Welcome to the 17th annual Beach Bash one-wall outdoor event, the first of the three “majors” on the WOR – World Outdoor Racquetball annual calendar. This is the 17th iteration of this event, which started in 2004 as one of the first ever events run by the newly formed WOR organization. It was renamed to Beach Bash for Cash starting in 2007, and has run in mid-March every year (save for Covid) since. Eventually the “Cash” moniker was dropped, so now we just call it Beach Bash.
This year’s event is shaping up to be an outdoor-specialist’s paradise, as a schedule conflict has taken away the top IRT touring pros who have regularly been playing outdoor events over the past few years. This also means that titles are up for grabs that have been dominated by johnny come lately IRT guys for the past few years.
This is also the first event of the 2024 Outdoor Cup series, a year-long program awarding cash and prizes to the best performing outdoor players in the three majors. We’ll report on the standings after the event finishes.
Here’s a quick preview of the pro draws. We’ll do Singles, Doubles, Mixed in that order:
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Men’s Pro Singles:
Nine players entered into one-wall singles, which is a tough test of racquetball skills and endurance. The last 8 titles here have been won by either DLR or Sostre, so we’ll have a new winner for the first time in a decade. Javier Trujillo is the 1-seed, but for me the two favorites might be in the lower half of the draw in @David Blatt and @Yasmani Perez . I’m looking for Blatt (aka “The Hulk” or “The Hulkster”) to take the title. I love outdoor nicknames.
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Women’s Pro Singles:
There’s 6 players in women’s one-wall pro, all six of which who are well-known LPRT touring pros or outdoor champions. Veronica Sotomayor is the 1-seed and the defending champ, having blown through the draw last year and topped the 3-time defending champ Scott. From the bottom half, look for Florida outdoor specialist lefty @Chanis Leon to battle with future outdoor Hall of Famer Michelle Key early. I like Kelani Lawrence to make the final but for Vero to repeat.
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Men’s Pro Doubles:
With defending champs DLR and Mar missing, last year’s finalists Robert Sostre and @Benny Goldenberg get the #1 seed. However, the draw makers did them zero favors, with a top-heavy bracket that features a slew of dangerous teams. #4 isEric Faro and Dave Blatt, two very accomplished one-wallers. The top-half also has future WOR HoFamer Rocky Carson and Alejandro Barcelo as the #5 seed, and honestly i’d take either the #8 (San Antonio one-wallers @Dj Mendoz and Brennen Jennings or #9 seeds @Dylan Pruitt and @Mark Harmon over half the teams in the bottom half of the draw head to head. Whoever comes out of the top will have earnover half the teams in the bottom half of the draw head to head. Whoever comes out of the top will have earned the final .
The bottom half features two solid Florida-based one-wallers in Trujillo & Perez as the #2 seed; they’ll have to contend with a couple of one-wall legends in their half of the draw in Bobby Morales & Richie Miller. Miller is an 8-time finalist in pro doubles here, and is playing with experienced outdoor vet Thomas Gerhardt . Lastly, the #3 seed features two bruisers with enough girth to completely fill the court in @JYoung Joe and @Rick Koll, who feature a combined bench press north of 800 lbs and enough power to go through a bucket of balls in their matches.
Prediction? I think Benny & Iceman prevail over Gerhardt & Miller.
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Women’s Pro Doubles:
A wide-open division of 5 tough teams. Lawrence (last year’s winner with Scott) is teamed with Parrilla as the #1 seed but (if they can beat Florida’s Leon/Allue) will have to contend with Sotomayor and excellent doubles player @Maria Renee Rodriguez to repeat. In the bottom half it will be Arizona vs New York (well, NY/NJ) with Key teaming with @Katie Neil taking on last year’s finalist @Aimee Roehler teamed with the very tough Delia Silva .
I like Lawrence & Parrilla to take out Roehler/Silva in the final.
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Mixed Pro Doubles:
This year’s Mixed competition will look completely different from last years, in that seven of the eight semi-finalists from 2023 are missing this year. The sole-returner is Sostre, and he’s teamed with Lawrence as the #1 seeds and favorites. They’re going to be tested early though, as husband-wife team of @Sudsy Monchik and Sotomayor are late entrants and seeded dead last, set to play into the #1 seeds for what will make for a juicy quarter final. The 4/5 match features two of the better one-wall NYC ladies in Silva and Kathy Guinan , teamed with Blatt and Mighty Joe Young respectively. The top half is loaded.
The bottom half features three-time Mixed pro Beach Bash champ Key along side multi-winner Koll to form a formidable #2 seed. They project to face a very solid #3 seeded team of Carson & Parrilla, two veteran pros who can certainly get results in one-wall.
Prediction? Whoever wins the 1/8 quarter will top Carson & Parrilla in the final.
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In CPRT 40+, which counts towards the Outdoor Cup standings, 13 teams are battling it out in a division that includes a slew of famous names. @Marty Hogan is in this draw, teamed with Iggy @IIgnacio Espina as a very dangerous #6 seed. Semi finalsits last year Max Heymann and @Seran Ramkissoon are the #3 seeds. Last year’s finalist Joe Young is with his pro partner Koll as the #2 seeds. But The team to beat is #1 Richie Miller with last year’s finalist Gerhardt.
I like Miller/Gerhardt to take the draw over Young/Koll in a chalky 1-2 final.
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there’s also big 75+ and 100+ divisions, and Paddle ball features a slew of top NYC teams. It should be a fun weekend.
Streaming will be handled by the LPRT team this weekend onsite. Please be patient with the streaming: the Garfield Street courts are in a notoriously bad wifi area, and sometimes streaming can be spotty. They can take certain precautions, but shared hotspots can get overwhelmed quickly.
Thanks as always to Tourney Directors and sponsors who make this event happen. Specifically, Peggine Tellez , Mike Coulter , @33Wall Ball, Abel Perez , Kwm Gutterman , @Dovetail and Mike Kinkin , @Age Solutions and Andy Gomer , LPL Financial , @Rick Koll and his Sodaman franchise, all the racquet companies that support the sport, and others who I may have missed.