Mark Ruzzano rather handily defeated Bob Lucas to claim the hot seat at stop #28 on the New England 9-Ball Series, and while Lucas came back to fight a double hill battle in the finals, Ruzzano prevailed to claim the title. The event, held on Sunday, July 29, drew 30 entrants to Stix and Stones in Abington, MA.
After an first round bye, Ruzzano opened his winning campaign with victories over Ken Botelh (6-1) and Kevin Rodriguez (6-2) to arrive at an upper-bracket, winners’ side semifinal against Henry Leighton. Lucas (a C player), in the meantime, after downing two straight C+ opponents, arrived at a winners’ side semifinal against a third, Eli Davenport.
Ruzzano (a B player) defeated Leighton 6-3, as Lucas was busy securing a double hill win over Davenport. With Lucas racing to 5, Ruzzano claimed the hot seat 7-2.
On the loss side, the only Open player in the stop, Joe Dupuis (playing in his own room, where he works) was in the midst of a seven-match, loss-side winning streak that began with an opening round loss to Kevin Rodriguez and would take him as far as the semifinals. With three loss-side notches on his belt, Dupuis drew Rodriguez for a second time, and defeated him 10-3. He went on to down Jim Prather 9-3 and draw Leighton, coming over from the winners’ side semifinal. Davenport picked up fellow C+ player Bill Phillips, who’d gotten by Rob Diehl 5-2 and Derrick Cunningham 5-1 to reach him.
Dupuis and Phillips advanced to the quarterfinals; Dupuis, double hill (9-4) over Leighton and Phillips 5-2 over Davenport. Dupuis chalked up what would prove to be his final win, defeating Phillips 10-2. With Dupuis racing to 11 and Lucas racing to 4 in the semifinals, Lucas prevailed 4-6.
In their second match, using that ever-illusive momentum factor, Lucas battled Ruzzano to an 11th deciding game, which with Ruzzano racing to 7 and Lucas to 5, came with Ruzzano ahead in actual games 6-4. Ruzzano completed his undefeated run and claimed his first New England 9-Ball Series title.
Tour director Marc Dionne thanked the ownership and staff at Stix and Stones, as well as sponsors Ozone Billiards, Molinari, Bert Kinister, AZBilliards, Inside English, Professor Q-Ball’s National Pool and 3-Cushion News, Delta 13 Racks, MJS Construction, Bob Campbell, Championship Cloth and OTLVISE Billiard Mechanics of America. Stop #29 on the New England 9-Ball Series, scheduled for Sunday, August 12, will be the last tour stop before the Tour Championship and will be hosted by Snookers in Providence, RI.
l to r: Jessie Murphy, Francisco Cabral, Ben Benson, Matt Eline, Ned McConnell, and Lida Mullendore
Francisco Cabral and Jessie Murphy, sitting in the hot seat, opted out of a second and final match against Ben Benson and Matt Meline during the Saturday, April 8 Partners Tournament, stop (#22) on the New England 9-Ball Series. The event drew 53 teams of two to Snookers in Providence, RI.
The two pairs of competitors met first in the hot seat match. Cabral/Murphy had defeated the team of Sal Midolo and Lance Liscotti, double hill, in one winners’ side semifinal, as the team of Benson/Eline was downing Rob Diehl and Austin Ross 5-3 in the other one. Cabral/Murphy grabbed the hot seat, and as it turned out, their final match, in a shutout over Benson/Eline.
Midoli/Liscotti got into the quarterfinals with a 6-3 win over Gormly/Psarros. They were joined by Mullendore/McConnell, who’d eliminated Diehl/Ross 5-3.
Mullendor/McConnell then shut out Midolo/Liscotti. In the subsequent, straight-up race to 5 in the semifinals, Benson and Eline earned a second shot at Cabral and Murphy with a 5-2 win over Mullendore/McConnell. The last two teams opted out of a final match, potentially two, and split the top two prizes. As occupants of the event’s hot seat, Cabral and Murphy claimed the official event title.
