BUTTER NUTZ GOING FOR A 3-PEAT

Boasters League semi finals~~

I was a little bewildered at the lower participation level for the semi final. Where we had all results recorded last week for the quarters, this week we came up 5 matches short. Who knows if it ended up hurting the teams that lost, but it certainly didn’t help them.

Winky-Dinks v Mongoose

Only 10 matches of 17 were actually completed in this match up. One match was nullified completely, and 2 forfeits were handed out (one for each team). Only 10 players from each team turned up for their bonus points which I suppose cancels each other out on that front, but that it still very low for a semi final.

Less matches makes the ones that were played more significant. Each 3-0 victory carries more weight and the “Winky-Dinks” came through with 3 of them: JC Tibbitts, James Stuntz and Adam Burgess.

Two of those results were rather unexpected if you consider that James and Adam lost 1-2 to the same opponents just 2 weeks earlier in the final round of the season. “Mongoose” scored two 3-0 victories as well with Sean Moran and Brandon Linton taking care of business.

At the top level, it looks like John Rakolta (“Mongoose”) is starting to get some of his old form back (which is good timing with the club champs just around the corner). John reversed the round 9 score against Robin Basil and took down the racquetball-styled-squash-player 2-1. Paul Flanagan continued the “Mongoose” charge beating Brendan Fossee 2-1, but from there on it was slim pickings and a struggle for the 6^th seed.

Squeaking out 2-1 victories the rest of the way, Mike Petix, Nick Cinqueranelli and Mike Cooney slowly kept increasing the lead, and although the advantage never reached an unattainable height, having four matches remain dormant as the deadline passed was really the nail in the coffin for “Mongoose”. It may not have made a difference, but either way “Winky-Dinks” advance to the final doing just enough for a 30-26 win. They will have to do a lot better job next week in terms of bonus points if they want to give themselves a chance.

Butter Nutz v Space Geckos

Last week, “Butter Nutz” recorded all 17 bonus points. They failed to do that this time, but 14 is still a pretty impressive total. And it was 3 better than the “Space Geckos”. That’s a full match (3-0 win) to overcome. With 16 of 17 matches completed, it turned out the “Butter Nutz” didn’t need that 4 point buffer anyway.

Both team captains led by example. Sante Fratarcangeli and Josh Slominski won their respective matches 3-0. In fact there were a lot of 3-0 results all around. Only 5 of the 16 matches ended up 2-1, whereas when these 2 teams played back in round two, 8 of 14 had that score line. And, only one of the results was reversed from that day: Space Gecko Andrew Walawender avenged his 1-2 loss to Andy Combs for a 3-0 victory this time around. But of all the 3-0 scores, the “Space Geckos” only managed 2 others.

 

That meant the “Butter Nutz” had a total of seven 3-0 victories, a virtual domination. Adding on the 3 extra bonus points, that’s 24 points the “Space Geckos” would have to overcome. They didn’t. Sealing their fate on Thursday afternoon was Matt DiDio’s win over Chris Van Tol and Marc Lakin taking all the games from Andrew Spohn. By that time, the differences in the scores was more than what was left on the table. The “Butter Nutz” definitely deserved the win here as they took the semi final 42-31.

So we are left with a “Butter Nutz” v “Winky-Dinks” final. The “Butter Nutz” are going for their 3^rd straight Boasters League title, and for the “Winky-Dinks” it’s their second crack at glory since they went down to “Mongoose” in 2011. These two teams played in round 3 and it was “Winky-Dinks” who scored a commanding victory 32-23. Only 4 matches weren’t played back then, but neither team picked up that many bonus points either. Based on that, it looks like “Winky-Dinks” may have the edge. But they better turn up…