Pool: Finals Day!

It's the best day of the season for pool, and we begin the first of eight hard-fought championship series at...

Nestle's Warriors Hall, Central: Noelle v. Goldy. The 7-ball championship is upon us, with red hosting blue for the first of five times that will happen today. Central's Noelle took game 1 after Everton's Goldy couldn't corral the 7 at the top right, tapping in the rebound for a 1-0 lead. The Warriors' Noelle answered a three-ball run by the Eagles' Goldy with a modest two-ball run-out, making a good cut on the 7 at the end to go up 2-0 in the series. Goldy answered in game 3, watching as Noelle did everything but win in a five-ball run, ending when she missed the 7, allowing Goldy to mop it up to the top side to push the series to 2-1. Goldy tied the series at 2 in game 4, again watching Noelle exhaust herself on a four-ball run that came up short on the 7, leaving it at the jaws of the top right for Goldy to tap in for the equalizer. Noelle played smarter in game 5, working a four-ball run but stopping at the 6, which gave Goldy fits with a miss on her first try and a scratch after attempting positioning while sinking it the second time around. Noelle took the 7 from ball-in-hand to restore a lead in the series at 3-2. Goldy ran six balls while slowing game 6 down, but she missed on the 7, and she also missed her second chance short to the top left, giving Noelle an easy tap-in for a 4-2 series lead, sending the home crowd into a frenzy. In game 7, Goldy had a three-ball run, and Noelle didn't have a strong answer, missing the 7 the first time but scoring it in the bottom right on a hard cut for a 5-2 series lead, clinching the 7-ball title. Noelle went up 6-2 in the series with a three-ball run-out in game 8, capped by a 4-7 combination to the bottom side to seal the game. In game 9, things went a bit slowly and calmly, with Noelle coming out on top by cashing in on Goldy's miss on the 7, winning the series 7-2. Ranked #4 in 7-ball, Noelle will continue into the Tournament of Champions against the winner of the next series. Fourth of July by Fall Out Boy was on during Noelle's clinching game.

Honda Driftwood Coliseum, Pearl: Wings v. Paige. After that tasty appetizer, the main course of the afternoon begins with 15-ball, with the blue leading the red here. Pearl's Wings worked from ball-in-hand in game 1, scoring a three-ball run-out after Queens' Paige scratched, capping the run-out with a 5-15 combination to the top left for a 1-0 lead. The Surfers' Wings went up 2-0 in the series with a game 2 win that started slow and roared to life. Wings ran six balls before scratching, following by the Flames' Paige running four balls herself before another scratch. Wings tapped the 15 in for the win from ball-in-hand. Wings came out of nowhere in game 3, dominating possession again. For the finishing move, Wings banked the 5 off the bottom rail, and it pushed the 15 toward the top left, where a glance off the 15 was all Wings needed to make it 3-0 in the series. Paige finally answered in game 4, weathering a late four-ball run from Wings with a highlight reel shot, a bank combination of the 13 off the left rail to take the 14 at the bottom right. She missed the next shot on the 13, and Wings made it but scratched, giving her ball-in-hand for the 15, which she made to put the series at 3-1. Paige countered a five-ball run by Wings with a three-ball run-out after a two-ball run late in game 5, working around Wings' miss at point-blank range on the 13 to take the game and make it a 3-2 series, which continues to get more competitive through the middle games. Paige opened game 6 with a four-ball run, and continued to dominate the game early on before things evened out and then got messy late. Missed shots were the theme late, none bigger than Wings leaving the 15 short at the bottom side for Paige to tap in, making it a 3-3 series with the crowd completely sapped of all excitement. Paige moved to a 4-3 series lead in game 7, completing a three-ball run-out after a painfully slow start looked to jeopardize her momentum. The run-out was possible after Wings scratched while potting the 12 from a very scratch-prone angle. In game 8, things went very slowly after Paige's break left a congested table. In the end, Wings came in with heat, but rattled the 15 off two pockets. Paige couldn't knock it in from distance, so Wings buried his second chance, tying the series at 4 and setting the stage for one final game. Wings and Paige battled furiously in game 9, with Paige's five-ball run around mid-game opening things up. Wings chipped back solidly in the late stages, and after a scratch by Paige, took the 13 and the 15 to clinch the game and the series at 5-4. Wings, ranked #4 in 15-ball, will advance to the Tournament of Champions against Central's Noelle. Let the Groove Get In by Justin Timberlake played during the clincher for Wings.

