Thursday, March 15, 2007
One and a half result
One match needs 7 in the weirdest of ways, the other... Well it only took 5. Literally. Who would win on a night where the NL and AL play both finished up for the week? We start with the only match I actually got to pay attention to (helps that I reffed it I guess)... UNY against Pool Loverz.
UNY_heartagram_x666 (W) - PZ_unbullevable - heart got stuck behind his own 8 with a fairly open table, fouled trying to make any contact at all... unbullevable would go on to wi--...scratch with a gimme finish, and heartagram would tak--...Miss the 8 and then unbullevable would too! Nobody wanted to win! 1-0 UNY, heart finally got the 8 to fall.
UNY_lilmslenna - PZ_calfroperTX (W) - Roper made 5 straight stripes before slenna nailed a point-n-fire 2-rail cue-combo, off the left and top rails. She wouldn't finish the run, however. Roper would be JUST able to position properly for his final ball, the 9... then almost hit in the 8 as it bounced back and forth between the right and left walls, but he saved that for his next shot, 1-1.
UNY_fasteddie1722 (W) - PZ_ddUP - Slow start as eddie tap-broke. Game went pretty quickly though, in comparison to other games beginning with tap-breaks. One solid blocked by a stripe, and a stripe blocked by a solid. Both near the top-right pocket. dd had to play a long touch safety, put too much on it, and fast eddie takes the win to put UNY up 2-1.
UNY_aggressive_wlfcherokee - PZ_xlx_old.school_xlx (W) - Tap-fest. All the balls ended up on the bottom half of the table, all the way across, at one point. oldie's 6ball was halfway in the bottom middle pocket. wlfcherokee a nice bank on the 9, bottom to top right. Looked at the 13-15 combo... couldn't roll it into the bottom right and OS would go on the defensive. wlf intentionall hit a 1-6 combo to get rid of that "bail-out" ball. cherokee took his time on the 11, with 3 stripes left, trying to make the perfect shot... he came SO close to pulling it off. oldschool misplayed the next shot he got though, and had to come up with a bank just to get out of his own safety. He played it about as well as he could've with the cue coming off the top rail. wlf couldn't make him pay for the initial mistake with a run, so oldschoot capitalized with a nice tap, shielding off the 10 with his 4. Finally in the end, as the clock passed 9:00, wlfcherokee got ball in hand, but left a long 8-shot. He would miss that... old.school finally ends this long-ass game. It's 2-2.
UNY_Boom31 - PZ_xlx_demon_shooter_xlx (W) - This one went FAST. Shooter went for the run, caught a break or two, but couldn't quite finish. Boom made a CRITICAL mistake. Left an easy carom shot, and Demon took it. Rolled the 5 off the 12 into the top middle, made the last solid after, winner. 3-2 PZ.
UNY_i_stay_fuked_up2 (S) - PZ_angelofmercy_tx - Lenny trying to click for PZ... fuked_up trying to make game 7 worth it. He bounced the 3 off the 12-ball into the top right, made the 7 same pocket, but spun the cue off the top rail into the bottom right pocket! Chance for Lenny to take the game and run away with it. 9 bottom middle, 14 top middle, 11 top left. 15 bottom left... 12 bottom right... Yes. 8 along the top rail to the top right pocket, money, 4-2 PZ... BUT SHE scratches as the cue followed the ball! So we're tied at 3!
UNY_chao_tactic - PZ_ll_goodwooter_ll (D) - Tap break, and the fun begins. Chao tried to break it out by knocking the 9 in the top left. Went for a run, banked the 14 home off the top rail, and it caught a piece of the 4... bottom right! Just left himself a shot on the 10, same pocket. Made that but didn't leave ANYTHING after. Tried to bank the 12 off the bottom to the top left but never had a chance anyways. So goodwooter would go to work. Chris played a great safety, got ball-in-hand, played another making the 1-12 combo in the top left. The last stripe for chao, the 11, was on the top rail shielded by the 7. Wooter got ball-in-hand one more time, and finished the job. 4-3 PZ comes out on top in a real scare.
So Pool Loverz in that AL... Don't look now but they're 2-0, led by goodwooter at that "anchor" position. He's gonna make a run if he continues to pick up clutch wins like this, at the AL MVP. This match featured two leagues that could be fighting for that wildcard spot, but the way PZ has played... Maybe they can get into that top 3. A lot of competition to go up against, though... UNY, I think they've settled in as an MLP league now. A little harder to get 7 as opposed to 5 for a match, but they've been reliable so far and have shown they can play. The sky isn't exactly the limit for them this season, but I think that they could be one of those teams fighting for a spot in a wildcard play-in game.
Over the weekend... Between life and the NCAA tourney, I'll post my new top 5. How far did Pool Legends move up? Not much of a change at the top, I'll tell you now. 8BR and PFN are still 1-2 in that order.
Also, next week's Match of the Week, Upset Special, and this week's Player of the Week. You won't believe who I'm taking for an Upset Special next week.
