(l to r): S. Ahmed, A. Petruzzelli, M. Argentino, L. Lisciotti, J. Concepcion, and A. Gonzalez
One doesn’t toss out the word ‘dominate’ lightly, no matter what the circumstances, because as anyone familiar with pool will tell you, a wide score disparity doesn’t always reflect how close any given match may have been. That said, Mario Argentino and Lance Lisciotti went undefeated through a field of 39 teams of two, on-hand for the New England 9-Ball Series’ $500-added (8-Ball on the winners’ side and 9-Ball on the loss side) Summer Sizzler Partners Event, hosted by Yale Billiards in Wallingford, CT on Sunday, August 4. The victory encompassed six matches in all and over those six matches, the Argentino/Lisciotti partnership allowed a total of only six racks to be recorded against them, culminating in back-to-back shutouts in the hot seat match and finals.
Following an opening round bye, Argentino and Lisciotti, who would never compete in 9-Ball in this event, embarked on their arguably dominant performance giving up a single rack to their first two partnered opponents and then running into a pair of players in a winners’ side quarterfinal who brought them to the double hill brink of a loss – Ricardo Diaz and Beau Powers. Argentino/Lisciotti survived the scare and advanced to a winners’ side semifinal versus Tyler Boudreau and Tom D’Alfonso, who were the closest matched competitors in terms of Fargo Rates that the two faced all weekend. Argentino/Lisciotti came to the tables with a 587 (combined, averaged) Fargo Rate. Boudreau/D’Alfonso were three points away at 584. In the other winners’ side semifinal, Jose Concepcion and Angel Gonzalez met up with Jay Cunningham and Jordan Stevens.
Argentino/Lisciotti gave up their sixth (and unbeknownst to the assembled, their final) rack, defeating Boudreau/D’Alfonso 4-1. Concepcion/Gonzalez joined them in the hot seat match following a 3-2 win over Cunningham/Stevens. In what was one of only two handicapped matches among the event’s final 14 matches, Argentino/Lisciotti shut the Concepcion/Gonzalez team out (the Concepcion/Gonzalez team began the match with a single ‘bead on the wire’ in a race to 4) and sat in the hot seat, awaiting their return.
On the loss side, Boudreau/Alfonso picked up Jason D’Angelo and Joey Dupuis, who’d recently defeated the Diaz/Powers duo that had double-hill challenged Argentino/Lisciotti in the 4th winners’ side round. D’Angelo/Dupuis double-hill challenged and eliminated them, before advancing to defeat Gene Hunt and Ruben Sepulveda 4-1 to pick up Boudreau/D’Alfonso. Cunningham/Stevens drew Shiekh Ahmed and Anthony Petruzzelli, who’d eliminated Adam Blair and Josh Caesar 3-1 and survived a double hill match against Bobby and Rebecca Hilton.
In the first of the money rounds, Ahmed/Petruzzelli handed Cunningham/Stevens their second straight loss 3-1 and were joined in the quarterfinal match by Boudreau/D’Alfonso, who’d survived a double hill battle against D’Angelo/Dupuis. Another double hill fight ensued in those quarterfinals, with Ahmed/Petruzzelli eventually advancing to the semifinals over Boudreau/D’Alfonso.
Concepcion/Gonzalez, no doubt eager for a second shot against the hot seat’s Argentino/Lisciotti team, gave up only a single rack to Ahmed/Petruzzelli in the semifinals and got that chance. Argentino/Lisciotti, though, doubled down on the dominance angle, shutting Concepcion/Gonzalez out in the second handicapped match of the event’s final 14 and claiming the Summer Sizzler Partners title.
Tour director Marc Dionne thanked the ownership and staff at Yale Billiards, as well as sponsors Predator Cues, USAPL New England, Fargo Rate, Bert Kinister, AZBilliards, Inside English, Professor Q-ball’s National Pool and 3-Cushion News, Delta 13 Racks, MJS Construction, Bob Campbell with Lease Fundings, Master Billiards and OTLVISE Billiard Mechanics of America. The next stop on the New England 9-Ball Series, scheduled for this weekend (August 11), will be hosted by Snooker’s in Providence, RI.