Gillette Center, Swordpoint: Snowball v. Patches. The most highly anticipated final is in Survival, the only matchup with two multiple-bid players. The red cue will lead off for the second time on Finals Day. Survival is not a game built for two cues, adding to the challenge. Snowball of Swordpoint answered that challenge first, narrowly taking game 1 by leaving Boston's Patches behind the second rack, which she couldn't pluck anything off of on her last life, resulting in her falling behind 1-0 in the series. In game 2, the Blades' Snowball started off strong but couldn't hold on, as the Swifts' Patches proved relentless after she got the extra life, forcing Snowball down quickly. Snowball busted up the second rack with a life left, and despite good spread, nothing fell, tying the series at 1 in the process. Snowball sniped three straight shots early in game 3, staying alive from bad positions, and Patches couldn't handle Snowball's resilience anymore, crumbling rapidly to a one-rack loss that made it a 2-1 series in favor of Snowball. Patches held on for a long time with a single life, but Snowball dropped a few lives to increase the pressure, mixing in clever misses with long-range snipes, a Snowball special that helped her win in the second rack and move into a 3-1 series lead, exciting the crowd. Rack one of game 5 went nearly perfect until the end, where Patches dropped even with Snowball. An early miss on a breakup shot in rack two put Patches in trouble, but she lasted nearly the whole rack before missing contact toward the 13 she was attempting, while Snowball continued to snipe and position her way to victory, going up 4-1 in the series. Patches kept the cue toward the perimeter as she dominated the pace of play in game 6, doing wonderful defensive work to push Snowball down, and eventually out when Snowball finally faltered on the 13 to the top side in the second rack, making it 4-2 in the series. As an editorial aside, why the players keep shooting the 13 with their game on the line, I don't know. It's been bad luck so far. Snowball got worn down again in game 7 by the same routine from Patches, who worked defensive and perimeter shooting to stymie Snowball's long-range work. Snowball couldn't pluck the leftover ball at the beginning of the second rack, taking the loss as Patches pushed the series to 4-3. In game 8, Patches hit the highlight reel, cutting the 8 into the top side, while the caroms took the 12 to the bottom side and 13 to the top right for three bonus lives at a critical juncture. Patches still faded fast at the end of the first rack, but thanks to the bonus lives, she held on long enough for Snowball to miss on the 12 in the second rack, tying the series at 4 and bringing another single, decisive game. Game 9 went back and forth between the players, with each of them sustaining play for various lengths of time. Snowball had the advantage in the end, inducing a breakup shot attempt by Patches on the second rack, which went fruitless, giving Snowball the win and a 5-4 series win. Snowball, ranked #27 in Survival, advanced to the Tournament of Champions to face the next series winner. Justin Timberlake's Only When I Walk Away provided the soundtrack to Snowball's clinching victory.

Samsung Arena, Whitewater: Twinkie III v. Paige. The series that will bring us midway through Finals Day is 8-ball, with the blue cue leading. Paige gets her second whack at the pinata in this series, against her former team to boot. Whitewater's Twinkie III welcomed Queens' Paige back with a quick start and patient finish in game 1, allowing the visitor to pull back in the game before tapping the well-placed 8 into the bottom left for a 1-0 series lead. The Flames' Paige took game 2, using a three-ball run to pull away, and then cutting the 8 into the bottom left, all coming after a very sloppy game that saw many scratches, mostly from the Shores' Twinkie III, who sabotaged herself a bit. The series got tied up at 1-1 with this stanza. In game 3, the players exchanged four-ball runs early, clearly recovered from the earlier sloppy shooting. After a slowdown mid-game, Paige found a three-ball run-out, shooting twice to the bottom right before taking the 8 on a bank in the top right, going up 2-1 with a bold performance. Paige made the highlight reel in game 4, shooting the 14-9-15 combination to the top right, answering a five-ball run from Twinkie III. One good shot didn't flip the game around, as Twinkie III cashed in on a later scratch from Paige to cut the 1 in the bottom left and set up a nice shot on the 8 that she converted to the same pocket, retying the series at 2 in the process. Game 5 ended in an unusual circumstance. Twinkie III made a three-ball run late, but missed her first try at the 8. Paige rattled the 14 out, setting Twinkie III up for another shot, which she missed her angle on, and the resulting contact caused her to bank the 8 to the bottom right, an illegally potted 8 that awarded the win to Paige for a 3-2 lead, in what may be a pivotal game in the series. Paige's break was the only bad thing in game 6, as the ending featured electric shooting from both sides. Twinkie III scored a six-ball run ending with a miss on the 8 that rattled out of the top left, only for Paige to pot a four-ball run-out, pounding the 8 to the top left for a 4-2 series lead. Twinkie III dominated early in game 7, but Paige would not be denied, running six balls to pull even before winning with the last two shots, the 15 to the bottom side and a precision snipe on the 8 to the bottom right, making it 5-2 in the series. Paige clinched the 8-ball title to the last notes of The Script's feel-good party tune Millionaires. Paige didn't look to be done quite yet in game 8, firing on all cylinders until the end. Her miss on a bank attempt on the 8 toward the bottom right bounced back near the bottom side, acting as the last piece to Twinkie III's fairly easy and well-executed five-ball run-out that made it a 5-3 series. Twinkie III pretty much did the same thing again in game 9, using a five-ball run-out in a previously close game to take the win and make it a 5-4 series win for Paige. Ranked #50, Paige will continue on to the Tournament of Champions against Snowball. Twinkie III finds herself as the first player to fall this round, and the 118th in the tournament, but there's no shame in losing at this point. The Whitewater Shores will retain Twinkie III for next season. With the win, Paige picked up her eighth kill, a total that will hold as the league leader in the category.

