Jerry jingles all the way in Christmas 8-ball

Christmas came early for Jerry Soriano last Dec. 23 with the championship of USS Peleliu’s Christmas 8-Ball Tournament.

The other 15 players had flashier games, but his patience and consistency paid off for the $240 first-place money. Rolly Villanueva got $75 for second place and Juancho Mendoza won $45 for third.

The winners also got trophies courtesy of Pacific Amusement and Christmas packages from USSP. Most of the players also took home raffle gifts from USSP. Pacific Trading Co. provided other raffle prizes for Miller product drinkers.

Soriano sailed through the night without a loss, topping Ed Manucdoc, Ron Chisato, Patrick Taitano, and Mendoza in the winners bracket.

Mendoza got by John Mongami, Erwin Gomez, and Nolan Cultura before taking his first loss. Gomez had sent Villanueva to the losers bracket in an early showdown, while Cultura had to defeat Simeon Kapileo and Taylor Watanabe, the second and first place winners of USSP’s Monday “warm-up” tournament. Watanabe ran the table to the eight on Chester Hamoy before putting that game away.

Taitano was swimming with the sharks, avoiding Senen Pangilinan and Primo Rivera before being bitten by Soriano. Chisato had sent Bernard Kileleman to the losers bracket.

Kileleman came back to eliminate Manucdoc, but couldn’t get past Gomez. Pangilinan avenged his first-game loss rolling to victories over Franz De Luna, Watanabe, Gomez, and Taitano in a rematch.

Kapileo beat Hamoy, but couldn’t get past Rivera. It didn’t matter, as Villanueva recovered from his early loss and marched through the losers bracket, eliminating Mongami, Chisato, Rivera, Cultura, Pangilinan, and Mendoza to face Soriano for first place. Soriano eliminated Villanueva in the first game of their championship showdown.

Mendoza had a “coulda, shoulda, woulda” third place, with his losses to Soriano and Villanueva coming after mistakes in games he had under control.

With the holidays ending, USSP is returning to its normal tournament schedule: 8-ball on Mondays and 9-ball on Tuesdays. The 8-ball tournament is double elimination with a $5 entry fee. The entry is $10 for Tuesday’s single elimination (race-to-three) 9-ball tilt.

For more information, please call Rose or Ken Phillips at 233-1984.[B][I] (USSP)[/I][/B]