The 2008 AZ BCA State Championship on August 7th - 10th was a change of location from the last two years.
Previously held at the beautiful Blue Water Casino in Parker Arizona, the event's new home is the Mazatzal Casino in the cool pines of Payson, Arizona. The players this year unanimously agreed that the new location was outstanding and the entire staff took great care of everyone.
The State Championship consisted of six total events and the open Men's and Ladies events were the first to get started.
The Men's Open event saw 60 players competing with Jerry Stuckart facing off against Robert Barry for the hot-seat. Stuckart sent Barry to the one loss side, where Bob Soto was waiting. Soto had lost his second match of the event, but bounced back with eight wins on the left side of the board including big wins over Tony Flores, Joe Perez and Brandon Butler. Barry sent Soto to the stands in third place and faced off against Stuckart in the finals. Robert Barry took an early lead in this match and it looked like we were on our way to a second set in the finals. It looked that way to everyone but Stuckart as he came back to tie the score at hill-hill and then won the set 5-4.
The Ladies Open event had 30 players fighting to earn the title. The winners side came down to Stevie Caylor from Prescott and Noel Rima from Phoenix. Caylor was a relative unknown to the Phoenix players, but came with a full cheering section and an excellent game. Caylor beat Rima to take her place in the hot-seat. Rima faced off against Lourdes Lomeli and a combination of strong play from Lomeli and Rima running out of gas led to a Lomeli win. Lomeli had lost early in the event to Caylor, but was hoping to avenge that loss in the finals. The match was close, but Caylor came out on top again to earn the title of Az State BCA Ladies Champion.
The Men's Masters Division saw reigning champion Dennis Orender make his way through the field to earn the hot-seat with a win over Terry Tucker. Tucker led early, but Orender quickly overcame the deficit and cruised to victory. After Tucker eliminated teammate Pete Lhotka on the one loss side, he faced off against Orender in the finals. This time, it was Orender who took the early lead and Tucker trying to mount a comeback. Tucker made a valiant effort, but he not able to overcome Orender's lead and Dennis Orender earned his second straight Az BCA State Masters Title.
The Ladies Masters Division was a round-robin event with Susan Williams and Bernie Store emerging as the two top players. Store scored a dominating 5-1 win over Williams in their round robin match, but it was Williams scoring a 7-2 win over Store in the finals to earn the title. The Az State Ladies Masters Title will fit right next to Williams' BCA National Scotch Doubles title from earlier this year.
With all of the singles events completed, the team events got underway.
The Ladies Teams event came down to a showdown between The "A" Team from Alexanders in Phoenix and Kitty's Bad Cats from Kitty's in Phoenix. The Bad Cats are the reigning BCA Open Ladies Champions, but the "A" Team was full of top masters talent. The two teams faced off for the hot-seat with the "A" Team coming back from an early deficit to win. The Bad Cats were not very nice to the team from the Snap as they sent them home in third place to earn another shot at the "A" Team in the finals. The Bad Cats gave it all they had, but it was just not enough as the "A" Team took the win and the State Championship.
This only left the Open Teams event to be completed. All players in attendance could see that the early favorite in this event was Cop and Robbers. This team was packed with talent including reigning Masters Champion Dennis Orender and National Barbox 8-Ball Champion Mitch Ellerman. All of that talent was not enough to keep Cop and Robbers from the one loss side as the Land Sharks from Crazy Earls defeated them in the third round. The Land Sharks went on to defeat two more strong teams, X Factor from Phoenix and then the White Rhinos from Prescott to earn the hot-seat. Coming out of the one loss side to face them in the finals was none other than Cop and Robbers. The first match in the finals was a close one, but Cop and Robbers were able to earn the victory and force a second set. The Land Sharks found out that allowing Cop and Robbers to see the finish line was a bad idea as Cop and Robbers crushed the team from Crazy Earls in the final set to earn the State Championship.
It was another successful event with five of the six events being won by teams from Alexanders in Phoenix. A true testament to the level of talent that played out of Alexanders and also a statement as to what the players lost when Alexanders closed their doors earlier this year.
Payouts:
Ladies Open Division
1st Stevie Caylor $725
2nd Lourdes Lomelo $525
3rd Noel Rima $350
4th Sonia Florez $200
5th Natalie Hostler $100
5th Claudia Justus $100
7th Linda McBride-Adams $75
7th Char Alcott $75
Ladies Masters
1st Susan Williams $500
2nd Bernie Store $250
Men's Masters
1st Dennis Orender $550
2nd Terry Tucker $300
Men's Open Division
1st Jerry Stuckart $1300
2nd Robert Barry $900
3rd Bob Soto $600
4th Brandon Butler $350
5th Ed Parker $200
5th Joe Perez $200
7th Doc Rice $125
7th Todd Ludwigg $125
9th Andy Davis $75
9th David Sloan $75
9th Travis Kennedy $75
9th Tony Florez $75
13th Echo Ledger $50
13th Bill Vander Weyst $50
13th Al Barlow $50
13th Gary Wheeler $50
Mens Teams
1 Cop and Robbers $1800
2 Crazy Earls 2 $1200
3 White Rhinos $900
4 X Factor $550
Ladies Teams
1 "A" Team $1100
2 Kittys Bad Cats $650
