Seminole Seniors' Sizzling Saturday

Seminole Seniors' Sizzling SaturdayBy InsidePOOL StaffAs the Great Seminole Senior Open in Naples, FL, continued late Saturday afternoon, three out of the four matches in the one-loss side of the bracket came to a sizzling hill-hill finish. The only afternoon match not to reach that stage was between Nick Varner and Joe Aguzin, in which Varner prevailed in an 11-2 routing.Peter LaFortune of Naples, FL, who was responsible earlier in the event for one of Howard Vickery's losses, defeated Bob Ogburn 11-10. As both players are local to the area, they had a great crowd of supporters watching and cheering for each. An interesting footnote about LaFortune is that he is playing this event with a 53" snooker cue, catching many opponents by surprise.
Danny Medina, winner of the 2002 December Reno Open, defeated Judex James 11-10. Medina broke and ran out from the hill after coming back from an 8-9 deficit. He will go on to face another Florida player, Dick Weaver.The final afternoon match had Ray "Cool Cat" Martin, author of "The 99 Critical Shots of Pool," defeating John Ditoro, promoter for the new Florida Pro Tour, 11-10. When the score was tied 9-all, Martin made a 9 ball break to reach the hill, and then Ditoro played safe. Martin missed the kick on the 1 ball, Ditoro played the 1-9 combo to tie on the hill. Ditoro broke and came up dry, helplessly watching as Martin made the 1 and 2 balls, lining up perfectly for the 3-9 combination to win 11-10.In last night's exhibition match, Vivian Villareal, number 5 in the WPBA and known as the "Texas Tornado" to her fans, defeated Corey Deuel 9-8. Also, Belinda Campos-Calhoun, ranked 16 by the WPBA, became the first-ever female player in a senior event. She was knocked into the one-loss bracket by Wade Crane but made it into the money before being eliminated by Ray Martin.In the winners' bracket at 7 PM is Varner versus Jim "King James" Rempe, the BCA's Hall-of-Fame inductee in 2002; LaFortune versus Grady Mathews; Martin versus Ricky Bingham; and Medina and Dick Weaver. The 9 PM winners' bracket matches will be Jose Parica versus Wade Crane and Dick Lane versus Erman Bullard.Visit InsidePOOL for all of the latest updates!

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