Brett Stottlemyer came back from a first-set defeat in a true double elimination final against Shaun Wilkie to win the second set and take top honors at the Poison Planet Pool Tour stop on the weekend of Aug. 6-7. Tina Morfessif did much the same thing in the ladies event, coming back from an opening set defeat at the hands of Linda Shea, and surviving a second set, double hill battle. The $1,000-added Open event drew 32, while the $1,000-added Ladies event drew 12 to Triple Nines Bar & Billiards in Elk Ridge, MD.
In the Open event, Stottlemyer advanced to the hot seat with a winners' side final four, 9-2 victory over Ryan McCreesh, and then a 9-7 won over Matt Krah. Krah had sent Josh Brothers west 9-7. Krah went to the semifinals, and Stottlemyer waited for what turned out to be the return of Shaun Wilkie, who was in the midst of winning six in a row on the one-loss side.
McCreesh moved over and ran right into Wilkie, who, by this time, had three notches on his 'return' belt, including 7-3 wins over Gary Slanary and Sergie Bolotin. Brothers picked up Manny Orino, who'd sent Wilkie over in a second round, double hill match, and then, after joining him in the west bracket, defeated Paul Oh 7-5 and Alan Duty 7-4.
Wilkie moved into the quarterfinals with a 7-4 victory over McCreesh. Brothers denied Wilkie a re-match against Orino by shutting him out. Wilkie chalked up his fifth straight on the one-loss side with a 7-5 victory over Brothers in the quarterfinals and made it six in a row with a double hill win over Krah in the semifinals.
With that ever-welcome sense of momentum, Wilkie took the opening set of the true double elimination final 9-6. With an equally ever-welcome sense of determination, Stottlemyer fought back in the second set, and won it 7-5 to capture the first place prize.
In the ladies event, the eventual winner, Morfessif, sent Shea to the semifinals with a 6-4 victory that put her in the hot seat. Shea, who'd won the last two stops on her own tour (JPNEWT), moved over to face Lai Li. Li had defeated Kia Sudbury in the quarterfinal match 5-2. Shea didn't give up a single rack against Li in the semifinals and took the opening set of the true double elimination final versus Morfessif 6-2.
At that point in time, their respective records over the course of their previous two matches was 11-2 (Shea), and 8-6 (Morfessif). Not surprisingly, a battle ensued. Morfessif hung on to win, but not before Shea had brought her to the double hill brink of elimination.
Open
1st Brett Stottlemyer $760
2nd Shaun Wilkie $400
3rd Matt Krah $250
4th Josh Brothers $200
5th Manny Orino $125
Ryan McCreesh
7th Alan Duty $100
Sergei Bolotin
Ladies
1st Tina Morfessif $400
2nd Linda Shea $200
3rd Lai Li $100
4th Kia Sidbury $50