Home Depot Forum, Web City: Rainmane v. Whiskers. Moving into the second half of the day, there's Rotation in the northeast with the red cue leading off. Game 1 went wild and free, with Web City's Rainmane taking a late lead on a four-ball run, followed by Infinity City's Whiskers tying it with a three-ball run before the 15 caused trouble until Whiskers buried it for an 8-7 win and a 1-0 lead in the series. The Spiders' Rainmane cashed in on the Torpedoes' Whiskers scratching early in game 2, going on a four-ball run that paced her attack all the way to an 8-3 win, ending on an 8-9 combination to the top right to tie the series at 1. Rainmane made a big play to bring game 3 to a close, already lopsided in her favor. Rainmane's shot was a double-pot that cut the 9 into the bottom left with the perfect spin for the cue to bank off the bottom rail and cut the 10 to the top left for an 8-2 final and a 2-1 series lead. Whiskers made the highlight reel in game 4, shooting the 3-13-14 combination to the bottom left that turned into a double-pot when the 13 followed, all part of a four-ball run. Whiskers held on throughout the game, winning in an ugly but effective manner with a three-ball run-out that made it 8-3 for the game and tied the series again at 2. Rainmane got visibly frustrated with Whiskers' thorough defense in the game. Whiskers continued the same strategy in game 5, and it worked to a point, as she couldn't bring in the 8. This lit a fire under Rainmane, who pulled off a six-ball run-out, burying every shot with her trademark above-average power to take the game 8-7 and regain the series lead at 3-2. The players, clearly under pressure in the tight series, are showing a bit of animosity, which may be related to Rainmane's Club move for next season (more on that in the season previews). Whiskers found a highlight in game 6, bending the cue around the 8 with the angle, and then the masse kicked in to turn it around the 14, all en route to potting the 6 in the top side, which led off a game-tying three-ball run. Rainmane answered from ball-in-hand after Whiskers' illegal contact ended her run, using a four-ball run-out for an 8-4 win, and taking a 4-2 series lead at the same time. Rainmane continued in spectacular fashion, winning game 7 with an 8-0 shutout, working a four-ball run-out at the end after a scratch from Whiskers gave her ball-in-hand. Rainmane completed the shutout victory and series-clincher to The Killers' Somebody Told Me. Rainmane continued asserting her dominance in game 8, pounding out a lot of balls early and cruising to an 8-2 victory that made it 6-2 in the series, leaving Whiskers even more annoyed. Rainmane took a very sloppy game 9 by a score of 8-6, securing a 7-2 win in the series in the process. Ranked #1 from qualifiers, Rainmane defended her ranking all year and advances into the Tournament of Champions to face the next series winner. Whiskers finds herself the 119th player eliminated, but there's no shame in that. Whiskers will likely stay with the Infinity City Torpedoes next year. Rainmane gathered her fourth kill of the season in the win.

