4×7 Cup

By Tamra Easley

On Saturday, August 8, 2009, Home Plate Tacoma’s Denny Mickelsen, Randy Donahue, Randy Zimmerman and Kelly Papuzza did the do for the 4×7 Cup against Wah Long’s Chad Marlow, Jason Fogelman, Will McClain and Jason Dafoe. Home Plate recently won this title from Cactus Moon.

The match started out very close just as both teams expected it to be. Game 5 was indicative of this, the final score 362-361, Wah Long. A single bull decided the outcome.

The match continued to swing back and forth, after ten games, the score was 5-5. That was when things started to change.

It is surprising that Will’s ego can fit into the same room as the rest of his body, let alone anyone else. The showboating was on full display after he shot the first T60 of the match in game 11.

Wah Long broke the tie game stranglehold by putting together three in a row for a scant 7-5 lead going into the second series of team 901 games, though if the rhythm of the match held true, this was only a temporary respite for Wah Long.

Holding true to trend, Home Plate won game 13 to put a halt to the run, though Wah Long went right back to their winning ways in game 14, continuing right on through the next six games, bringing the score to 13-6.

Home Plate said enough of this garbage, pulling out a decisive game 20 to stop the bleeding, this game kick-started their own run. Home Plate hit their stride, even Will hitting his second T60 in game 24 was not enough to thwart Home Plate from their mission. They won this game also to tack on their fifth in a row. Though Will shot the first 3-In-A-Bed (15s) in game 26. Home Plate tucked this one away also, including the first overkill anyone watching could remember in a challenge cup, to tie the match 13-all. They also won game 27 to take their first lead since game 9 tallying up eight games in a row. Jason F. quietly hit the highlight reel during this game with a Shanghai in the 15s.

The match tightened up again with Wah Long taking the following two games to take the lead again, then Home Plate again.

It took a while, but the match reached the final series of 901 team games – score tied 15-15, reducing the match down to the best two of three games. Wah Long drew first blood, winning game 31, Home Plate struck back in game 32, leaving 901 points to decide the outcome. Tacoma, Burien, where would the 4×7 find a home.

When it came down to the out, Will and his ego came through to bring the 4×7 home to Wah Long!

August 22 was their first defense of the 4×7 Cup, facing a team from Monte Carlo; Brian Thayer, Kal Gunter, Ken Lee and Shane Osborne. Kal, who shoots out of both houses, wore his Wah Long shirt even though he was shooting for the Monte. He got grief from both sides without a doubt.

As per usual, when houses are in the same area, the players are well-known to each other. There was a lot of respect shown for each other’s game, though the strategizing from the huddle was entertaining.

M.C. (that would be Monte Carlo, not Mariah Carey) put together the first multi game run early taking games 2-4 for a quick 3-1 lead. Wah Long reciprocated, plus one for a score swing in their direction of 5-3.

Game 7 was an epic Cricket game. The guys were banging round for round, the final score was 553-533 in Wah Long’s favor. Jason F. took game 8 out with a 110 (B, S20, D20), earning the only style points for an out of the match. Monte broke up that four-game streak to keep things tight at 5-4.

The match was close at 7-5 (Wah Long’s favor) heading into the mid 901 stacked games. That was when the score turned the corner. Wah Long went on an eight-game run to give themselves a nice cushion, though Monte took a little air out by winning games 21 and 22 to end that streak. Wah Long put the match away two games later to secure their first defense of the 4×7 Cup.