Daniel De La Rosa won the 2021 International Racquetball Tour (IRT) KWM Gutterman Shamrock Shootout in Lombard, Illinois on Sunday, when he defeated Jake Bredenbeck, 15-10, 15-13, 11-1. De La Rosa, who was seeded 2nd, is the first player not named Kane Waselenchuk to win back to back on the IRT since Rocky Carson did so in April/May of 2016.
De La Rosa said “it feels good” to be back in the winner’s circle. He won in Colorado last month. But then De La Rosa praised his opponent, saying Bredenbeck “is improving a lot. He’s definitely a warrior. I’m happy for him too.”
Bredenbeck, seeded 8th, defeated the 1st and 4th seeds to reach his 1st career IRT final, so despite the loss in the final, there's a lot for Bredenbeck - and any Bredenbeck fans - to be happy about.
The players went back and forth in game one. De La Rosa got the first couple points, but then Bredenbeck came back and went ahead 7-4. Momentum shifted again as De La Rosa led 11-8, and then held the lead to win 15-10.
In game two, they were again close early on, and Bredenbeck took a lead in the middle of the game at 7-5. Then De La Rosa held up for a ball that looked playable, as he felt Bredebeck was in the way. But the referee disagreed, and awarded a point to Bredenbeck.
De La Rosa disputed the call, including opening the door of the court. That led the referee to assess a technical against him, so when Bredenbeck served it was at 8-4. Bredenbeck got one more point, and then De La Rosa called a timeout at 9-4.
Although he lost the next rally to go down 10-4, De La Rosa went on a run after that to get six straight points and tie the game at 10-10. Then Bredenbeck called a timeout.
He got the serve back after the timeout with a nice touch forehand pinch shot. Bredenbeck then got two points with the second on a drive serve ace to the left corner that made it 12-10.
But the match see-saw tipped again, as De La Rosa ran off three points to re-gain the lead at 13-12. However, Bredenbeck - the warrior - dug in his heels and forced De La Rosa into a skip that got him the serve back. Bredenbeck didn’t give up the serve as he closed out game two with a forehand winner, winning 15-13 and forcing a tie-breaker.
When a match has two close games, like Sunday’s final had, often the tie-breaker is a blowout. So it was Sunday, as De La Rosa won it 11-1.
The tie-breaker didn’t start quickly, as De La Rosa led 3-1 after 12 rallies. Also, De La Rosa only got more than one point three times in the game, two points in a row twice and three points once.
Thus, Bredenbeck had chances to score, as he served 10 times in the game. But Bredenbeck only scored once. He held off two match points, but on De La Rosa’s third match point, Bredenbeck mishit a seemingly easy backhand shot that looked like it was an intended ceiling ball, resulting in a skip. A sad end to what was a good match.
Finally, the glass court that serves as the main court at the Glass Court Swim & Fitness Club that hosted the tournament was dedicated to Geoff Peters for his years of service to racquetball.
If you missed any of the Shamrock Shootout action - including the Geoff Peters dedication ceremony on Saturday night - check out the IRT media outlets: The IRT YouTube channel or the IRT Facebook page.
2021 KWM Gutterman Shamrock Shootout
September 23-26, 2021 - Lombard, Illinois
Final - Sunday
2) Daniel De La Rosa d. 8) Jake Bredenbeck, 15-10, 15-13, 11-1
Follow the bouncing ball….
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment