The first IRT event of the season* (more on that in a moment) was held last weekend in Mexican racquetball hotbed San Luis Potosi, and it featured a solid draw of locals competing for IRT Satellite points. Here’s a quick recap. No r2sports link, so we had to draw inferences on some of the results, but here we go:
* you may notice that I said first event of the season, even though we’re in August. That’s right; the IRT’s new leadership has decided to go back to the fall-to-spring schedule instead of the Jan-Dec schedule adopted during the Covid mess. So, we declared a 2024 season champion, and then we’ll declare a 2025-26 season champion next June after the US Open. This was considered more ideal than just declaring a “2025” champ based on the 3 events held in Feb and March of this year.
Here’s how this weekend’s event went down:
The top four seeds were, in order, Andrés Parrilla , @Erick Trujillo , @jordy alonso, and Diego Gastelum , all four regular IRT touring pros. However, the rest of the draw featured a slew of solid up and coming players from Mexico and the southwest, including US Junior National team member @DJ Mendoza, @Elias Neito, and 2-time defending Mexican U21 champ @Sebastian Hernandez.
When the semis hit thought, the top four seeds had advanced to face off. In the top half, Parrillao advanced past Gastelum, while from the bottom half Trujillo got a solid win over Alonso to setup a 1-vs-2 final.
In the final, Parrilla topped Trujillo in a battle of two IRT top 10 players 7,9 to take the title on his home court.
It’s a new International Racquetball Tour world, with new blood and new ownership, and this is the first of a possible 20-event slate. Great to see.