Jake Bredenbeck has a chance to win his first International Racquetball Tour (IRT) title Saturday night, when he takes on Eduardo Portillo in the final of the IRT John Pelham Memorial Tournament of Champions in Portland, Oregon. Bredenbeck upset top seed and IRT #2 Andree Parrilla in the semi-finals, 15-11, 10-15, 11-9, and won it by coming back in the tie-breaker from 8-2 down. Impressive.
In the other semi, Portillo, the 2nd seed, defeated 3rd seed Alejandro Landa, 15-13, 11-11, injury forfeit, as Landa’s back was ailing him, and he wasn’t able to finish out the match. Late in game two, Landa lost his balance as he was moving to avoid being in the way of Portillo hitting a forehand shot. Yet, curiously, Landa almost won it in two straight games, as he led 12-7 in game one, and 10-0 in game two.
But Portillo, who won his first IRT event in September, came back in both games, winning game one, and tying it in game two before Landa had had enough.
Bredenbeck will be in his second final of the season after getting to the Golden State Open final in October, when he lost to Conrrado Moscoso. If Bredenbeck wins the final, he’ll be the sixth player to win an IRT event this year, which will be the most since the 2017-18 season that six players have won events in an IRT season.
You can see of the John Pelham Memorial tournament action via the usual IRT media outlets: The IRT YouTube channel or the IRT Facebook page. The final is Saturday night at 6 PM Pacific time.
2022 IRT John Pelham Memorial Tournament of Champions
December 1-4, 2022 - Portland, Oregon
Semi-finals - Saturday
5) Jake Bredenbeck d. 1) Andree Parrilla, 15-11, 10-15, 11-9
2) Eduardo Portillo d. 3) Alejandro Landa, 15-13, 11-11, injury forfeit
Final - Saturday
2) Eduardo Portillo v. 5) Jake Bredenbeck - 6 PM
Follow the bouncing ball….
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