Congrats to your winners on the weekend:
- Men's Pro Doubles: Brandon Davis and Josh Tucker
- Women's Pro Doubles: Carla Muñoz and Janel Tisinger-Ledkins
- Mixed Pro Doubles: Daniel De La Rosa and Hollie Rae Scott
- Men's Singles: Danny Lavely
- Women's Singles: Montse Mejia
- CPRT: Josh Tucker and Greg Solis
R2 Sports App home page for the event: https://www.r2sports.com/website/event-website.asp?TID=40547
ProRacquetballStats.com Match Reports by division:
- Men's Pro Doubles: https://rball.pro/djy
- Women's Pro Doubles: https://rball.pro/ve3
- Mixed Pro Doubles: https://rball.pro/zoq
- Men's Singles: https://rball.pro/woy
- Women's Singles: https://rball.pro/bci
Triple Crown Reports:
- Men's Pro Doubles: https://rball.pro/j47
- Women's Pro Doubles: https://rball.pro/2vv
- Mixed Pro Doubles: https://rball.pro/y43
- Men's Pro Singles: https://rball.pro/86z
- Women's Pro Singles: https://rball.pro/x8g
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Let’s do a quick recap of the pro draws.
Men's Pro Doubles
Tucker & Davis take the title back, having won it together in 2018. They played lights-out ball to upset the #1 seeds and 2-time defending champs Micah Rich and Jason Geis in the semis to advance to the final. Rich & Geis might have needed to be more relaxed from their epic comeback in their quarterfinal, where they scored 11 straight after going 0-8 down in the breaker against Alvaro Beltran and Kane Waselenchuk. Alvi & Kane were fortunate to get to the quarter, facing a match point in their opener against SoCal veterans and long-time doubles partners Michael Myers and Tim Herman before moving on 11-10.
From the bottom half, Chris McDonald and Brian Pineda shocked the #3 seeds and 2-time champs Rocky Carson and Jay Ustarroz by taking a "perfect" match 14, (14),10 to advance to the semis. They couldn't take out #2 Daniel De La Rosa and Alejandro Landa, though, who advanced to the final.
The final couldn't be closer; 14, (14),9 to Davis & Tucker, showing how little there was between these teams on the day.
Women's Pro Doubles
The top-seeded teams cruised into the finals without even being pressed in a game and then faced off on Sunday. #2 Muñoz and Tisinger got white-washed in game one, taking a 15-0 donut against the #1 seeds Kelani Lawrence and Hollie Rae Scott. It didn't look great for them in game two, as they fell behind 14-8 and faced match point. But a questionable hinder call gave a replay. They saved a couple more match points against (with another questionable hinder that could have been called an avoidable), then suddenly they went on a run and took game two 15-14. In one of the more incredible turnarounds I've seen, Muñoz & Tisinger took the breaker 11-7 and pulled a win out of the jaws of defeat for the title.
Mixed Pro Doubles
#1 Daniel De La Rosa showed why he's the best outdoor player in the land, especially in mixed, by winning his 19th outdoor major mixed pro title. He hasn't been beaten in pro mixed outdoor since 2018, and he's picked right up with his new partner Hollie Scott where he left off with his old one. In the final, they topped Rich playing with Danielle Maddux, in a rare Outdoor Nationals appearance for the Arizona native.
Men's Singles
Danny Lavely put his name on an illustrious list of players who have won the Singles title at Outdoor Nationals by winning the final against Arizonian Alonzo Tavares 6,1.
Women's Singles
Never played outdoor before? No big deal, said newly crowned LPRT #1 Montse Mejia, who took out multi-time champ Rhonda Rajsich in the quarters, 3-time beach bash singles champ Scott in the semis, and then in the final #1 Carla Muñoz, who had won the last four major 3-wall singles titles in a row---A fantastic showing for Mejia.
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Other Major Draws in California:
- CPRT was won for the 2nd year in a row by Solis and Tucker, giving Tucker a nice "double" on the weekend. They topped 3-wall specialists Scott St Clair and Tony Burg in the final.
- Men's 75s was taken in a walk-over by tourney director Osberg and Luis Avila when the Arizona pair of Medina and Gerhardt couldn't show.
- Men's 100 featured some controversy as detailed in social media but was taken by the CPRT finalists St. Clair & Burg over the father-son NorCal duo of Jim Durham and Tom Durham.
- Men's Open was taken by the duo of Davis & Pineda, pro winners and semi-finalists. They topped the McDonald brothers Jack and Greg in the final.
- Beltran and Emmett Coe took the Men's Paddleball "Upper" title
- James Sales and Katie Neil took the Mixed Paddleball upper title.
Thanks for all the streaming on the weekend from the LPRT crew, with JT R Ball's technical setup and primarily Craig “Clubber” Lane and Mike Peters on the mic, two WOR Hall of Famer's really providing awesome and nuanced commentary.
Thanks to the Tourney Directors Geoff Osberg and Jesus Ustarroz for putting this event on! They've been running this event now since 2012 and they're part of a core group of SoCal players who keep the heartbeat of Marina Park alive.
Thanks once again to all the sponsors, especially 3WallBall, KWM Gutterman, Keith Minor, ProKennex, Melissa's, Joe Splathead and GearBox.
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Next up?
Per our handy master racquetball calendar ...
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1V6OTid6rZ356voXVkoV2sN7KMMbIP9SZd0MssH_nPGU/
We've entered the official, real "off-season" of racquetball, and don't have a major event for a month. But the next event coming is massive: its World Singles & Doubles in Denver, featuring both pro tours and the rarely seen Mixed Pro Doubles.
We'll do all the accounting for the Outdoor Cup series and publish a status of updated standings post Outdoor Nationals later this week. Check out Pro Racquetball Stats Facebook page for all the details (https://www.facebook.com/prorballstats).
All Photos Courtesy of Lara Photo | Joseph Lara
49th Annual Outdoor Nationals#
33 photos