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Gomez prevails in 9-ball tournament
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Posted on Jul 15 2011
Erwin Gomez barged into the win column of the VFW Post 3457 9-Ball Tournament after topping the July 9 qualifier.
Gomez, who had a runner-finish last month, and dropped to the loser’s bracket in the first tournament in July, finally won after beating Jerry Soriano in the finals.
A first-round win over Mike Pangelinan gave Gomez a quarterfinals slot. Gomez was then pitted against Soriano in the next round and prevailed anew to make it to the semifinals. In the semis, Gomez extended his winning run to three when he downed Taylor Watanabe for the first finals berth.
Both Watanabe and Soriano fell to the losers’ bracket of the double-elimination tournament. Soriano had to beat Simon Kapileo to keep his hopes alive for the second and last finals seat. Watanabe also remained in contention when he topped Leonard Sablan in the playoffs.
Soriano and Watanabe went on to face off for the right to challenge Gomez in the finals. Soriano won to arrange a rematch against Gomez, but the latter had the former’s numbers again in the finals to claim the $40 top purse. Soriano settled for $30, while Watanabe and Sablan received $20 and $10, respectively.
Gomez’s win foiled Soriano’s bid for a third win in the last four tournaments. Soriano ruled the June 18 and 25 tournaments before Jimmy Wang ended his streak on July 2. Wang competed in last Saturday’s event, but lost to Watanabe in the second round and was booted out of the tournament after bowing to Sablan in the loser’s bracket.
Other players who joined last week’s tournament were Eugene Borja, Nizer Masayos, and Bryan Neves.
The VFW Post 3457 hosts the 9-ball competition every Saturday with the weekly winners eventually participating in the Battle of the Champions. [B][I](Saipan Tribune)[/I][/B]
