Saturday, July 11th, 2009 – The Playoffs
As the nineteenth Cloon Cup advanced into the playoffs there were eight players still remaining that had hopes of winning it all. However one of the those remaining eight had to drop out of the competition due to illness, Pattie DeSario had to sadly withdraw from the playoffs and not only miss out a chance to win it all but missed her chance to play in the playoffs for the first time.
That however was not the only snag of the day. As we all know the summer is a very tough time to get everyone together and the original plan was to get to the final four after the two regular season halves were played, but that did not happen. On this day the plan was to start at 1pm but like most summer weekend due to prior commitments that start time was pushed back to 4pm. Justin Largey whose renewed passion for the Cloon Cup was happy to come and was there for the original start time of 1pm and he even brought one of his son’s Nathan along with him. As it turns out the 3 hour delay would come back to haunt not only the little trooper but Justin as well. Nathan got tired and although he was a model of good behavior he had had enough and Justin once again had to withdraw from the tournament … this time as he started his semi-final (more on Justin’s outstanding play later on).
The Quarter-Finals
Andrew Lance and Chris Moncayo already advanced as they planned ahead and played their quarter final match-ups in advance. They anxiously waited for the other two series to be completed to see who they would face in their semi-final match ups.
#4 Justin Largey vs. #5 Cheo Leach (QF Best of 7)
The series was originally planned as a best of 13 series but due to the delayed start time the series was reduced to a best of 7. Largey and Son (Justin and Nathan) alternated turns in the early going and despite what could have been a hindrance actually turned into a 2-0 series lead. Cheo Leach rebounded in the third game to get back in the series but the darts would not cooperated for him in the next two games and Largey and Son advanced to their (his) first Cloon Cup semi-finals appearance.
Series: Justin Largey 4 – Cheo Leach 1
Mini-Playoff – #3 Iain Gibson vs. #5 Cheo Leach (MP 1 game of _01)
In typical Cloon Cup fashion an extra mini-playoff game was of _01 was played between Iain Gibson and Cheo Leach with the winner getting a second shot at the championship. The two players quickly got down to a double and traded turns by narrowly missing on several darts. Then Cheo hit a double one to win the game and go onto to play Michael Lance in the remaining quarter-final.
Series: Cheo Leach 1 – Iain Gibson 0
#1 Michael Lance vs. #5 Cheo Leach (QF Best of 7)
Once again a series that was planned as a best of 13 was reduced to a best of 7. Cheo Leach relishing his new lease on life quickly jumped in front of Michael Lance by winning the first game of _01 in convincing fashion. Game two was a different story, the game was much closer. Both players hit the required numbers early and often. Late in the game and with several chances to win Cheo Leach squandered trip after trip. Michael seizing his opportunity hit the bulls eyes quickly and won his first game of the series. After splitting game three and four the series was at knotted at 2. In a short series, especially one that is tied the fifth game is of the utmost importance. Cheo started strong and with his +10 baseball handi-cap took an early 9 point lead after the twos, however Michael got on a role and despite Cheo playing some of his best darts of the game Michael won the game 23-21 to take the his first lead of the series 3-2 and come within one game of the Semi’s. Michael the higher rank got to choose the next game and he picked cricket for game 6. Cheo once again played extremely well and had a few opportunities to extend the series turned out be no match for Michael in this game. Mike won the game and the series.
Series: Micahel Lance 4 – Cheo Leach 2
The Final Four
It is a long road to the semi-finals and it is a great feat to get this far. Justin Largey was set to make his first apparence buy had to bow out, and therefore Cheo Leach became the ‘lucky dog’ and would take his place. Michael Lance is made it back to semi’s for the first time since CCX7 and for a record 17th time. Chris Moncayo who struggled the last few seasons stepped up his game and made it back to the semi’s for the first time since CCX6. Finally Andrew Lance the defending champion returned to semi’s the forth straight season.
#4 Justin Largey vs. #6 Chris Moncayo (SF-stopped)
With the day drawing close to the 7 hour Justin Largey was hoping young Nathan could hold on for another hour and he did his best to get the semi-finalmatch over with as soon as he could but 5 games in and with a 3-2 series lead, Nathan was tired and ready to go home and Justin relinquished his spot to Cheo Leach. It was very unfortunate that Justin had to go because he is quickly becoming a contender to win the champion season in and season out. Justin also had to relinquish his semi final spot last season so I know he will be back in semi-finals next season.