Chevrolet Center, Everton: Goldy v. Easter. Now, for the final night of the season, we begin with 9-ball, with the red cue again leading off. Todavía's Easter stepped up big in game 1, scoring a three-ball run-out to keep Everton's Goldy at bay as she took a 1-0 lead. The Eagles' Goldy shot back in game 2, winning a sloppy game with a modest two-ball run-out as scratches and missed shots reigned, especially for the Stills' Easter, tying the series at 1. Goldy took a 2-1 series after her win in game 3, coming on her second chance at the 9. Her previous miss left the 9 in an inconvenient spot for Easter, and she missed as well, setting up a long-distance cut Goldy buried for the win. Goldy tried to play defense in game 4, but it just made Easter's kick on the 4 while avoiding the nearby 6 look more impressive. Easter did herself in, leaving the 8 short at the bottom left, which Goldy tapped in and then took the 9 in the bottom side afterward, giving her a strong 3-1 lead with accurate shooting. Easter had an answer in game 5, using a four-ball run to get to the 8, which she missed. Goldy, unexpectedly, sniped it from a bad position into the bottom right, but her bank attempt off the left rail to the bottom right on the 9 failed. Easter showed her how it's done, converting a similar bank shot for the highlight reel winning shot, which made it 3-2 in the series. In game 6, Easter began with an eight-ball run from break, but since this is 9-ball, eight balls is not enough. To make matters worse, she was a half a ball's width shy of running the table, which is more than close enough for Goldy to tap in the 9, winning the game without lifting a finger essentially, which gave her a 4-2 series lead. Easter refused to quit at this point, pulling to a 4-3 series with her game 7 five-ball run-out that ended on a 6-9 combination to the top left that she did magnificent work on to get it to fall, because it was not aligned flush with the pocket straight-on. Goldy secured the series after Easter's three-ball run ended in a miss, taking the 8 and 9 to make it 5-3 in the series through good positioning. Goldy celebrated to Rebellion by Linkin Park during her clinching victory, but skipped the usual water-spray victory routine, in an attempt to show class. That all changed after a dominant game 9, with Goldy taking another win to take the series at 6-3, and unleashing the water at the end of the series instead. Ranked #42 for 9-ball, Goldy advances to face Rainmane in the Tournament of Champions. Easter, the reliable captain of the Todavía Stills, is the 120th player to be eliminated from the tournament, but a guarantee to return to her team next season. With Goldy's win, the red cue clinches the series head-to-head against the blue cue with the fifth win by a red representative, after last year's blue-palooza that saw the blue go 6-2 over the red. Goldy picked up her seventh kill of the season, finishing second in that category.

Pepsi Arena, Lighton: Acorn v. Patches. In the second to last finals series, we have 12-ball, with the blue getting the lead-off role. Lighton's Acorn had to play a patient game 1, waiting and using defense to frustrate Patches of Boston until she scratched and he buried his last ball to go up 1-0 in the series. Game 2 saw a bit of jockeying around the top side and bottom right, the two pockets they both needed. The Swifts' Patches looked to be toast when she missed contact on the 2, giving the Prestige's Acorn ball-in-hand, but he missed his third shot, the 12 to the top right, and Patches took her last two off the table to tie the series at 1. Acorn looked to be in good position for his final shot in game 3, while Patches faced a pair of tough shots after surrendering the wild card ball she received late in the game. Acorn missed his shot though, and Patches made both of hers, a distance shot on the 11 and a very tough cut on the 10 to take the right corners and go up 2-1 in the series in impressive fashion. Patches continued with a dominant game 4, sinking all of her balls in three turns while Acorn had just started getting set up on some of his shots. The strong effort made it a 3-1 series favoring Patches. Rarely is a missed shot actually a good thing, but in game 5, it worked out for Acorn. His miss on the 10 left a fragile defense at the bottom side, but Patches didn't dare bite the bullet to remove it, which would have resulted in Acorn having two wild card balls and good positioning. Instead, Patches tiptoed around it, failing to get decent position on her other two pockets, and Acorn eventually took a couple of turns and won the game on a two-ball run-out with the 10 getting tapped in for the win, making it a 3-2 series. Acorn nearly botched game 6 multiple times. The first time, he gave Patches a wild card ball, which erased her defense but served her extremely well in getting loosened up for the game. Next, Acorn had a scratch, but he undid that damage relatively easily. Acorn finished the game on a two-shot sequence, getting the 5 set up at the top side while playing defense on one turn, and then just brushing it in on the next turn after the defensive positioning worked, tying the series at 3 and turning the pressure way up. Patches seems to be stuck in the mud now, and after a terrible game 7 that saw her flub simple shots and give Acorn a wild card ball that he then built a three-ball run-out off of, she is behind 4-3 in the series. Patches found her shooting form again late in game 8, after a scratch that forced to face all three top rail pockets. Lucky for her, Acorn had to shoot away from his target, and she cashed in on a three-ball run-out for the win, going side, left, and right with solid positioning to make it a 4-4 series. Acorn wouldn't let that bother him, taking game 9 comfortably from start to finish on a well-executed six-ball run-out, cleaning the table off all at once. His positioning and set-up work from before paid off as he won the series 5-4 to Style by Taylor Swift, appropriate given that he won in style. Ranked #72 for 12-ball, Acorn punches his ticket for the Tournament of Champions, to face the last finals winner in the next series. Patches missed two chances at a title, but the 121st player out of the tournament still played excellently all season, and the Boston Swifts will readily welcome their captain back next season. Acorn picked up his sixth kill of the season, tying for third in that category.

