Sunset Athletic Club hosted a great weekend of matches in Portland, Oregon. 171 players came out and the club was rockin' all weekend long. This was the 3rd stop on the ORA tour and players were banging the ball for state ranking points. Players form Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Nevada, California and Hawaii came to the northwest for this tournament.
Quarterfinals:
Shane Dodge got past last years semifinalist, John Wetherbee and was playing great ball when he went down and separated his right shoulder forcing a forfeit against #1 seed Jason Samora. Chadd Westwood and Jimmy Lowe advanced to meet each other again and Jimmy was all business winning in 3 games. Dan Darling and Charlie Pratt played the closest match in the quarters with Darling winning in 5 games. Greg Thomas came out of retirement and met #2 seed Jeff Stark. Greg took the first game and showed some signs of why he was on the tour in the past but Stark took him in 4 games to advance.
Semifinals:
Jason Samora's outstanding shooting and Jimmy Lowe's athleticism made for an interesting match up. Jason won the first 2 games and Jimmy came out with a different plan in game 4 giving Jason a 0. Jason got back to business and narrowly lost the 4th game 10-12 and took game 5 to advance to the finals and try to repeat as Turkey Shoot Champion. Jeff Stark and Dan Darling have had some heated matches in the past year and this one started off with some anticipation by the crowd. It was all Darling in the first two games as he won both and appeared to be on his way to the finals. Jeff Stark dug in though and won the next three games, giving him the chance to meet Jason in the final.
Final:
Last year's champion, Jason came out shooting in game one and won 11-9 but did not appear to have the control as in his earlier matches and Jeff gained momentum to win the second 11-9. Jeff started making great shots and gets and Jason was not able to get back into control the match...Jeff won in four becoming the 2006 Sunset Champion. Congratulations Jeff!
The Men's Open Doubles final was an unbelievable match with Charlie Pratt and Jason Samora winning in a tie breaker over Jeff Stark and Dan Darling. The crowd was electric for this match which played right after the Pro final.
Thanks to all of the volunteers and sponsors who made this such a great tournament once again