David Leggat and Kevin Scalzitti
You'd think, having defeated someone in the opening round of a tournament, that the chances of seeing that player a second time, especially in the finals, would be minimal; too many possibilities, both in terms of the number of matches played on the loss side of a double elimination bracket, and the vagaries of individual matches played during that run. But it happens.
Just ask Kevin Scalzitti, who on Sunday, May 7, at a $640-added event that drew 29 entrants to BQE Billiards in Jackson Heights (Queens), NY, was one match away from an undefeated run on the Tri-State Tour, only to have the opponent he'd defeated 7-2 in the opening round - David Leggat - return from a seven-match, loss-side run and not only defeat him, but shut him out in the finals.
It was not the tournament's only oddity. It was an A/B, C/D tournament, which means (meant) that the two sets of rankings are (were) separated at the beginning into different brackets, and only combined into a single event bracket towards the end. But there were 21 players ranked in the lower C/D bracket, while there were only eight in the upper A/B bracket. In effect, with their own separate bracket, the C/D players had to play three rounds to advance to the same spot in which the eight A/B players began. Two wins put two A/B players into a winners' side semifinal. It took four wins to put two C/D players into a winners' side semifinal.
Advancing to those winners' side semifinals were Scalzitti, who faced Amir Uddin, and Ron Bernardo, who squared off against Dax Druminski. Scalzitti got by Uddin, double hill, and in the hot seat match, met Bernardo, who'd sent Druminski to the loss side 6-4. Scalzitti claimed the hot seat 7-3 over Bernardo, without a clue that he'd just won his last game of the tournament.
On the loss side, Leggat was working his way back. With two under his belt already, he downed Chumreon Sukaritachul 7-3 and Thomas Schreiber, double hill, to draw Uddin. Druminski picked up Dementhriss Hudson, who'd defeated Pashk Gjini 6-1 and Zouraiz Ellahi 6-4.
Leggat and Hudson advanced to the quarterfinals; Leggat 7-5 over Uddin, and Hudson 6-3 over Druminski. Leggat took the quarterfinal match 7-3 over Hudson, and then completed his loss-side run with a 7-3 win over Bernardo in the semifinals.
The Leggat/Scalzitti re-match was an extended race to 9 in the finals. Leggat needed to reach seven wins first, to extend the match to nine games. He did so without giving up a rack and added two more to claim his first Tri-State title in only two attempts.
Tour representatives thanked the ownership and staff at BQE Billiards, as well as sponsors Ozone Billiards, Sterling-Gaming, Kamui Tips, Ron Vitello, Phil Capelle, BlueBook Publishing, Human Kinetics, and Bloodworth Ball Cleaners. The next stop on the Tri-State Tour, scheduled for Saturday, May 13, will be hosted by Steinway Billiards in Astoria (Queens), NY. A week later, the Tri-State will be at Clifton Billiards in Clifton, NJ before joining the Predator and Mezz Tours in presenting the 7th Annual George "Ginky" Sansouci Memorial, scheduled for May 27-29 at Steinway Billiards. Event coordinators are reminding players that the "Ginky" Memorial is a pre-paid event (which fills up fast in both the Amateur and Pro events). Contact a representative from any of the tours for information on signing up before the May 21 deadline.
