Dennis Hatch
Story and Photos By NYC Grind Contributor, Alison M. Fischer
On Sunday, September 13, 2009 the two-day Seminole Tribe of Florida Empire State Championships, came to a close. As this event, held at Raxx Pool Room, Sports Bar & Grill in West Hempstead, NY was sanctioned in the Seminole Pro Tour as well as the Predator 9-ball Tour, a number of Seminole Tour players were in attendance, including Tony Crosby, Mike Davis, Stevie Moore, John DiToro, and Bill Dunsmore.
Some of the other top players vying for the title included defending champion Marc “Spain” Vidal, George Sansouci, Dennis Hatch, Eddie Abraham, Matt Krah, Jeremy Sossei, Manny Chau, Al Lapena, Ryan McCreesh, Shaun Wilkie, Joey Kong, Frankie Hernandez, Evan Broxmeyer, Joey Korsiak, and Adam Kielar. Veteran player and instructor Marty Herman also came from Boston for this event, and finished in the top 24. Tour owner Tony Robles was very pleased with the turnout of 103 players, especially considering that two other major events, the Predator International 10-ball Tour and The Galveston World Classic, were going on the same time.
A number of these top players clashed in the early rounds, with Jeremy Sossei defeating Eddie Abraham 7-4, Oscar Bonilla upsetting Stevie Moore 7-3, and Adam Kielar turning George Sansouci to the one loss side with a 7-2 lashing. Adam continued with a 7-4 win over Eddie Culhane and drilled Sean “Alaska” Morgan 7-1, but was not able to overcome Manny Chau in a match that went hill-hill.
Click Here to view our photo galleries from both Day 1 and Day 2 of this event.
Meeting with Manny on Day 2 was Shaun Wilkie, who had previously defeated both Stevie Moore and Jeremy Sossei, 7-3. However, Wilkie did not pose much of a problem for the dominating Manny Chau, who won by a 9-4 score.
Al Lapena was also a force to be reckoned with at this event, running through Teddy Cook 7-2, Shawn Sookhai 7-1, Thomas Wan 7-1, and Tony Robles 7-2, making his way to Day 2, where he defeated Ken Kerner 9-4.
Al Lapena
Meanwhile, Albany-based Jeff Smolen had a strong run of his own, defeating Scott Tollefson 7-4 and Joey Korsiak 7-5, but then ran into Tony Crosby, who scoured the match 9-4.
In the top quarter of the bracket, Florida’s John DiToro was on a mission which not even Dennis Hatch could break. DiToro finished off Hatch in a hill-hill battle, and followed it up with a 7-3 win over Ryan McCreesh, to move on to defeat Joey Kong 9-6 on Day 2.
Winner’s Bracket Showdown:
The first semi-final match of the winner’s bracket was a face off between two Seminole Tour rivals, Tony Crosby and John DiToro. The two players, who are also closely ranked on the Seminole Tour (4th and 5th respectively), also had a tight set which would go hill-hill, with DiToro closing out the winning game.
John DiToro
Al Lapena and Manny Chau were featured in the other semi-final match, where Lapena’s dominant run would come to an end, as Chau eliminated him by a 9-3 score.
In the hot seat match, John DiToro and Manny Chau kept the score locked until they reached 6-6, when Chau ran away with the last three games to win 9-6.
The One-Loss Side:
There were still a number of tough players fighting it out on the one-loss side as Day 2 arrived. One of them was Maryland grinder, Ryan McCreesh, who eliminated Stevie Moore 9-7, Ken Kerner 9-5, and finally George Sansouci 9-1. Ryan is an exciting player to watch, as he has a unique style and swagger to his game, and this event was no exception.
Ryan McCreesh
Coming over from the winner’s bracket to meet McCreesh after his loss to John DiToro was “The Sniper” Tony Crosby. The two had a closely-fought match, but Crosby would take control to win 9-6. Crosby, definitely one of the favorites in this event, is not only a pro pool player, but he is also the creator of Stroke It Wear apparel as well as a new cue line recently launched with Corey Deuel, called Concept Cues. On top of that, Tony Crosby also runs the KF Cue Tour in Florida.
Tony Crosby
After an early loss from John DiToro, Dennis Hatch also went on a mission, grinding his way through matches against Lionel Rivera 7-2, Adam Kielar 9-7, Jeremy Sossei 9-8, Jeff Smolen 9-2, and defending Empire State Champion Marc Vidal 9-7.
