Title Chasers become the third straight Evansville American Poolplayers Association area team to win an Indiana APA State Invitational 8-Ball Teams title.
The Evansville team won 8-4 over Camby Mafia, a team from Camby part of the North Central Indiana APA, in the Dec. 4 championship match.
The Title Chasers came through the ‘B’ bracket and won two games to advance to the redraw bracket. One of the crucial matches for Title Chasers was in the second round of the redraw bracket when they faced Let’s Go Brandon 2.0, the other Evansville area team. In the match, Title Chasers Team Captain Brian Hinkle sat out while the other players played.
“I captain two teams every year because I like to play pool,” Hinkle said. “They had to play each other in the morning of Dec. 4 and I couldn’t be in the room nor do anything, so I slept in and hoped for the best.”
Camby Mafia came through the ‘C’ bracket and won two straight to advance to the redraw. Mafia won five matches to advance to the championship match against Title Chasers.
Match
The championship match was played on three tables at a time. In the first match, Camby Mafia Jason Sookram, a Skill Level No. 5 went up against Title Chasers Co-Capitan Fred Hinkle, a Skill Level No. 5, in a race to four games won.
Hinkle won the first game in zero innings. Sookram came back and won the second game in three innings and the third in five innings to take a 2-1 lead. Hinkle won the fourth game in three innings to tie the match up at 2-all.
Sookram won the fifth game in six innings and the sixth game in four to take the match. Camby Mafia’s Team Captain Sookram gave his team a 2-0 lead.
“Sookram was key for us all weekend and one match doesn’t define what he meant to this team,” said Camby Mafia Co-Captain Cody Whitehead. “He plays solid in pressure and will always come through. My brother was the heart of the Camby Mafia and it showed in that last match. He knew what was at stake and took it as best he could.”
The second match saw Camby Mafia’s Scott Whitehead, Skill Level No. 6, against Title Chasers’ Anthony Roy, a Skill Level No. 5. Scott Whitehead needed to win five games while Roy four.
Roy won the first two games with an 8-On-The Break in the second game and led 2-0. Then, Scott Whitehead won the next three games with the fifth game going for two innings. Roy and Scott Whitehead needed to win two games each.
Roy managed to win the sixth game in three innings to get onto the hill, meaning he needed to win one more game. Roy won the last game by Scott Whitehead scratching while making the 8-Ball. Title Chasers tied the team match at 2-all.
“It was a gift that Scott scratched on the 8-Ball,” Brian Hinkle said. “Tony shouldn’t have won that match but he was able to get one rack before that and he snapped the 8-Ball on a different one. We got extremely lucky.”
The third match saw two Skill Level No. 4s play against each other with Hunter Smith for Camby Mafia and Lisa Allen for Title Chasers. It was a back-and-forth match between the two 4s with Abrams coming out on top 3-2, earning two points for Title Chasers. The Evansville area team went up 4-3 going into the third match and had won two of three.
Before the fourth match, Brian Hinkle discussed with his team on who would play against Camby Mafia’s Anthony Atherton, a Skill Level No. 4. The decision was between Brian Hinkle, a Skill Level No. 5, and Amanda Grant, a Skill Level No. 4.
“She has played in so many tournaments than I do and she has nerves of steel,” Brain Hinkle said about choosing Grant. “I had all of the faith in the world for her.”
Grant won the first game in three innings while Atherton won the second game in six innings. Grant won the third game in one inning and the fourth game in six innings to get on the hill. Then, she won the fifth game in three innings to earn two points for Title Chasers. Title Chasers led 6-3 with the final match on the table.
“I thought Anthony played well and I enjoyed playing him as well as the rest of Camby Mafia,” Grant said. “It was tough matching off with them because usually I’m with them competing when I travel to tournaments in their area. Played many tournaments with Tommy Barnes, Sookram and Cody Whitehead and I consider them to be great friends.”
Final match
Title Chasers’ Paul Heidecker, a Skill Level No. 4, went up against Camby Mafia’s Marcello Wright, a Skill Level No. 3, in the final match. Heidecker needed to win three games while Wright went for two.
Heidecker won the first game in six innings to go up 1-0. In the second game, Wright made an amazing shot on the 8-Ball and finished the game in five innings to go on the hill for Camby Mafia. With the cue-ball on the right-side rail and the 8-Ball across from it, Wright decided to bank the 8-Ball right back to him. He walked around to the left to get a better angle on the shot then went back to the cue-ball. He stroked seven times and hit cue-ball on the left side of the 8-Ball. The 8-Ball came back and rolled into the called pocket.
“He scared me because I didn’t realize he was on the hill until my co-captain, Fred Hinkle, came up to me and told me,” Heidecker said. “I was behind and I just played catchup the whole time. He made several good shots during the match. There was nothing that he did that I would consider luck, he played his best game and he’s a good shot.”