UPS Hall, Maplewood: Fluffina v. Snowball. Finally, the last series of the fifth-annual tournament is the 10-ball finals, with the red cue leading off one more time. Maplewood's Fluffina came out blazing in game 1, scoring a six-ball run that saw her masse a shot on the 4 to the top left that brought the crowd to its feet quickly. It looked like Swordpoint's Snowball had a chance to bank the 10 in, but her miss allowed Fluffina to put it away in the bottom left for a 1-0 lead. Game 2 came down from the frenetic pace of game 1, but the drama remained. At the end, the Blades' Snowball attempted a jump over the 10 to get to the 9, but she missed right, and Fluffina of the Lumberjacks made the last two balls with good positioning from ball-in-hand, going up 2-0 in the series. Fluffina made it 3-0 in a fairly even game 3, getting the win after Snowball couldn't quite convert the 10 and it ended up in line with the top side, where Fluffina deposited it for the win. The fast pace returned in game 4, and Snowball got on the board despite Fluffina having the better run of play during the game. Fluffina made six of the ten balls, but missed contact on her attempt at the 10, which Snowball took straight in from ball-in-hand to make it 3-1 in the series. Game 5 started off well, but things got sloppy as the game went on, eventually leading to both players chasing the 10 until Snowball left it short at the top right and Fluffina tapped it in for a 4-1 series lead. Snowball stayed alive with a win in game 6, working a three-ball run-out in another fast game to keep the confetti in the cannons for Fluffina, making it a 4-2 series at this point. Snowball had a late run in game 7, but it wouldn't be enough. The four-ball streak came to an end on the 10, and Fluffina prevented another go at it by ripping it to the top left, sealing the series at 5-2 and punching the last ticket to the Tournament of Champions to Taylor Swift's New Romantics. Fluffina controlled the pace of play in game 8, working a three-ball run early on and wrapping up the 9 and 10 late in the game to move to a 6-2 series lead. Snowball ended the season on a highlight, shooting a soft carom off the 2 that gently deposited the 10 into the top left, ending the series at 6-3 in spectacular fashion. Ranked #19, Fluffina advances to the Tournament of Champions against Acorn, and Snowball's brutal loss ended the season for the Swordpoint Blades.

Now that the tournament has ended, I get to be busy. Check for the final team standings. I will try to publish a list of protected players tomorrow, and I will also be working on determining the cuts for the eliminated teams and formatting the postseason brackets. Tomorrow, keep a look out for which players will be representing clubs and teams, and what games they'll be playing as a result. As an announcement, the Tournament of Champions is conducted with players engaging in seven-game series determined by a coin flip as to which player will be the "host," and therefore their game be played. This will result in 49 games next Monday. The Clan Cup will be conducted by the eight clubs, playing eight-game series with a ninth game designated as a tiebreaker, using either Quidditch rules 10-ball, left-handed 8-ball, or an accuracy challenge, to be contested by a player that only participated in one game previously in the series (maximum per player per series is two games), constituting 56 to 63 games next Tuesday. The City Cup is a sixteen-team tournament like the Clan Cup, which can therefore range from 120 to 135 games over Wednesday and Thursday. More administrative work will follow that chunk of game play. In addition, each club for 2015-2016 will be sending a player to represent them in the Research and Development Camp, to see what changes need to be made for the upcoming season. All of these events will feature the silver cue exclusively, in a showcasing role. After all of this, there should be some season preview reading material posted to the website, as well as a draft order, which I intend to construct this weekend. As I've said before, a lot of administrative work is in store for the weekend.