in a winners' side quarterfinal, Sky Woodward advanced to a winners' side semifinal match against Gray. John Gabriel, in the meantime, faced Tommy Tokoph. Gray and Gabriel advanced to the hot seat match with 3-1 victories over Woodward and Tokoph. Gray grabbed the hot seat by the same score and waited on Compton's return.
On the loss side, Compton opened his loss-side campaign with a 3-1 victory over David Jordan, and followed that with a double hill win over Alex Olinger. This set Compton up to face Tokoph. Woodward drew Sharik Sayed, who'd shut out both Jeremy Hundley and Devin Poteet to reach him.
Woodward survived a double hill fight versus Sayed to win a re-match versus Compton, who'd shut out Tokoph. Compton downed Woodward 3-1 in the quarterfinals, and then spoiled Gabriel's bid for a re-match against Gray with a double hill win in the semifinals.
Compton took the opening set of the true double elimination final over Gray 3-1. Gray came back in the second set to win it by the same score and claim the One Pocket title.
Handicappers might have been a little stressed trying to establish odds as to which of four competitors in the winners' side semifinals of the 3rd Annual Summer Heat 9-Ball Classic was actually going to win the thing. They had Charlie Bryant, Chip Compton, Shane McMinn and Joey Gray to consider. Gray came through in the end, completing an undefeated run through a field of 57, on hand for the $2,200-added event, hosted by Jamaica Joe's in Midwest City, OK.
A concurrently-run, $300-added Ladies event drew only eight entrants and was won, from the loss side, by Debi Aldridge, who double dipped Elise Gabriel in the finals.
It was Bryant versus Compton and Gray versus McMinn in the winners' side semifinals. Compton sent Bryant west 9-7, while Gray was busy doing likewise to McMinn 9-5. Gray defeated Compton 9-4 to take command of the hot seat, and waited on what turned out to be the return of McMinn.
Bryant and McMinn got right back to work on the loss side. McMinn faced Donny Brown who'd gotten by Billy Dyke 9-7 and survived a double hill struggle against James Walden. Bryant picked up Keith Boon, who had his own double hill fight against Jeremy Hundley and an easier time with Steve Langiano 9-3. Bryant and McMinn advanced to the quarterfinals with identical 9-6 wins over Boon and Brown.
The winners' side semifinalists were now the event's final four. McMinn took the first step, defeating Bryant in the quarterfinals 9-7. He then ended Compton's bid 9-5 in the semifinals and earned his rematch against Gray. Gray, though, completed his undefeated run with a second victory over McMinn, 9-3, to claim the 3rd Annual Summer Heat 9-Ball Classic title.
In the ladies' event, it was Elise Gabriel and Wendy Kent who faced each other in the battle for the hot seat. Gabriel won it 7-5 and waited on the eventual winner, Debi Aldridge. Kent moved over and was defeated 7-2 by Aldridge. Aldridge claimed the event title after winning a double hill battle in the finals' opening set, and followed that with a 7-2 victory.
