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Fitch goes undefeated to take Viking Cues’ Q-City 9-Ball title

Shannon Fitch

Shannon Fitch, probably best known as the competitor who thwarted Mike Davis’ hopes of defending his NC State 10-Ball Championship in 2016, was back at work on the Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour on Saturday, May 26. He went undefeated through a field of 35 entrants to claim the event title. The event was hosted by Break Time Billiards in Cary, NC.
 
Fitch’s advancement through the field brought him to a winners’ side semifinal against Donnie Stewart. Teenager Peter Abatangelo, in the meantime, squared off against Q-City 9-Ball veteran JT Ringgold. Fitch got into the hot seat match with an 11-5 victory over Stewart, and was joined by Abatangelo, who’d sent Ringgold to the loss side 7-4. Fitch claimed his first of two over Abatangelo and sat in the hot seat to await his return.
 
On the loss side, Ringgold picked up Kelly Farrar, who’d defeated Graham Swinson and David Brown 6-4 to reach him. Stewart drew Scott Roberts, who’d gotten by Jeff Young 8-4 and Joey Tate 8-3. It was Stewart and Farrar who advanced to the quarterfinals; Farrar eliminating Ringgold 6-6, and Stewart eliminating Roberts 6-7.
 
Stewart took the quarterfinal match over Farrar 6-4, and had his loss-side run ended by Abatangelo 7-3 in the semifinals. Fitch, though, was not to be denied. He defeated Abatangelo a second time 11-4 to claim the event title.
 
Tour directors Herman and Angela Parker thanked the ownership and staff at Breaktime Billiards, as well as title sponsor Viking Cues, Viking Cues, Delta 13 Racks, AZBilliards and Professor Q Ball. The next stop on the Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour, scheduled for this weekend (June 2-3), will be a $1,000-added event, hosted by The Steakhorse in Spartanburg, SC.

Hancock wins double hill/double elimination final to capture Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball title

Michael Hancock

They’re the kind of matches that are fun to watch, whether they feature top-notch professionals or rank amateurs; the true double elimination final format that yields two, double hill matches between the last two opponents standing in a tournament. Such was the scene at the April 7-8 stop on the Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour, when Michael Hancock and Josh Padron met up in the true double elimination final. Hancock was in the hot seat, while Padron, who’d lost his first match of the tournament (after a bye), had won nine on the loss side to meet him. Padron took the opening set for his 10th match win in a row, but Hancock battled in the second set to claim the title. The event drew 37 entrants to a new venue for the Viking Cues’ Q City 9- Ball Tour – Carolina Billiards in Garner, NC.
 
While the 2017 Tour Champion (Padron) was at work on the loss side, Hancock advanced to a winners’ side semifinal against Jonathan Williams. Perennial Q City 9-Ball competitor, J.T. Ringgold, in the meantime, met up with Donnie Stewart in the other winners’ side semifinal. Hancock got into the hot seat match with a 7-2 win over Williams and was joined by Ringgold, who’d sent Stewart west 10-4. Ringgold, racing to 10, had chalked up eight racks to Hancock’s ‘on the hill’ six, before Hancock won his seventh, and sent Ringgold to the semifinals.
 
On the loss side, Padron, who’d lost his opening match to Ricky Dickson, won his first four, then  won two straight double hill matches, against Greg Pulliam and teenager, Peter Abatangelo, to draw Stewart in the first money round. Williams picked up Duane Wade, who’d eliminated Solomon Pope, double hill (5-6) and 12-and-under junior champion Joey Tate 5-3 (Tate racing to 6).
 
Padron ousted Stewart 7-4 and, in the quarterfinals, faced Wade, who’d defeated Williams 5-3. Padron chalked up his eighth straight win, double hill (7-4) over Wade in those quarterfinals, and then, completed his loss-side run with a double hill (7-9) victory over Ringgold in the semifinals.
 
Hancock and Padron were playing straight-up races to 7. Padron took the true double elimination opener, for his 10th win in a row, double hill. They fought back and forth to double hill in the second set, before Hancock sunk the deciding ball to claim the event title. In addition to his $600 payday, Hancock won free entry to the Beasley Open in June.
 
Tour directors Herman and Angela Parker thanked the ownership and staff at Carolina 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, scheduled for April 14-15, will be a $250-added event, hosted by Mickey Milligan’s in New Bern, NC.

