The Hummingbirds and Spurs. Princess goes against her former team and Kavan for 7-ball. The game started a bit rough, but Victoria's Kavan found his way with a five-ball run-out to get the win over Tysini's Princess, giving his team a 1-0 series lead. Charli and Spice get the 8-ball appearances. The Spurs' Spice didn't make a single shot in the game, despite having plenty of chances, instead getting the win and a 2-0 series lead as the Hummingbirds' Charli illegally potted the 8 to the bottom left in a glaring mistake of the difficult game. Leandra meets Kavan in 9-ball, which saw Tysini's Leandra run seven balls on her second turn, but come out of it all empty-handed. Her miss on the 8, a bank attempt from a tough angle, set Victoria's Kavan up to make the last two balls for the win, giving his team a 3-0 lead in the series. Princess squares off with Yekaterina in 10-ball. The Hummingbirds' Princess had only two shots in the whole game, as the Spurs' Yekaterina broke free for a five-ball run-out after that, making the 5-10-7 combination to the top right as called, with the 10 following the 7 for a legal win, making it a 4-0 series lead for the Spurs. Leandra will be first to step up to save the season for Tysini, playing 12-ball against Victoria's Spice. In this appearance, Leandra had a decent start, but couldn't hold on against an early-four ball run from Spice. The Victoria captain stayed patient, receiving a wild card ball, and then grabbed the win to clinch the series at 5-0. Charli and Yekaterina will battle in the first of three throw-away games, this one being Rotation. Charli prevented the Hummingbirds from being totally swept away, getting the 8-7 win in Rotation after coming from behind to catch Yekaterina early on. The two exchanged short runs for the rest of the game, and Charli had the last two balls to get the win, cutting the series to 5-1. Leandra and Yekaterina pair up for 15-ball. Victoria's Yekaterina was far less merciful at the end of this game, allowing Leandra to share possession early before unleashing a wondrous eight-ball run-out to down the Tysini start and take the win for a 6-1 series lead. Charli and Spice will close it out with Accuracy. Charli got behind at one point in the game, but held on well and managed to earn a 1-2 victory for the game. The Spurs still took the series 6-2, and will await the winner of the next series as their finals opponent.
The #1 Swifts have made it this far, going against the Stills, who get to debut their road look. Gradley and Easter open with the 7-ball game. Boston's Gradley was doing well in the game, putting up a four-ball run before an unfortunate scratch on the 6 gave Todavía's Easter an easy shot for the win, and gave her team a 1-0 series lead as well. Puff II and Leonardo draw the starts in 8-ball. The Swifts' Puff II saw only one minor setback, a scratch, in her game, while the Stills' Leonardo couldn't trigger a gashing run at all. Puff II won with a four-ball run-out of nice cuts to tie the series at 1. Patches and Easter get the 9-ball game. Patches kept it quick, getting the 3 on the break and then lining up the 3-9 combination to the bottom side for the win, putting Boston ahead 2-1 in the series after Todavía's Easter never had a shot in the game. Puff II and Leonardo return for a second match in 10-ball. Leonardo played well over the middle with a three-ball run for the Stills, but his scratch on the 7 doomed him, setting the Swifts' Puff II up for a four-ball run-out for the win, putting them up 3-1 in the series. Patches and Sierra battle in 12-ball, with Patches taking the early lead and nursing it throughout the game to keep Boston in charge. Todavía's Sierra had a threatening late run, but she left the 15 wide of the top right, and Patches struck a precise distance shot on the 6 to the top left for the win, making it a 4-1 series lead as the crowd enters a frenzy. Gradley and Easter are up for Rotation, with the latter fighting for her team's life. Easter kept the Stills alive, pulling ahead to an early lead and never letting go even as the Swifts' Gradley made a significant late push. Easter held on to win 8-6, cutting the series to 4-2. Gradley stays on to play against Sierra in 15-ball. Todavía's Sierra had a slightly stronger game than did Boston's Gradley, and she set herself apart at the end, as Gradley got shaky and missed a number of shots that Sierra made to help guide her to the win, making it 4-3 in the series. Puff II is the next to challenge Sierra, coming in for Accuracy. Puff II played a perfect game, leaving no room for the singular mistake Sierra made in her 0-1 loss, giving the Swifts a 5-3 series win with the game win. They advance into the finals, coming right up.
The big finale features the league's best team this season versus a perennial pool powerhouse that already has one City Cup in their trophy case. Gradley of Boston and Kavan of Victoria have the 7-ball game to lead things off. Gradley had the better of play, but nearly missed on the 7, firing it well wide of the top left. To the chagrin of Kavan, it rebounded off two rails to find the bottom side, giving Boston the 1-0 series lead. Puff II opposes Spice in 8-ball as a battle of Reality members. The Spurs' Spice actually had to earn this win, unlike in the semifinals, as the Swifts' Puff II pressed hard early but ran out of steam. Spice burst forward with a seven-ball run before scratching. Puff II couldn't make her 5, and Spice made the last two shots to win, tying the series at 1. In 9-ball, Patches and Kavan are the contestants. Victoria's Kavan played well enough to win the game, including a four-ball run, but he jammed the 9 at the bottom right, and Boston's Patches made it to the bottom side for the win and 2-1 series lead for the hosts. Puff II is back in action against Yekaterina in 10-ball. The Spurs' Yekaterina needed only one turn to make noise, rallying with a four-ball run-out that ended with her banking the 4 into the cluster with the 6, 7, and 10. The ball drove through with bounces to hit the 10 into the top right for the win, tying the series at 2 as she downed the Swifts' Puff II. Patches and Spice square off in a pivotal 12-ball game. Nerves struck Victoria's Spice at the worst moment, as she had just lined up her final shot and ended up barely hitting the ball. Boston's Patches had spent time setting herself up well, and made her final two shots to steal the win and take a 3-2 series lead for her team. Gradley and Yekaterina will have a big hand in settling the match, as they play Rotation and 15-ball. In Rotation, the Swifts' Gradley had to fight tooth and nail to keep up with the Spurs' Yekaterina, but she had a couple of bad misses late, and Gradley pulled ahead to win 8-6, taking a 4-2 series lead and putting the Swifts a win away from the title. In 15-ball, Victoria's Yekaterina had a highlight reel double-pot of the 10 to the top right and 8 to the bottom side, both bouncing off the 14 in an interesting display to give herself momentum. Boston's Gradley threatened a bit late in the game, but missed the 14. Yekaterina made the last two shots, grabbing a win to bring the series back to 4-3. Puff II and Spice battle it out in Accuracy, which should be a good, close game. It was a bit close, especially with the Spurs' Spice running out of gas late in the game. She managed to hold on, helped a bit by a poor start from Puff II, and the game ended in a 3-5 score for the Spurs, allowing them to tie the series at 4. The series heads to a single overtime game of left-handed 8-ball, a game in which no win has come via legally potting the 8 so far in these playoffs. Patches and Kavan are the designated overtime players. Patches made sure to change that, battling slightly harder than Kavan at the end to set up the 8 and pot it, just barely outpacing the worthy opponent as the Swifts take the series 5-4 and are presented the City Cup as the tournament champions, marking a treble for the Swifts this year.
As always, the tournament would be impossible without the help of Players, Rage, and EastPoint cues, Silver Cup chalk, Aramith billiards, and Ozone Billiards for supplies to improve the games and keep things running smoothly. I intend to get a player listing for the draft out as soon as I can, as well as a trades post, likely in the same post. I'm aiming to do the draft on Monday.
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