Erwin, Joey rule darts; Hermogenes is pool king

Erwin Clavecillas and Joey “Bazooka” Songsong ruled the partners darts tournament, while Rey Hermogenes crowned himself as the billiards king in the weekly events organized by Pacific Amusement Inc. last Wednesday at the Smoke Pub Sports Bar.

All matches are under the Saipan Electronic Darts Association and Saipan Billiards Association in cooperation with Marpac, Bud Light, and Budweiser. Both one-day events are double-elimination round formats.

Clavecillas and Songsong bested 11 other pairs to clinch the $140 championship purse and trophies. They defeated the duo of Ray Cepeda and Patrick Taitano, who settled for the $80 and T-shirt runners-up prizes.

Clavecillas and Songsong went undefeated on their way to win the blind draw darts tournament. They first defeated Richard Santos and Matt Santos then followed it up with another victory over Romuel Chavez and Pete Togawa.

Boy Martin and Mike Dela Cruz became their next victims then dispatched Boom Cruz and Jose Orosco to earn the first finals berth. They closed out their campaign with another win over Patrick “Tako” Taitano and Ray “Udas” Cepeda.

Taitano and Cepeda, after beating Rey Trasporto and Paul Quizon, lost to Pam Ybanez and Rusty Santos to drop into the loser’s bracket where they had to claw their way out in order to clinch a finals meeting with Clavecillas and Songsong.

Taitano and Cepeda defeated the pairs of Jeff Barit and Leo Wania, Richard Santos and Matt Santos, Martin and Dela Cruz, Jun Santos and K.J. Villagomez, and Cruz and Orosco.

Their Cinderella run, however, ended when they lost to Clavecillas and Songsong in the championship game.

Claro Bicol and Carter Calma, and Darrol Atalig and Omar Quindoza were the other pairs that competed.

In the billiards event, Hermogenes bested a field of nine other top cue artists to win the $60 cash prize and the trophy. He defeated Erwin Gomez in the finals.

His other wins were against Jerry Soriano, Mark Butac, and Rob Lieberworth in the elimination round.

Gomez, meanwhile, had to go through the loser’s bracket after dropping his opening assignment against Nolan Cultura.

He then scored wins over Soriano and Jeff Garcia, then exacted revenge over elimination round tormentor Cultura, downed Butac, before earning the fight of facing Hermogenes in the finals with a victory over Lieberworth.

Rowel Mariano, Ray Matsunaga, and Rico Montano were the other cue artists that joined the tournament.

The darts and billiards events continue next Wednesday, Oct. 7, back at Jonny’s Bar & Grill in Garapan. Registration starts at 7pm.