Lim ends Davis’ two-year reign as NC State 9-Ball Champion

l to r: Reymart Lim & Brandon Shuff

Though the 4th Annual NC State 9-Ball Championships, held under the auspices of the Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour on the weekend of March 3-4, saw both of its former champions – Jeff Abernathy (2015) and Mike Davis (2016, 2017) – competing for the title, it was NC State’s current 10-Ball Champion, Reymart Lim, who came back from a defeat by Brandon Shuff, in a winners’ side semifinal, to down him in the finals and claim the title. Before it was done, Lim had also defeated Abernathy, and the Q City 9-Ball Tour’s 2017 Tour Champion, Joshua Padron. The $750-added event drew 50 entrants to Brass Tap Billiards in Raleigh, NC.
 
Lim advanced through the field to draw Shuff in a winners’ side semifinal, while Abernathy squared off against Chris Bruner in the other one. Shuff, a member of the USA Mosconi Cup team in 2012, and one of three USA players to finish among the top 10 in the 2016 US Open 9-Ball Championships (Shane Van Boening, who won it, and Jeremy Jones were the other two), defeated Lim 9-6 in their first meeting. He was joined in the hot seat match by Bruner, who’d sent Abernathy to the loss side 9-5. Shuff then claimed the hot seat in a double hill battle against Bruner and waited on Lim’s return.
 
Prior to Lim’s arrival on the loss side, defending champion Davis and Padron had made it to the event’s first money round, where they met. Padron ended Davis’ bid for a third straight title with a 7-5 win, and then eliminated teenager Peter Abatangelo, also 7-5, to draw Lim. Abernathy picked up long-time Carolinas competitor, Keith Bennett, who’d defeated Norris Brady 7-1 and survived a double hill fight against Barry Mashburn.
 
Lim downed Padron 7-1, and was joined in the quarterfinals by Abernathy, who’d eliminated Bennett 7-5. Abernathy, looking for his second straight appearance in the finals of this event, had his short, loss-side trip ended by Lim 7-2 in those quarterfinals.
 
Lim went on to down Bruner 7-4 in the semifinals. He completed his run with an 11-6 victory over Shuff in the finals and claimed the NC State 9-Ball title.
 
Tour directors Herman and Angela Parker thanked the ownership and staff at Brass Tap 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, scheduled for the weekend of March 10-11, will be a $500-added event, hosted by Cue Time Billiards in Spartanburg, SC.

Junior National Champion Tate chalks up ‘official’ win on the Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour

Joey Tate

It is not often that a final tournament match is called off because one of the competitors has to get to school in the morning. Such was the case on Saturday, October 15, when 12-year-old Joey Tate, winner of the Billiard Education Foundation’s Junior National Championships (14 and under division) last month in Las Vegas, and Corey Sykes opted out of a final match on the Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour. Tate had defeated Sykes in the hot seat match, but Sykes took the first set of a true double elimination final before the decision not to play a second set was made. As the hot seat occupant, Tate became the event’s ‘official’ winner, chalking up his first regional tour win. The event drew 22 entrants to Brass Tap in Raleigh, NC.
 
Originally from the Chicago area, Tate and his family have relocated to the Raleigh area, making Brass Tap something of a home room for the youngster. It might be a little early to start thinking of him as the ‘house pro’ of the room, but his performance in this most recent event is certainly a qualifying credential. He and Sykes advanced to the winners’ side semifinals, with Tate facing Michael Chapman and Sykes squaring off against another, slightly older junior player, Peter Abatangelo. Tate sent Chapman to the loss side in a double hill battle, while Sykes defeated Abatangelo 10-3. With Tate racing to 6 (a number that will likely rise in the weeks and months ahead) and Sykes racing to 10, the two fought to a deciding game, won by Tate, giving him a 6-9 win and possession of his first hot seat.
 
On the loss side, Chapman picked up Jason Rogers, who’d defeated Mike Rowe 9-4 and Randall Bowman, double hill, to reach him. Abatangelo drew Ryan Tremblay, who’d eliminated Ben Spivey 6-2 and Greg Pullman 6-3. Rogers downed Chapman double hill and in the quarterfinals, faced Tremblay, who’d ended the junior’s tournament with a 6-4 win.
 
Rogers won the quarterfinal match over Tremblay, double hill (9-5), and was then eliminated, double hill (10-8), by Sykes in the semifinals. It proved to be the last of six double hill matches among the event’s final 12 competitors. Sykes took the opening set of the true double elimination 10-3 over Tate, at which point, they opted out of a second set. Tate will be travelling to Moscow in about a month to represent the US in the Junior World Championships, and as a result, is working ahead of time (even on Sundays) at making up the three weeks of school he’ll miss while competing in the event. The added workload was a factor in their mutual decision not to pursue a deciding match.
 
