Of Concords and Garden States - UPDATED

Concord Classic

The Classic Pro Racquetball Tour's (CPRT's) Concord Classic is working out as expected as the semi-finalists are Woody Clouse, Ruben Gonzalez, Cliff Swain and reigning US Open Champion Jimmy Lowe, who was seeded 5th behind 4th seeded Gerry Price. But Lowe handily beat Price in the quarter finals 9-1, 9-2, 9-2. In fact, the semi-finalists collectively gave up only 26 points in their 12 quarter final games; an average of 2.17 per game.

In the semi-finals, Clouse defeated Lowe in three straight games, 9-3, 9-4, 9-7, avenging his loss to Lowe in the US Open last October, while Gonzalez beat Swain in four games, 9-4, 4-9, 9-5, 9-5, to set up a #1 versus #2 battle on Sunday. Clouse was seeded first and Gonzalez second.

Another interesting final Sunday will be in Women's Open, where two 16 year olds will face each other. Veronica Sotomayor, #11 on the Women's Professional Racquetball Organization's (WPRO's) rankings will play Aubrey O'brien, #20 on the WPRO.

Garden State Open

Across the USA in Fairfield, New Jersey, the Garden State Open, a Tier 4 event on the International Racquetball Tour (IRT) is also going along as expected.

There the semi-finalists are Travis Aldinger and Sanjay Laforest on the top of the draw with 17 year old US Junior Team member Bradley Kirch and former US National Team member Eric Muller on the bottom half. The semi-finals and finals will be played Sunday.

Follow the bouncing ball....