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| Photo courtesy of Upstate Al |
Thursday was the final day of the Canadian 10 Ball Championships. It kicked off with the highly anticipated Father/Son match up of John and Mario Morra. This was a thrilling match up as it is not to often you see such a pairing in the final four winners side of a National Championship.
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| Mario Morra Photo courtesy of Upstate Al |
It was Mario who able to establish a lead first going up 8-5. However John was able to out duel his father the rest of the way to edge out a 10-9 victory. In the other final four winners side match Tom Theriault continued his solid play with a convincing 10-5 win against a very game Andy Aupin.
Runner up in the 8 Ball Erik "Big Red" Hjorleifson was looking to make a charge on the losers side. Jesse Piercey would be Hjorleifson's first challenge of the day, and a challenge it was as this was a close match that ended 10-7 in Hjorleifson favour. He was also able to get by Andy Aupin 10-7 to set up a match with multiple Canadian Champion Jason Klatt. With some solid play Hjorleifson earned himself a 8-6 lead. Klatt then won the next 3 games to go to the hill first. At this point the match began to a feel a little bit like their last U.S Open encounter this past October.
Hjorleifson had Klatt stuck 10-6 and Klatt came all the way back to win 11-10. However this time it was not to be as Hjorleifson got to the hill and then after some safety exchanges, was able to win the case game. Look out for Klatt the next few days as I don't see him being shut out of all 3 Canadian Championship finals.
It was Tom Theriault and Erik Hjorleifson who played in the losers side final with Morra waiting in the hot-seat. Some good play by Theriault allowed him keep this match close until 6-6 when Hjorleifson took advantage of an error and never looked back wining 10-6. This set up a rematch of the 8 ball final between Morra and Hjorleifson.
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| Erik Hjorleifson |
Morra took a commanding lead early and pushed it all the way to 8-1 before Hjorleifson was able to push back. Big Red made a match out of it closing in on Morra 4-8 and 8-10. However that is where the charge would end. Morra continued to prove why he is regarded as Canada's best player as he went on to win 13-8 to claim his second title in 4 days. Tomorrow in the 9 Ball Morra begins his quest for the "Triple Crown." I believe no ones has ever won all 3 events in a single year, including Alex Pagulayan
Payouts: John Morra $700
Erik Hjorleifson $500
Tom Theriault $400
Jason Klatt $300
Andy Aupin/Mario Morra $185
Williams Takes Women's 10 Ball Crown
The final Day of the Women's division began with the hot-seat match between Naomi Williams and Brittany Bryant. A playful rivalry has developed over the years as these two have dominated the Canadian Championships. Thus making these match ups highly anticipated, and they usually live up to the billing. This match was no exception as it was close and ended 7-5 in favour of Naomi Williams.
It was Joanne Ashton who came through the losers side to challenge Bryant. She did this with wins over Nathalie Chabot 7-4 and Maureen Seto 7-2. Ashton was looking to shake up the usual Bryant/Williams final but was unable to losing this match 7-1. The final was another tight match with Williams just getting past Bryant 10-9 to win the Canadian Women's 10 Ball Championship.
Payouts: Naomi Williams-Trip to the World Championships
Brittany Bryant-$475
Matches for the Men's and Women's 9 Ball start at 11:00 AM makes sure to go to www.cbsa.ca for the link to the free live stream
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