Penticton hosted two eight ball billiards championships in 2013. Both won by Penticton’s Bottom Left team.
The team featuring captain Chris McNeil, Jack Ramsay, Bill Howie, Rudy Friesen and Mike Isaack first took the eighth annual CCS British Columbia 8/9 ball championship at the Lakeside Resort and Casino Feb. 13 to 17. That was followed by the sixth annual BCAPL Canadian Open Series eight ball championship May 1 to 5 at the Penticton Curling Club. Bottom Left went undefeated during matches in the advanced/masters divisions to win the championships. A match consists of two teams rotating players and the first to win 13 games takes the match. Bottom left defeated teams from Kamloops, Kelowna, Powell River, Prince George, Calgary, Edmonton, Victoria and Vancouver.
Howie said that Bottom Left is the only team assembled that has been able to accomplish that.
“Not bad for a city of 35,000,” said Howie.
All members played extremely well. Among the highlights includes Isaack making a stunning end-to-end jump shot to break open his remaining balls to get the win. The 13-8 final came against Victoria in the CCS team event. During the BCAPL championship final, McNeil made an out (a win) from a hooked position to put the team closer to victory. Howie followed up with a table ball run to secure the 13th win against Vancouver. That also ended 13-8.
Adding to that, Ramsay won the men’s advanced singles division, while Friesen was second during the 2012 CCS eight ball championship. Bottom Left was second to Team Canada from Calgary in the CCS advanced/masters team championship match.
Other successful local players on teams include Stix N Stones (Dan Moran, Rick Kotowich, Stuart Trimble, John Bannon and Jeremiah Kruger), who won the 2013 BCAPL Open Team Division. Rack N Roll’s Lois Hiltz won the women’s open singles division in the BCAPL championship. Nick Kruger was second in the master’s level in the men’s singles nine ball and advanced/masters singles eight ball events.
There were 500 players making up over 1,000 entries in both tournaments.