Tour directors Herman and Angela Parker thanked the ownership and staff at Brass Tap, 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, scheduled for October 21-22, will be hosted by Borderline Billiards in Bristol, TN.  
 

Rodriguez goes undefeated to take Joss Tour’s Hudson Valley Fall Classic

Jorge Rodriguez

Though he’d been among the top 10 finishers in 14 major events since January of 2016, an event victory had eluded Jorge Rodriguez since he won the season opener of the 2016 Predator Pro Am Tour. Rodriguez changed that at the second stop on the Joss Northeast 9-Ball Tour’s 2017-2018 season. Rodriguez went undefeated through a field of 59, on hand for the $1,500-added Hudson Valley Fall Classic, hosted by The Spot in Nanuet, NY on the weekend of September 30-October 1.
 
Rodriguez faced separate opponents in the hot seat and finals of the event. Following victories over Geovanni Hosang, and Ron Casanzio, Rodriguez gave up only one rack to his next two opponents, shutting out Thomas Haas, and giving up the single rack to Geoff Montgomery. This set Rodriguez up in a winners’ side semifinal against Matt Tetreault. In the meantime, Zion Zvi, who’d just sent Rodriguez’ eventual opponent in the finals, Jeremy Sossei to the loss side, squared off against Lee Van Corteza in the other winners’ side semifinal.
 
Rodriguez sent Matt Tetreault to the loss side 9-3, as Zvi downed Van Corteza 9-6. Rodriguez claimed the hot seat over Zvi 9-7 and waited for Sossei to complete a five-match, loss-side run that would put him into the finals.
 
Sossei opened his loss-side run with a 9-5 win over Jason Michas, and a 9-3 win over Carmen Lombardo, which set him up to face Tetreault. Van Corteza drew Rhys Chen, who was in the midst of his own six-match, loss-side run that had most recently included wins over Geoff Montgomery 9-5 and Olli Turkulainen 9-7.
 
Van Corteza ended Chen’s run in a double hill match, while Sossei was eliminating Tetreault 9-3. The Sossei/Van Corteza quarterfinal came within a game of going double hill, but Sossei advanced 9-7. The Sossei/Zvi semifinal rematch did go double hill, and when it was over, Sossei had earned himself a shot at Rodriguez in the hot seat.
 
Rodriguez completed his undefeated run with a 9-7 win over Sossei in the finals. The win put Rodriguez at the top of early tour rankings, alongside Nelson Oliveira who had won the season opener in September, but did not compete in Nanuet.
 
A $500-added, 19-entrant Second Chance event was won by Rob Pole, who defeated Mike Salerno in the finals. Scott Haas finished third, ahead of Jim Kearney. Brian Hunter and Ron Plontkowski finished in the tie for fifth.
 
The next stop on the Joss Northeast 9-Ball Tour, scheduled for the weekend of October 14-15, will be a $1,500-added event, hosted by Sharpshooter’s Billiards and Sports Pub in Amsterdam, NY. A week later (October 21-22), at the same location, the Joss Northeast 9-Ball Tour will hold its second annual Juniors Tournament, featuring separate divisional events for 18-and-under and 12-and-under competitors. The 12-and-under group will play on 7-foot Diamond tables, while the older group will face off on 9-foot Diamonds. Last year’s winner in the 18-and-under group was Lukas Fracasso-Verner, who defeated Peter Abatangelo in the finals. Ivo Linkin won the 12-and-under competition, downing Zach Hemendinger twice in a true double elimination final.
 
Tour director Mike Zuglan thanked the ownership and staff at The Spot for their hospitality and asked that players be reminded of the upcoming Turning Stone XXIX, scheduled for January 4-7 at the Turning Stone Resort and Casino in Verona, NY. Players interested in competing should touch base with Zuglan as soon as possible to secure a slot in the event.

Sykes and Ringgold split top prizes on the Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour

Corey Sykes

On Saturday, September 23, in the midst of his best recorded earnings year to date at the pool table, Corey Sykes chalked up an official win on the Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour. He completed the tournament undefeated, though he would split the top two prizes with his finals’ opponent, J.T. Ringgold, because by mutual agreement, they opted out of playing a final match. The event drew 27 entrants to Brown’s Billiards in Raleigh, NC.
 
