Joe Giammarino
The Pool Players of The Brooke (PPB) Billiards Club would like to thank Sun City Oro Valley Billiards Club (SCOV), Ken Schriner, and SCOV’s billiards team for their pool table prowess, camaraderie, and friendly competition. Another big thank you goes out to Tony “The Snake” Cardillo, PPB’s Travel Team captain, for organizing this event. On Nov. 11 the PPB’s Travel Team ventured down to SCOV’s Catalina Vista Center for an 8-Ball Team Challenge. We were competing on two 9-foot Diamond Pro-Am pool tables and two 9-foot Brunswick Gold Crowns. This Travel Team match was for the traveling bronze plaque, which is currently in the PPB’s possession since Nov. 20, 2021. Our team was made up of four two-player teams, and SCOV also had four two-player teams.
The PPB teams consisted of Tony “The Snake” Cardillo and Lowell “8-Ball” Hegg, Joe “Fast Eddie” Giammarino and Randy “Thin Man” Smith, Fred “The Baker” Dianda and Chris Schmidt, and Phelps L’Hommidieu and Ron “Dblo7” Ridge.
Our SCOV opponents teams were as follows: Ken Schriner and Robert Durfur, Sean Parks and Marvin Brisbin, Keith Moe and Gary Meneley, and Mike Connoy and Mike Miesen.
The format was simple and interesting. Each of our teams would play each of their teams three games of 8-ball, with each game won being one point for the winning team. There are a total of 48 points in the match. The first round went in favor of SCOV with a score of 7-5. The second round was a tie, as both teams scored six wins. After the second round, SCOV was on top 13-11. The third round was a reversal of the first round, with the PPB winning seven games to SCOV’s five wins. Going into the fourth and final round, the PPB and SCOV were all tied up with a score of 18-18. The fourth and final round found the PPB needing to win seven games to win the Travel Team match. The PPB did it! PPB’s Randy “Thin Man” Smith ran three and out in the final game of the match to give the PPB the win and the right to retain the traveling bronze plaque. The fourth round ended with a score of PPB 7 and SCOV 5. The final score was 25-23 in PPB’s favor.
This event was a continuation of a friendly but fierce rivalry with SCOV where the PPB has won five times, tied twice, and lost once out of eight competitions since February 2017. SaddleBrooke is proud of its team, and they thank SCOV for hosting the PPB and competing in this Travel Team match.