#5 Cheo Leach vs. #6 Chris Moncayo (SF Best of 13)
Cheo Leach like Andrew Lance a season ago got a third chance at the championship. Although Cheo had already played in two quarter final series and a mini-playoff he was more than ready to give it another shot. This wasn’t the first time Chris and Cheo met during CCX9, Cheo defeated Chris 4-3 in the mini-playoff earlier to get Cheo into the quarters. Cheo and Chris decided that the best course of action was to start a new series instead of continuing from where Justin left off (which was 3-2 Justin). Chris took full advantage of Cheo’s tired arm and a full day of rest to quickly jump out to a 3-0 series lead. Cheo realizing how lucky he was to get another shot was not going to go down without a fight. He won both game 4 and game 5 quickly and decidedly which got him back into too series and trailed Chris 3-2. This series was back in business and on the turn(starting back with _01) Cheo looked poised to tie the series, he quickly knocked his score down to a double but with continuous lack of luck(not sure if it was a force field around the double or not) but the darts would not fall into the double. Chris took full advantage of Cheo’s misfortune and hit a double one to win game 6 and lead the series 4-2. Cricket was up next and Cheo never seemed to get into a rhythm or gather any momentum and lost the game to trail the series 5-2.
With his spot in the finals fading Cheo who normally gets frustrated this late in the day seem to calm down and throw his darts with more consistency and the results showed. He won both game 8 (cribbage) and game 9 (tic-tac-toe) with relative ease and tightened the series up at 5-4. In what turned out to a back and force game of baseball, Chris quickly erased Cheo’s +8 handi-cap after the 5’s(16-15). Cheo then re-took the lead after the 7’s(17-16). Cheo could not find the eights and his 2 nines were not enough as Chris won a very close game 20 to 19. With the win Chris moved within one game of the championship finals. Cheo being the higher seed chose cribbage as the game and although he had several opportunities to hit big scores and get down to a finish, he just couldn’t get that third dart to cooperate and Chris closed out the game on his second opportunity. With the win Chris was off to his first finals since he won his second straight championship during CCX6.
Series: Chris Moncayo 7 – Cheo Leach 4
#1 Michael Lance vs. #7 Andrew Lance (SF Best of 13)
Up next was a match the Cloon Cup has seen many times before during the playoffs. They have played eight series, two quarter-finals(mike 2-0), 2 semi-finals(tied 1-1), and 4 championship finals(mike 4-0). The last time these two met was the Championship series of CCX7, which Michael won 10-7, however Andrew Lance is returning champ after taking the ultimate price in CCX8. This series was by far the best played series of the day. There was rarely a bad shot and when there was the other guy jumped all over it.
Game 1 set the tone for the series, both players rapidly got down to a double with some pretty impressive scores and all it took was one miss by Andrew on a double for Michael to capitalize and hit his double to take game one. Cricket was up next and both players needed an ample supply of each number (mike 6 and Andrew 5) and that’s exactly what they hit. The numbers got erased quickly and it was Andrew that jumped out to a lead that at the time seemed insurmountable. He only need five bulls eyes to win while Michael needed 9 to take the lead plus a couple of 18’s. Whatever the odds against Michael coming back this game were, he managed to beat them as he stole game 2 to jump out to a 2-0 series lead. Game 3 was probably the best played game of the series with both players rarely hitting less than 60 points. Michael had the high score with a 140 and used that amount to get down to finish and win game 3. Tic-Tac-Toe was on tap for game 4 and Michael wasted no time winning the game in 5 trips and taking a huge 4-0 series lead.
With the hopes of making a second straight trip to the finals fading, Andrew needed to win game 5 and badly to himself back in the series. Baseball was up and Andrew did what he need to do by scoring a 23-19 victory. Down 4-1 Andrew knew that he had to win game 6 and keep the momentum going if he wanted to advance. Andrew started off very strong with trips of 100, 60 and 85but Michael was not going to fade into the background and he kept pace with Andrew along the way. Although Andrew had a couple of trips at the double to win, Michael took his one opportunity and hit his double to take a commanding 5-1 series lead. Heading into cricket for game 7 we saw the same great play as they played the last game of cricket. The only difference this time was that Michael struggled on the bulls with a big lead and Andrew came back to win. With the win Andrew was now down 5-2. Cribbage was up next and once again proved to be a very well played game. Both players rarely missed and they hit high score after high score along the way. A late game surge by Michael (140, 60, 60) allowed him the luxury of having several chances to close the game. Michael missed a few too many times in a row and Andrew Stepped up to the line with 75 left, and with his first two darts he hit two single 15’s, which meant he had 45 left. He needed a triple 15 to win and he threw his third dart just a tad higher then he wanted and saw the dart fall into the triple ten. This dart narrowly missed and it turned out to be a killer as Michael closed out the game on the very next trip and took a 6-2 series lead. With Andrew back against the wall and Michael one game away from the finals Game 9 turned out to be the last of the series. Michael wasted no time in Tic-Tac-Toe and 4 trips later won the game and the series.
Series: Michael Lance 7 – Andrew Lance 2
Michael Lance will now face Chris Moncayo in the nineteenth Cloon Cup Championship Series.
By:
Michael Lance