Two days, two tournaments, two stops on a single tour. That's what happened on the weekend of November 24-25, as the Western New York Tour began its 2012/2013 season. It started on Saturday, November 24 at Outback Billiards in Elmira, NY with an event that drew 15 entrants, and ended on Sunday at Camelot Billiards in Rochester, NY (two hours north) with an event that drew 10. Mike Nichols took the Saturday opener, defeating Tour Director Nick Brucato in the second and deciding set of the finals. Mark Creamer double dipped hot seat occupant Kyle Bova in the finals of the Sunday stop.
As Brucato labored in the left bracket of Saturday's event, Nichols and Lanny Phillips squared off in the hot seat match. Nichols had downed Jerry White 6-3, as Phillips survived a double hill match against Travis Arias. Nichols got into the hot seat 6-2 over Phillips and waited on Brucato.
On the loss side, Brucato defeated Rich Fontenez 7-2 and George Sigley 7-5 to draw Arias. White picked up Shaun Myer, who'd gotten by Joe Patalina and Mike Wishwanick, both 6-3. Brucato and Myer handed Arias and White their second straight loss; Brucato 7-3 over Arias, Myer 5-3 over White. Brucato ended Myer's day in the quarterfinals 7-4, and then kept Phillips from a rematch versus Nichols with a 7-3 victory in the semifinals.
Brucato took the opening set of the true double elimination final 7-2. He and Nichols battled to double hill in the second set, before Nichols prevailed to claim the season opening title.
On Sunday, finalists Mark Creamer and Kyle Bova met three times; first, among the winners' side final four, where Bova shut Creamer out. Jerry Sullivan, in the meantime, advanced to face Bova in the hot seat match, after defeating Lenny Gianfratti 7-6. Bova got into the hot seat with a double hill win over Sullivan, which proved to be his last match victory, while he waited on Creamer.
Creamer moved over to pick up Don Purdy, who'd defeated Jose Mirabelle 6-5 and shut out Nick Brucato. Gianfratti met up with Louis Ricio, who'd shut out Shane Longest and defeated Terry Bullhman 5-3. Creamer and Gianfratti got right back to work, defeating Purdy (5-1) and Ricio (5-3), respectively. Creamer then survived two straight double hill matches; the first against Gianfratti in the quarterfinals, and the second against Sullivan in the semifinals. He took the opening set of the true double elimination finals against Bova 7-5 and survived a third double hill match, taking the second set of the finals to claim the event title.
Tour Director Nick Brucato announced the winners of a series of awards associated with the tour's 2011/2012 season. Brucato, himself, was the tour's Points Champion, having averaged 187 points per tournament (3rd or better in all 24 stops). Dave Grau was awarded the tour's Master of the Table title, while Roger Jackson took home Most Improved Player honors. The players are slated to receive their awards in a ceremony at the tour's next stop; an annual Christmas tournament, scheduled for December 15, at Camelot Billiards in Rochester.
Saturday event
1st Mike Nichols $400
2nd Nick Brucato $210
3rd Lanny Phillips $85
Sunday event
1st Mark Creamer $375
2nd Kyle Bova $225
3rd Jerry Sullivan $125
