The BCAPL National 8-Ball Championships is well underway, and between the Scotch Doubles and Singles tournaments, this event has kept the Riviera's convention centers packed with both players and fans.
Play in the Masters Scotch Doubles will conclude today, as well as the Grand Master singles divisons. Men's and Women's Master, Open, Player Member, and Senior divisions will be continuing into tomorrow, with the team events beginning on Wednesday.
Check out the update below on who's making it to the top of the ranks here at the BCA, and click here to check out our photo gallery from Sunday...
Scotch Doubles play in the Masters division will resume today, and New York's own Liz Ford and "Spain" Marc Vidal in the hot seat ready for the finals. This field started out with 67 teams competing for a grand prize of $3,100.
One the one-loss side at noon today, the quarterfinalists faced off at 12 noon today, with Ike Runnels and Amy Latzko matching up against another team of New Yorkers, husband/wife team Steve Lipsky and Gina Kim-Lipsky. Ike and Amy would dominate this match by a score of 5-1 The other quarterfinal match saw Debby and Jim Carmona fall to Ricki Casper and Danny Tam, 5-2.
Open Scotch Doubles
The Open Scotch Doubles, which started out with 395 teams vying for $4,100, will also resume today at noon, with two matches remaining on the winner's side:
Larry & Andrea Wilson vs. Ranee Brackel & Douglas James
Laura Ceschini-Leonard & Ben Liu vs. Dawn Fital & Kenneth Brisbon
The one-loss side has a number of contenders remaining who will continue to fight it out to make it to the top today at noon as well.
Women's Grand Masters Singles
In the Women's Grand Masters division, there were a host of major WPBA players like Allison Fisher, Sarah Rousey, Yu Ram Cha, and Kelly Fisher competing, just to name a few. This division had 37 total players competing for a grand prize of $2,500.
However, it was Julia Gabriel from St. Charles, Missouri who landed in the hot seat, defeating Melissa Little 7-4 to get there.
Melissa had previously knocked Allison Fisher to the one-loss side, and faced Korean Champion "Little Lightning" Yu-Ram Cha in the semifinals today at noon. Yu-Ram dominated Melissa by a final score of 7-3.
21-year-old Yu-Ram (named WPBA's Most Improved Player) was knocked to the once loss side by World Champion Allison Fisher, however, Yu-Ram avenged her loss on the one-loss side, in what ended up as a hill-hill battle. Allison got to the hill first with a score of 6-5.
Yu-Ram won the following game, and in the winning game, Allison was left with a tough cut on the 9-ball in the side to get to the 8, and she barely over-cut it. This left Yu-Ram with 6 balls to run out, which she proceeded to do for the clinch win.
Yu Ram is currently facing Julia Gabriel in the finals, and must beat her twice to win the Championship.
Men's Grand Masters Singles
The men's grand masters also saw a number of best men's 8-ball players from around the world come out to play for a grand prize of $3,400, like England's Daryl Peach,
USA's Shane Van Boening & Jason Kirkwood, and Filipinos Rodolfo Luat, Warren Kiamco, Dennis Orcullo, Roberto Gomez Jr.
However, it was the relatively unknown Simon Pickering of Canada who out-matched this incredible field of players. Pickering recently finished 9th in the US Bar Table Championships and finished 5th in last year's Grand Masters. To get to the hot seat, Pickering had to beat the legendary Sal Butera, followed by Roberto Gomez Jr. to win a spot in the finals.
It would be Shane Van Boening (who lost to Gomez on the winners side) who would come back through the one-loss side, beating Chris Szuter and avenging Gomez, to land in the finals.
The final match would be a close hill-hill match in a race to 7, with Pickering coming back from behind to take down Van Boening. Congratulations to Simon
Pickering for running through this tremendous field and claiming the BCAPL Men's Grand Master title!
Women's Master Singles
Fighting for a top prize of $4,400, sixty-six of the toughest women's amateurs and sem-pros came out to battle at the BCAPL.
Some of the top names still fighting for this title include Mary Rakin, Janet Atwell, Brittany Bryant, Ming Ng, Samm Diep, Jessica Frideres, and Jacqui Herrera-Schroeder, as well as NYC's own Gina Kim-Lipsky, who remains undefeated.
Men's Master Singles
The Men's Masters single division, which brought together 143 of the toughest amateur men's 8-ball players from around the country, has recently been narrowed down to the final bracket.
Some of the top names in this division include Larry Price, Matt Krah, Danny Petralba, Jason Klatt, and Shayne Morrow. This tournament will continue on
until the finals on Tuesday to battle for a $5,500 top prize, and it could be anybody's game.
Women's Open Singles
The women's open singles has been narrowed down to the final bracket out of 6 preliminary brackets, and the competition for these ladies is only going to get tougher from here.
Some mentionable names in this division include Cristina De La Garza (who is among the undefeated) and Amy Chen(on the one loss side). New York ladies still fighting on the one-loss side today include Supadra Boonpasook, Gail Glazebrook, and Michele Li. However, it is still too early to hedge any bets on who will rise to the top.
Men's Open Singles
Players in 32 bracket are still fighting it out to make it to the final bracket for the chance at this tremendous title, as this event has the largest number of players at the BCAPL.
New York has a number of it's top league players from Amsterdam Billiards in the running for this title, including Brian Lau who is still on the winner's side and set to play at 3:00. Jude Rosenstock & Ron Parks Jr, who were undefeated until 9am today, will continue on in the one-loss side, as well as Matthew Brewer and Chris Root.
Stay on the NYC Grind, as we will have more updates coming up on how these divisions play out, as well as updates on the Seniors and the Player Member events.
Click Here to Check out Our Photo Gallery from Sunday's Action...
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