Kelly Fisher
Short of polling the players, it would be safe to say that the 40 women and 64 men who separately competed in The Americas Heyball Championships last weekend (July 8-11) at the Oakley Lindsay Center in Quincy, IL represented a broad array of experience with the game, ranging from people who were experiencing it for the first time to people with a good deal of experience. The latter was represented by the Ladies winner, Kelly Fisher, who at one time (as she put it) “way back, back, back in the day” had a Heyball table in her home.
Fisher had a great deal to say about the game (often spoken of as Chinese pool) and spoke about it at some length in a report (elsewhere in the News). She spoke of it as a game that might at some point down the road be considered as a possibility for the Olympics. She likes the game and as her victory in the event demonstrates, has a more than passing familiarity with it.
The Americas Heyball Championships were held in conjunction with the Billiards Education Foundation’s Junior National Championships at the Oakley Lindsay Center, which, as this report is being filed, is still ongoing. The two winners, Kelly and Corey Deuel, are members of the sport’s elite and signal an awareness and potential for growth which is likely to play out with an increase in the number of events, utilizing it as the ‘game of record.’
Both events played out in modified, double-elimination style with the men’s higher numbers leading to a round of 16 (eight from each side of the bracket), quarterfinals, semifinals and the finals. The Ladies, eight of whom were seeded into a second round in the double-elimination bracket, played two rounds (the seeded competitors) or three (for those who played in the opening round) for qualification into their quarterfinals and went on from there.
Following her opening round bye, Kelly Fisher chalked up two straight shutouts over Julie Ann Mitchell and Janet Atwell, which put her (Fisher) into the event quarterfinals against Savannah Easton. Joining her in the quarterfinals from the winners’ side of the double-elimination bracket were South Africa’s Marina Jacobs (who’d defeated eventual runner-up April Larson in their qualifying round), Turkey’s Eylul Kibaroglu (who’d survived a double-hill match against Sofia Mast), and the ‘other’ Fisher (Allison), who’d defeated Ada Lio 6-1 in her qualifying round.
From the loss side of the bracket, all of the women who qualified played a single, loss-side match to join the single-elimination competition. Larson downed Mexico’s Elissa Navarrete to draw Kibaroglu, Mast benefited from a forfeit by Samm Diep-Vidal to pick up Jacobs, and Atwell defeated Jordan Helfrey to join the ‘other’ Allison.
Fisher defeated Mast 6-2 and advanced to the finals. Larson eliminated Fisher 6-3 to join her. Fisher closed it out with a 6-4 victory over Larson and took home The Women’s 2024 Americas Heyball Championship title.
“She played well,” said Fisher of Larson’s effort, adding that in a conversation after their match, Larson told her that she wished she had more time to practice the game. Larson, who was still on a bit of a ‘high’ from being engaged in the first (Pro) final of her professional career, agreed.
“With more time to practice, I would practice every day,” she said, adding that she agreed with Fisher’s assessment that in Heyball, the cue stroke itself is very important. “I love the (game). Absolutely love it.”
“It’s a game that drives you crazy,” Fisher told her, “but with a little more practice, you could play better and well.”
“Being the first-ever finals of my career,” said Larson, “it was nervousness in itself. You tighten up, you’re not comfortable and of course, my first finals played out on the tightest pockets ever. I was trying to stay loose because any thing, any flinch, the ball I knew the ball was going to rattle in a pocket.”
“That nervousness cost me,” she added, “and of course, Kelly took advantage of the opportunities that I gave her.”
Fueling her joy at her first runner-up finish was her elation about her semifinal victory over Allison Fisher. Not so much because she’d won it, but because of what Allison told her afterwards.
“She said she’d learned a lot by watching me play,” said Larson. “You made my tournament, I told her. She’s always been one of my biggest supporters and it was the best compliment on earth.”
“Look at the photos,” she added. “I can’t wipe the grin off my face.”
Corey Deuel
Strong start and three double-hill battles put Deuel into the Men’s winners’ circle
Corey Deuel demonstrated some early skills at this new Heyball game, opening up against three opponents, allowing them a total of only two racks in 23 games; none to Greg Gallegos, and one each to Joe Nielsen and Mason Koch. He would go on to win three, double-hill matches, including the final, that would put the title in his hands.
It should be noted, too, that Heyball brought “The Kentucky Colonel,” BCA Hall of Famer Nick Varner ‘out of the woodwork,’ so to speak. His last two known payouts at the tables came in the 7th and 8th Annual Seniors One Pocket Classics in Houston, TX at which he was runner-up in 2022 and won in 2023, both the only known (by us) appearances at the tables in those years. Prior to that, he hadn’t recorded a cash payout with us since 2016 and had won his last event in 2007’s Big Orange Classic VI in Knoxville, TN. Played out under the auspices of Shannon Daulton’s Great Southern Billiards Tour, Varner defeated Daulton in the event finals of that Big Orange Classic. His best recorded earnings year was 2006, in a career that according to our records began in 1986 with a 3rd place finish in the US Open 9-Ball Championships.
Varner won his first two matches against Adrian Prassad 6-2 and Patrick McMullan 6-3 would have qualified him for the single-elimination phase, but in a double-hill fight versus Brad Hutchins, he was eliminated.
Joining Deuel from the winners’ side of the bracket, advancing to the final 16, were Ukraine’s Vitaliy Patsura, the aforementioned Wayne Parker, Ricky Evans, Xudong Yang, Krzysztof Derewonski, Clint l’Anson, and Steven Ellis. Joining them from the loss side were Kurshan Moodley, Mason Koch, Brad Hutchins, Bill Dunne, Payne McBride, Junior Junior, Tye Wang, and Craig Brown.
From the top of the final 16 bracket, Patsura downed McBride 7-2, Parker eliminated Junior Junior 7-3, Deuel survived his first double-hill battle against Wang and Brown defeated Ricky Evans7-3. From the lower half, Yang got by Moodley 7-3, Derewonski defeated Koch 7-2, L’Anson eliminated Hutchins 7-3 and Ellis got by Bill Dunne.
Three of the four quarterfinals went double hill with Patsura eliminating Parker, Deuel chalking up his second double-hill win, and l’Anson downing Ellis. Yang edged out in front near the end of his match versus Derewonski to win 7-5 and advance to the semifinals.
Deuel came out on top against Patsura 7-4 in their semifinal matchup as l’Anson gave up just a single rack to Yang to join Deuel in the finals. In Deuel’s third and l’Anson’s only double-hill match, it was Deuel who prevailed to claim The America’s 2024 Heyball Championships.
0 comments