Kevin Scalzitti, Patrick Langley and Jay Pass
Kevin Scalzitti kept getting tougher and tougher to beat as he and 20 New Jersey area players competed in the Garden State Pool Tour’s 4th Annual Fall Brawl on the weekend of September 12-13. And then, came the finals and Patrick Langley, who’d won seven on the loss side for the right to face him. The two fought to double hill before Scalzitti could chalk up the win. The event drew 21 entrants to Players Billiards in Eatontown, NJ.
As it happened, Scalzitti, who was the Tri-State Tour’s best B player in their 2015-2016 season, started and ended the tournament with a double hill win. He opened with one against Mike Johnson before he began tightening up against oncoming competition, downing Chris Schmidt 7-4 and running into Justin Pelech in a winners’ side semifinal. It was Pelech who’d sent Patrick Langley to the loss side in a double hill fight.
Scalzitti downed Pelech 7-3 and then, 7-2, defeated Jay Pass to claim the hot seat. He waited on what turned out to be the return of Langley.
Langley opened his loss-side campaign with a 5-2 victory over TJ Casper. He followed up with victories over Ed Wolley 5-1, Chris Schmidt 5-2 and Tony Ignomirello 5-1 to move into the first money rounds and draw a re-match against Pelech. Langley returned the double-hill-defeat favor and then downed Alex Vangelov 5-1 in the quarterfinals. Langley won his seventh loss-side match defeating Pass in the semifinals by the same 5-1 score.
Scalzitti and Langley fought to double hill, and it was Langley who was at the table with only the 8-ball and 9-ball left in the final rack. Langley dropped the 8-ball, but his attempt at position on the 9-ball failed. Scalzitti came back to the table, finished his undefeated run and claimed the event title.
The next stop on the Garden State Pool Tour, scheduled for Sunday, Sept. 27, will be a B/C/D Class 9-Ball event, hosted by Side Pocket Billiards in Howell, NJ.