Heidecker indeed played catchup and won the third game in three innings to force hill-hill. In the final game, Wright was solids and Heidecker was stripes with both having two on the table. Wright had a hard shot of banking a 5-ball to the left back pocket but hit it firm, so the cue-ball bounced right off of it. Heidecker called a timeout and Roy came and helped with trying to make the 9-Ball and getting shape for the 8-Ball.
Heidecker stopped the cue-ball and then marked a cross-side pocket in the middle. He stroked three times and hit the cue-ball on the left side. The 8-Ball went in and excitement rang out for Title Chasers.
“I knew if I left myself bad on the 8-ball because I was tucked in, that was a backup shot,” Heidecker said. “I have pulled that shot off before because I’m bad at messing up my leaves. It was one of those things that I got so bad at something but I got good at getting out of some situations.”
Heidecker earned two points for Title Chasers while Wright earned one for Camby Mafia.
Captain wins 3rd straight
Brian Hinkle won his third straight state title captaining an Evansville area team.
“I’m blessed to have been a captain of the past three teams that have won a state title from our area,” Brain Hinkle said. “Chuck and Tina Austin do a great job and we have some good players in our area that don’t quit. We definitely have a love and passion for the game.”
Meanwhile, Fred Hinkle, Roy and Grant won their second state titles for Evansville.
Champions and Runner-ups
Teams
Champion: Title Chasers (Brian Hinkle, Fred Hinkle, Anthony Roy, Robert Stanley, Paul Heidecker, Steven Hale, Amanda Sweeney and Lisa Allen, Evansville APA, Chuck and Tina Austin) $8,000
Runner-up; Camby Mafia (Jason Sookram, Cody Whitehead, Scott Whitehead, Anthony Atherton, Hunter Smith, Colt Epperson, Tommy Barnes and Marcello Wright, Central APA, Matt Gillespie) $4,000
8-Ball Scotch Doubles
Champion: Del Taco (Marcos Millan and Chase Wagner, Central Indiana, Matt Gillespie) $3,400
Runner-up: Bang Em Hard (Julie Huffman and Jonah Bunch, Central and North Central Indiana, Matt Gillespie, Tom and Julie Diesman) $1,600
9-Ball Scotch Doubles
Champion: Two Ole Fatboys (Brian Bowman and Austin Woodworth, Central Indiana, Matt Gillespie) $1,500
Runner-up: It’s All Good (Mike Hardy and Kevin Toler, Central Indiana, Matt Gillespie) $750
Jack and Jill
Champion: Mean Green (Amber Capo and Nick Green, Evansville APA, Chuck and Tina Austin) $900 (Pictured)
Runner-up: T-N-T (Tim Williams and Tracy O’Brien, Louisville APA, Danielle and Jesse Hecht) $450
9-Ball 3-Man
Champion: Camby Mafia (Cody Whitehead, Anthony Atherton and Jason Sookram, Central Indiana, Matt Gillespie) $1,700
Runner-up: Shot Makers (Devin Wilson, Christopher Weber, Cody Clement and Robert Priest, Louisville APA, Danielle and Jesse Hecht) $850
8-Ball Singles
2-3s
Champion: Abdul Arab Sheik (Louisville APA, Danielle and Jesse Hecht) $800
Runner-up: Samantha Lamon (Evansville APA, Chuck and Tina Austin) $400
4s
Champion: Kurt Clement (Evansville APA, Chuck and Tina Austin) $1,600
Runner-up: Amber Capo (Evansville APA, Chuck and Tina Austin) $850
5s
Champion: Chase Wagner (Central APA, Matt Gillespie) $1,600
Runner-up: Greg Davidson (Louisville APA, Danielle and Jesse Hecht) $850
6s
Champion: Shivalik Das (Central APA, Matt Gillespie) $1,500
Runner-Up: Brandon Kinnaird (Central APA, Matt Gillespie) $800
Seniors
Champion: Dennis Schnell (Evansville APA, Chuck and Tina Austin) $900
Runner-up: Randy Redding (St. Joseph APA, Dean Johnson) $450
9-Ball Singles
1-2-3s
Champion: Monica Meadows (Central APA, Matt Gillespie) $800
Runner-up: Kristopher Johnson (Louisville APA, Danielle and Jesse Hecht) $400
4-5s
Champion: Jacob Wilhelmus (Evansville APA, Chuck and Tina Austin) $2,200
Runner-up: Natasha Howard (Central APA, Matt Gillespie) $1,100
6-7s
Champion: Tracy Woodall (Evansville, Chuck and Tina Austin) $1,500
Runner-up: Brandon Kinnaird (Central APA, Matt Gillespie) $800
8-9s
Champion: Ron Solgot (Central APA, Matt Gillespie) $1,400
Runner-up: Nicholas Helmbrecht (Evansville APA, Chuck and Tina Austin) $700
Patrick Murphy 