 
 
Their shared victory was almost overshadowed by a preponderance of young talent that appeared in this event. Three of the event’s final 12 competitors (25%) had yet to complete high school. One of them, Joey Tate, who was playing on his home turf (he lives in Raleigh, NC), has yet to enter high school. Tate, who won the Boys 14 & Under division of this past August’s BEF Junior Nationals, is 12 years old, and came within a single match of being the person with whom Sykes negotiated to split the event’s top two prizes. It was his third appearance on the tour, having previously gone two and out, and finished in fourth place.
 
 
 
Tate advanced through the field to a winners’ side semifinal against Ringgold, while Sykes was squaring off against Jason Rogers in the other one. Ringgold (racing to 10) downed Tate (racing to 5) 10-3. Sykes, in the meantime, defeated Rogers (racing to 9) 10-6. In a straight-up race to 10, Sykes claimed the hot seat over Ringgold, double hill.
 
 
 
On the loss side, Tate picked up Justin Martin, who’d defeated Roman Bayda 10-5, and shut out Ben Spivey, to reach him. Rogers drew Travis Guerra, who’d eliminated the other two teenagers among the final 12 players; 15-year-olds Joshua Shultz 7-3, and Peter Abatangelo 7-1.
 
 
 
Tate and Rogers advanced to the quarterfinals; Tate, 5-2 over Martin (with Martin racing to 10), and Rogers, double hill over Guerra. The Tate/Rogers quarterfinal was a re-match, Tate having downed Rogers earlier in the event. With Rogers racing to 9, Tate defeated him a second time 5-3, and earned himself the right to a legitimate shot at entering the finals facing Ringgold in the semifinals.
 
 
 
It’s hard to imagine that anyone watching the semifinals would have been rooting for the elder Ringgold. Possibly Tate’s parents, who, though certainly supporting their son’s efforts, had to be figuring it was getting pretty close to being past Joey’s normal bed time. Other than that though, who wouldn’t be cheering for the underdog 12-year-old?
 
 
 
As he had done in the winners’ side semifinal match, the kid chalked up three of the five racks he needed to win that event semifinal match. But Ringgold, as he had done before, reached his requisite 10 to end the match, and in light of the subsequent decision not to play a final match, the event itself. As the only official undefeated competitor, Sykes claimed the event title.
 
 
 
Tour directors Herman and Angela Parker thanked owner Dave Huffman and his staff at Brown’s Billiards for their hospitality, 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, scheduled for September 30-October 1, will be a $500-added event, hosted by Peninsula Billiards in Newport News, VA.
 
 
 

Roberts goes undefeated to chalk up his third 2017 Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball stop

Scott Roberts

 

Scott Roberts is having a year. . . well, call it two, calendar years, since last October. Now, as of this past weekend (August 12), he's got three wins on the Viking Cues' Q City 9-Ball Tour, and a couple of runner-up showings on his 2016/2017 resume. On Saturday, August 12, the tour went to The Clubhouse in Lynchburg, VA, where Roberts joined 27 other entrants and defeated four of them (one of them, Lee O'Neal, twice) to record his third 2017 tour win.
 
Roberts advanced to a winners' side semifinal against up-and-coming teenager Peter Abatangelo, while Roberts' hot seat and finals opponent, O'Neal, faced Doug Carter. Roberts sent Abatangelo to the loss side 9-3, while O'Neal dispatched Carter 6-4. Roberts claimed the hot seat (9-4 over O'Neal) for the third time since April.
 
On the loss side, Abatangelo and Carter walked into two double hill fights for advancement to the quarterfinals and won both of them;  Carter downing Jonathan Ailstock, who'd defeated Robbie Johnson 7-4,  and Wes Enoch 7-5 to reach him, while Abatangelo erased George Crawford, who'd gotten by Colin Hall 9-5, and Robert Cuneo 9-2 to reach him.
 
Abatangelo grabbed the quarterfinal match 6-2 over Carter, but fell to O'Neal in the semifinal match 3-6. Roberts put the hammer down in the rematch finals that followed, allowing O'Neal only half of the racks he'd chalked up battling for the hot seat match, winning it 9-2 to claim his third Viking Cues' Q City 9-Ball title this year.
 
Tour director Herman Parker thanked the ownership and staff at The Clubhouse, 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, scheduled for Saturday, August 19, will be hosted by Buck's Billiards in Raleigh, NC.

