Croft forfeits match at IRT Party with the Pros

From the "You Learn Something New Everyday" Department comes news that being given technical penalties on the International Racquetball Tour (IRT) results in a match forfeit. We here at The Racquetball Blog were not aware of that rule until today when Ben Croft received four technicals during his match against Rocky Carson in the quarterfinals of Pete Pierce's Party with the Pros tournament in St Louis.

We didn't see the first two events that led to Croft being assessed technicals. The first apparently came after game two was completed with the second happening soon after game three began.

The third technical happened while Croft was arguing about a call on a broken ball play, which was called a replay by the referee, although the ball had bounced twice before Carson hit it and Carson hit the ball after the rally was over.

On that rally, the referee called two bounces, as Carson was swinging for it, so it's unclear whether Carson could have held up prior to making contact with the ball. Croft argued that he should have won the rally, because Carson hit the ball after the rally was over, so if that hit broke the ball, it should not be a replay, because it happened after the rally was over.

Croft had been complaining all through game three, so perhaps the complaint about this incident was a protest too much.

Croft's fourth technical happened in game four after Croft struck the ball into the back wall after the rally is over. That call did seem harsh to us, but Croft had been complaining to the referee throughout the match, as did Carson.

The final scoreline had Carson winning 11-7, 11-8, 11-13, 8-2 - forfeit.

Carson will play Jose Rojas in the semi-finals, although Rojas needed to comeback from two games to none in his match against Chris Crowther, winning 9-11, 7-11, 11-6, 11-6, 11-2.

On the top of the draw, Alvaro Beltran, the #1 seed in the tournament with the absence of IRT #1 Kane Waselenchuk, defeated Tony Carson, 11-6, 11-9, 12-10, and Daniel De La Rosa needed fives games to defeat Janesen Allen, 11-8, 2-11, 11-4, 6-11, 11-5.

The semi-finals are 11 AM and noon Saturday and the final will be Saturday night at 7 PM. All times central. Matches can be viewed via the IRT Network.

Pete Pierce's Party with the Pros
St Louis, October 17-18, 2014

Quarterfinals

1) Alvaro Beltran d. 8) Tony Carson, 11-6, 11-9, 12-10
4) Daniel De La Rosa d. 5) Jansen Allen, 11-8, 2-11, 11-4, 6-11, 11-5

3) Jose Rojas d. 6) Chris Crowther, 9-11, 7-11, 11-6, 11-6, 11-2
2) Rocky Carson d. 7) Ben Croft, 11-7, 11-8, 11-13, 8-2, forfeit

Semi-finals

1) Alvaro Beltran v. 4) Daniel De La Rosa
2) Rocky Carson v. 3) Jose Rojas

Follow the bouncing ball….