The Birmingham APA changed the local playoff landscape this year with the addition of a new level/step called the "City Cups" (C.C.'s). The C.C.'s from what I can gather are really the first few matches that would have been played at the Local Team Championship (LTC) in June but spread out over the year. This was done to cut down on the length of the LTC since the Birmingham APA has grown and the LTC has become quite large.
My Thursday night team, Pac 7, played in the 9-Ball City Cups yesterday. I played as a SL4 since that was my skill level when we qualified although I have recently moved up a skill level. In the first set, we played a really nice team named No Excuses from Poppa G's Billiards in Pelham, AL. By the time I got the the table in the third match, we were down two matches (28-12) if I recall correctly). I played their team captain who is a SL6. After a rocky start, I found my groove and beat him 15-5. This helped get the team back in it and our next player put up an excellent win of 19-1 to give us a substantial boost. The final match was between our SL7 and their SL8. Our SL7 only needed 27 balls to win it for us and he came through in the clutch. Awesome win!
Our second set of the day we played Crackin Racks from Bumpers Billiards in Hoover, AL. The set started pretty much the same with an 8-12 loss followed by a 5-15 loss. Again I came to the table and the other team put a SL6 up against me. The outcome was the same with a 15-5 win for me. This was shaping up to be a mirror image of our first set. Unfortunately the player who had done so well and got us the 19-1 win in the earlier set lost. Now the tables were turned and their final SL6 was playing our SL7 who needed to get 55 points before their SL6 could get 23. Our SL7 put up a valiant effort and for a time it looked like he might be able to pull it off. In the end it was just too big a deficit to recover from.
While we may have lost the second match and been thwarted this attempt, we still have the chance to get back to C.C.'s this session and qualify for the June LTC. We have a great team so time to look ahead and get back to the practice table.