Padron goes undefeated to win youth-full Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour Championships

Joshua Padron

In spite of an initial cancellation and a number of competing events (like Derby City), the Viking Cues' Q City 9-Ball Tour set a participant record during its 2016 Tour Championships, held on the weekend of January 21-22. Hosted by The Brass Tap in Raleigh, NC, the $1,000-added event drew 82 entrants, breaking a previous entrant record by 13. The roster of competitors included two junior players, who finished among the event's final four. Emerging from the field, undefeated, was Joshua Padron, who downed one of those juniors, 16-year-old Hunter White, twice, to claim the event title.
 
Originally scheduled for the weekend of January 7-8, the event was canceled and re-scheduled when the Raleigh area went under a state of emergency, related to expected ice and snow storms. It was an unavoidable cancellation, which didn't prevent a list of potential participants, who'd had to travel some distance, from complaining about that cancellation in the pool world blog-o-sphere. 
 
"In spite of the cancellation, it was a tremendous field," said tour director Herman Parker. "If it hadn't been for Derby City, we'd have had 128."
 
In the year ahead, the tour will hold two tour championships, one in September and another at the end of the year, each catering to participation on different sized tables. One will play out on 'bar box' tables and the other, on standard 9-ft. tables.
 
Padron's victory and young Hunter White's standout performance in the runner-up category had a way of overshadowing a strong showing by Greg Burke. He and White traveled together to the championships from the Greenville/Spartanburg area. Burke lost his opening round match, and chalked up 11 matches (one bye) on the loss side of the bracket before meeting his traveling companion in the semifinals.
 
Padron advanced to a winners' side semifinal against Travis Guerra (runner-up on the preceding tour stop – January 14), while Hunter White squared off against Barry Mashburn. Padron downed Guerra 6-4, and in the hot seat match, faced, in their first of two, White, who'd downed Mashburn 8-4. Padron claimed the hot seat and waited for White to get back from the semifinals, against Burke, as it turned out.
 
On the loss side, the event's other notable junior, Peter Abatangelo (15), defeated Earl Davis 5-2, and in a meeting between pool student (Abatangelo) and teacher (George Crawford), Abatangelo prevailed, 5-1, to draw Guerra, fresh off his defeat at the hands of Padron. Mashburn had the misfortune of drawing Burke, who, by this time, had chalked up eight victories on the loss side, including David Brown 7-4 and Blade Best 7-2. 
 
Abatangelo advanced to the quarterfinals 5-3 over Geurra, as Burke was downing loss-side opponent # 8 (Mashburn) 7-3, to join him. Burke was now poised to face two junior players in a row. He took care of the first one, Abatangelo, 7-2 in the quarterfinals, but then ran into his traveling companion, Hunter White. The two battled to double hill, before White chalked up the final game and advanced to the finals, presumably with his ride home not in jeopardy.
 
With White racing to 8, and Padron to 6, White had to win twice to claim the title. He didn't. Padron took the opening and only set 6-4 to become the Viking Cues' Q City 9-Ball Tour's 2016 Champion.
 
Tour director Herman Parker thanked the ownership and staff at The Brass Tap for their hospitality, as well as title sponsor Viking Cues, Delta 13 Racks, Ruthless Billiards, GoPlayPool.com, AZBilliards and Professor Q Ball. The next stop on the Viking Cues' Q City 9-Ball Tour, scheduled for January 28-29, will be hosted by Gate City Billiards in Greensboro, NC.

By default, Best, with dawn approaching, wins warm-up to NC State 8-Ball Championships

It was probably one of those things that looked good in the window, but terrible when you got it home. The Viking Cues' Q City 9-Ball Tour made a stop at the Brass Tap in Raleigh on the weekend of October 29-30 and 39 entrants showed up to participate in a rare 8-ball event that proceeded the NC State 8-Ball Championships the following week in Cary, NC. They made a decision to finish it in one day, instead of asking people (some of whom traveled a good distance) to return on Sunday. Somewhere in the vicinity of around 3 a.m., the players left were probably wondering whether the one-day idea was such a good one. As it turned out, when it got down to three players, the semifinalists (J.T. Ringgold and Travis Guerra) opted out of their match, and left the hot seat occupant, Blade Best, to claim the event title, unopposed in a final match.
 
