In the 3rd year of Running the BCAPL Team Warm-up Tournament from the Stingers (Formerly Sweet Tooth) Location, the response was not as large as in the past. In the previous years, 14 teams and 12 teams came out to play on the exact simulated tournament as the National Event that runs in Las Vegas every May. Stingers was aware of numerous other tournaments that scheduled on top of this event this year and understood how difficult it was for players to form teams of 5 for this event. In the wake of the low turnout of only 4 teams of players (Including 1 team that came all the way from Globe, AZ), Stingers still wanted to allow a way for the faithful to get the necessary "warm-up" for Vegas and switched the tournament to a Singles Event.
16 Players signed up for the $10 entry singles tournament where Men's players raced to 5 games and all non-master women raced to 3 games. Susan Williams was the lone woman's masters player and thus also raced to 5 games in this alternate break format tournament. Stinger's wanted to also support the players that supported the Team Tournament and added $10/player to the prize fund.
In the first round, two players from the team "No Flash Photography", Travis Kennedy and Mike Williams drew each other. In this match Travis was able to get the best of Mike to advance to the next round. Other players winning a couple matches on the winners side were Susan Williams, Chad Barber and Brian Poore.
Susan and Chad squared off to get to the hotseat match. Chad started out hot and took a 3 - 1 lead, but Susan showed a lot of fight to grind out game after game and ultimately advance with a 5 - 3 score. On the bottom of the board Travis and his 2nd teammate of the tournament, Brian, were in a battle themselves. Sitting tied at 3 - 3, Travis made a nice cross bank and combo but was not rewarded with shape on his last ball. The kick left the table open for Brian to get to the hill and then close it out to guarantee some cash.
On the one loss side of the board, Chad and Mike Williams had set themselves up to get into the cash, each needing 1 more victory to crack the top 4. Mike scored a win against Carlos Avalos and then got some revenge to send Travis Kennedy home in 5th/6th. Chad wasn't so fortunate as Brian's wife, Veronica Poore, got an early lead and knocked him out in 5th/6th.
Susan was trying to claim the hotseat, but Brian just wasn't willing to let it go peacefully. Brian ended up with control of the table with the match tied at 4 - 4 and finished it off for the win. Susan was forced to visit the one loss side and the winner of her husband and Brian's wife.
The tournament was down to 4 players, and ironically all 4 were spouses of each other, sort of. Mike Williams sent Veronica home in 4th place with a 5 - 1 victory and $30. Susan then showed her husband some serious heart as she destroyed him 5 - 2, leaving him in 3rd place and $50.
In the finals Brian seemed to run out of steam a little bit and Susan was just getting rolling. Susan dominated the first set with a 5 - 2 victory. In the 2nd set we got to see a repeat and Susan completed the double-dip with identical scores of 5 - 2. Brian took home 2nd place and $80 and Susan took home 1st place and $160.
A special thanks to Stingers for their great support of the BCAPL and the players of Arizona. The Diamond Tables are kept up very well and will provide players the necessary arena to get ready for Nationals. Good Luck to all the players in Vegas, we want to see you bring home the big cash!