The Quarter-Final:
In the quarterfinal match, it was North vs South with Dennis Hatch and Tony Crosby. Hatch jumped to an early 5-1 lead in this set, but made a few errors in the following games, allowing Crosby back in the set and win the following five racks, taking the lead at 6-5.
However, a dry break cost him in the next rack, and after Hatch broke and ran the following rack, Hatch reclaimed the lead at 7-6. Crosby returned with another break and run to tie at 7-7, but Dennis Hatch closed out the set with two more wins to move on to the semi-final. Although Crosby did not make it to the finals of this event, his 4th place finish helped push him up to the #1 ranked position on the Seminole Pro Tour.
The Semi-Final:
After falling to Manny Chau in the hot seat match, John DiToro faced a hot Dennis Hatch… which is never good to be on the receiving end. DiToro had a tough time finding his break in this match, which gave a big advantage to Hatch. Dennis Hatch would lead the match the match all the way through, with DiToro never getting closer than three games from Hatch.
Dennis Hatch
The Final Match:
After a long, grueling fight through the one-loss side, Dennis Hatch reached the finals against undefeated Manny Chau, in one final race to 11. Starting off the set, Chau looked comfortable and in-control, jumping to a 3-0 lead on Hatch, exhibiting fantastic shot making. However, after scratching off a tremendous cut shot in game four, Dennis picked up some momentum, winning the next two games.
At one of the critical points in the match, Chau led by 5-3, but fouled by moving the two ball with his shirt while shooting the one ball, giving Hatch ball in hand to run out and close the gap to 5-4. Both players continued to play solid, and Dennis Hatch stayed hot on Manny Chau’s trail.
Manny Chau
Manny would get to the hill first at 10-7, but miss a surprising 6 ball to run out the win, then Hatch broke and ran to edge closer at 10-9. Manny had a promising break in the next rack, but when he shot a 3-5 combo, the 3 would roll out of sight, forcing him to kick. They exchanged kick safes, but Manny left an open bank for Dennis, which he fired in to run out and go hill-hill.
Dennis Hatch was breaking in the final hill-hill game, and needless to say, he was fired up. Hatch crushed the rack with his break and had a relatively open table, with the exception of the 5 and 6 sitting on opposite rails. After making the four ball, the crowd watched in shock as the cue ball rolled nearly on top of the 5 ball, leaving Dennis in a very challenging positions. However, Dennis sliced the 5-ball straight into the corner, and the cue ball bounced three rails for perfect position on the 6 to run out the rack and win the title of 2009 Empire State Champion. Check out the Cuetable.com diagram below that illustrates Dennis Hatch’s winning shot:
Congratulations to Dennis Hatch for an incredible comeback to win the 2nd Annual Empire State 9-ball Championships, and to Manny Chau for an impressive performance throughout the event.
Tour owner Tony Robles, Runner-up Manny Chau, Winner Dennis Hatch, Semi-Finalist John DiToro, and Seminole Tour Director Kevin Pickard
Payout:
1st: Dennis Hatch $3,000
2nd: Manny Chau $2,000
3rd: John DiToro $1,500
4th: Tony Crosby $1,000
5th/6th: Al Lapena, Ryan McCreesh $600
7th/8th: “Ginky” George Sansouci, Marc Vidal $450
9th-12th: Ken Kerner, Shaun Wilkie, Jeff Smolen, Joey Kong $325
13th-16th: Stevie Moore, Joey Korsiak, Jeremy Sossei, Mike Davis $225
17th-24th: Noel Bensurto, John Alicea, Matt Krah, Nelson Olivera, Tony Robles, Eddie Vasquez, Adam Kielar, Marty Herman $150
Tony Robles and the Predator Tour staff would like to thank presenting sponsor, The Seminole Tribe of Florida, as well as host sponsor Raxx Pool Room, and tour sponsors Blatt Billiards, Delta 13 Racks, and Predator Cues.
In this event, Diana Rojas was, for the second time, awarded as the highest-finishing female. Along with her at the Empire State Championships were a number of other NYC ladies players including WPBA pro Liz Ford, Erin McManus, Gail Glazebrook, Borana Andoni, Brenda Heras, “The Other” Alison Fischer, and Kim Meyer.
Tony Robles & Diana Rojas
Also acknowledged was Naldo Troncoso, who earned a $100 prize as the highest-finishing C/D player of the event. Congratulations to both players for a well-played event.
We would also like to congratulate Ariel Rivera for winning his first 2nd Day B-C-D Predator Tour event and to Scott Murphy of Mr. Cue’s Billiards for coming in runner-up.
Winner Ariel Rivera, Tony Robles, Runner-up Scott Murphy