 
Ringgold may have been the most affected by the shortened event. He lost his first match on Saturday to Peter Abatangelo and then won eight on the loss side to advance to the semifinals, at which point he and Travis Guerra opted out of the match. Assuming a 50-50 split, Ringgold went home with $300 (half the 2nd – $400 – and 3rd – $200 – payouts), instead of a potential $600, which might have come his way had he a) defeated Guerra, and b) went on to face and defeat Best in the hot seat. We and they will never know if they made a "good deal."
 
 
It was Guerra and Best who battled for the hot seat in this one. Guerra had sent Justin Clark to the loss side, double hill, in one winners' side semifinal, while Best sent Mike Mullins west 5-3. Best claimed the hot seat 5-1 over Guerra and for all intents and purposes, his night was over.
 
 
On the loss side, Ringgold was halfway through his eight-match, loss-side run, when he downed Glenn Smith 9-4 and Al Boone, double hill (9-3) to pick up Clark. Mullins drew Rich Anderson, who'd recently shut out Matt Lucas, and downed Clay Davis 7-3. Ringgold advanced to the quarterfinals 9-3 over Clark, and was joined by Mullins, who, in a straight-up race to 7, had defeated Anderson, double hill.
 
 
Ringgold ended the tournament with a 9-3 win over Mullins. He and Guerra opted out of their semifinal match, and Best went into the books as the event winner.
 
 
Tour director Herman Parker thanked the ownership and staff at the Brass Tap, as well as title sponsor Viking Cues, Delta-13 racks and Ruthless Billiards. The next stop on the Viking Cues' Q City 9-Ball Tour, scheduled for the weekend of November 5-6 will be the North Carolina State 8-Ball Championships, to be hosted by Breaktime Billiards in Cary, NC. In attendance will be defending champion, Mike Davis

Ivo Linkin and Lukas Fracasso-Verner Joss Junior 9-Ball Champions

Peter Hemendinger, Peter Abatangelo, Emily Herpel, Lukas Fracasso-Verner, & Mike Zuglan

Congratulations to the winners of our first ever Joss Junior 9-Ball Championships, 12 year old Ivo Linkin in the 12 & under division, and 14 year old Lukas Fracasso-Verner in the 18 & under division. Each winner received an engraved Joss Cue and case plus trophies for the top 3 finishers in both events. Runners up were 11 year old Zach Hemendinger (2nd) and 12 year old Ralph Ramos (3rd) in the 12 & under division. And 15 year old Peter Abatangelo (2nd) and 16 year old Emily Herpel (3rd) in the 18 & under division. Let me tell you, "these kids can play"! Some of the kids were well versed in the art of tournament play and some were, more than likely, playing in their first event. It was a pleasure hosting this event and watching all of the 22 youngsters having a great time playing pool! Every player even got the opportunity to pick at least 2 of the vast array of donated products, and in addition, we gave away 5 various cue and case combos by way of random raffl es. 
 
The events were double elimination races to 7 on the 7 foot Diamond tables for the 12 and under and races to 9 on the 9 foot Diamonds for the 18 and under. Zach Hemendinger defeated Ivo Linkin 7-6 for the hot seat. Ivo then defeated Ralph Ramos 7-3 to get to the finals and avenged his previous loss by wining 2 sets 7-4 and 7-3 for the win. Over on the 9 footers it was Lukas Fracasso-Verner who went undefeated for his title besting Emily Herpel 9-4 for the hot seat. Emily then fell victim to Peter Abatangelo who then lost in the final match 9-4 to Fracasso-Verner. Hopefully it was a great time and learning experience for all of the participants in both events. I will do my very best to make this a regular seasonal event on the Joss Northeast 9-Ball Tour.
 
[photo id=45248|align=right]I would like to thank all of these fine companies and people for making this event possible and helping to make it run so smoothly. They are, in no particular order: Tim & Julie Berlin (owners of Sharp Shooters Billiards & Sports Pub), Peter & Billie Jo Hemendinger, Debbie, Dan & Stephen Janes of Joss Cues, Verizon, Dan Dishaw, James Sinclair of Rhythm Cues, CJ & Peggi Wilkinson of Baltimore City Cues, Iwan Simonis Cloth, Aramith, Ted Klonowski's Bowling & Billiard Supplies, TAP League, Don Kerns, Mark Kulungian, Bruce Barthelette, Steve Lillis, Andrea Duvall from Hippos The House Of Billiards, Jim Romanowski, Matt Tetreault, Keith Odell, John Babravich, Brian Trinci, all of the kids and parents, and everyone that came to support them!