Tour director Marc Dionne thanked the ownership and staff at Snookers, as well as sponsors Ozone Billiards, Molinari, Bert Kinister, AZBilliards, Inside English, Professor Q-Ball’s National and 3-Cushion News, Delta 13 Racks, MJS Construction, Bob Campbell, Championship Cloth, and OTLVISE Billiard Mechanics of America. The next stop on the New England 9-Ball Series (#23), scheduled for Saturday, April 21, will be a $500-added event, hosted by Yale Billiards in Wallingford, CT.
By the time that the field of 126 entrants competing for the New England 9-Ball Series’ Winter Classic had whittled down to its final 12, there was only one “Open” player left – Joey Dupuis. In one of the vagaries of a double bracket format (upper and lower brackets employed for higher and lower handicapped players), Dupuis had been sent to the loss side by Dennis Levesque in an upper bracket winners’ side semifinal, which is a winners’ side quarterfinal in the overall event. Bobby Hooker, in the meantime, a C+ player, advanced through the lower bracket and eventually claimed the overall event hot seat; last player without a loss, still standing. Though Dupuis would navigate his way through five loss-side matches and win the opening set of a true double elimination final versus Hooker, Hooker fought back in the second set, and won it to claim the event title. Held on the weekend of January 27-28, the $5,000-added Winter Classic was hosted by Snookers in Providence, RI.
Levesque’s 6-5 victory over Dupuis (Dupuis racing to 9) put Levesque in an overall winners’ side semifinal (two from the upper bracket) against Mike Pettit. From the lower bracket, Hooker and Adam Blair met in the other winners’ side semifinal. Levesque and Pettit (both A players), in a straight-up race to 7, went to double hill before Levesque won it to advance to the hot seat match. Hooker and Blair (both C+ players), in a straight-up race to 5, went double hill, as well, with Hooker advancing to the hot seat match. With Levesque racing to 8, and Hooker to 5, Hooker claimed the hot seat 5-6 and waited for Dupuis to complete his loss-side run.
Pettit’s first match on the loss side was against Dupuis, who, following his defeat at the hands of Levesque, had eliminated Rich Minichello, double hill (7-5), and Francisco Cabral 9-3. Blair drew Rob Diehl, who’d defeated Josh Ceasar, double hill, and Justin Grant 5-1.
Dupuis gave up only one rack to Pettit in advancing to the quarterfinals. He was joined by Blair, who’d survived a straight-up race to 5, double hill, over Diehl. The subsequent battle between the Open player (Dupuis) and the C+ player (Blair) was a 10-4 race, won by Dupuis 10-2.
The semifinal rematch between Dupuis and Levesque was a 9-6 race, won by Dupuis 9-3. Dupuis took the opening set of the true double elimination final 10-2 over Hooker (Hooker racing to 4). In the second set, Dupuis got halfway to his 10-rack goal, but Hooker made it to his 4 first to win the second set and claim the event title.
Tour director Marc Dionne thanked the ownership and staff for their hospitality during the Winter Classic, as well as sponsors Ozone Billiards, Molinari, Bert Kinister, AZBilliards, Inside English, Professor Q-ball’s National Pool and 3-Cushion News, Delta 13 Racks, MJS Construction, Bob Campbell, Championship Cloth, and OTLVISE Billiard Mechanics of America. Next week’s scheduled event at Workmen’s Hall in Norwood, MA has been cancelled. The next stop (#15) on the New England 9-Ball Series, scheduled for Saturday, February 17, will be a $500-added event, hosted by Yale Billiards in Wallingford, CT.
The New England 9-Ball Series has announced that it is currently taking entries for the Tour Championship, scheduled for September 8-9 at Bo’s Billiards in Warwick, RI. The field will be limited to 128 players, all of whom must have played in at least four events to be eligible.
