Teddy LaPadula, Dionysios Pastras and Dennis Kennedy
Dionysius Pastras, a new name on the Tri-State Tour, worked his way through a 'minefield' of veteran tour players, including Teddy Lapadula twice, to capture his first Tri-State (or any other) title. He went undefeated through a field of 19, on-hand for the $750-added event, hosted by Clifton Billiards, in Clifton, NJ.
Pastras' effort was almost derailed early, when he faced Brett Fenstermacher in the opening round. He survived a double hill battle in that opening round, and went on to defeat Ed Crespo, and Dave Ascolese, putting him into a winners' side semifinal against Gary Murgia. LaPadula, in the meantime, squared off against Dennis Kennedy. LaPadula defeated Kennedy, double hill, while Pastras got by Murgia 7-4. Pastras moved into his first hot seat with a 7-4 win over LaPadula.
On the loss side, Murgia drew Brian Cap, who'd benefited from a forfeit (by Ascolese) and defeated Ed Crespo, double hill. Kennedy got Allison Honeymar, who'd been awarded a loss-side bye and then defeated Frankie Scanlon 6-3. Murgia defeated Cap 7-2, as Kennedy got by Honeymar 6-5.
Kennedy took the quarterfinal match 7-3 over Murgia, but ran into something of a buzz saw. LaPadula shut him out in the subsequent semifinals (he'd been responsible for sending Kennedy to the loss side), and got his second crack at the 'new kid on the block,' Pastras.
LaPadula established his credentials with two straight racks at the outset of the finals. He and Pastras then traded racks to a 3-1, LaPadula lead, before Pastras evened things up with two racks of his own. It went back forth to a 5-5 tie, before Pastras pulled away with another two in a row to win it 7-5 and claim his first Tri-State title.
Tour representatives thanked the ownership and staff at Clifton Billiards, as well as sponsors Ozone Billiards, Sterling-Gaming, Kamui Tips, Ron Vitello, Focus Cases by John Bartron, Phil Capelle, BlueBook Publishing, Human Kinetics , and Focus Apparel. The next stop on the Tri-State Tour, scheduled for Saturday, January 31 at the Cue Bar in Bayside (Queens), NY.
