One of the longer-running events on tour is this coming weekend in the Chicago-land area, as the tour visits a club it hasn’t played at in years for the 2026 Shamrock Shootout. They’re playing in Schaumburg, Illinois, which was site to the debut of the portable court back in 2008.
R2 Sports App link: https://www.r2sports.com/website/event-website.asp?TID=52434
We’ve got a solid 36-pro draw with 17 of the top 20 players present, which will make for a fun opening couple of days of matchups.
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Let’s preview the draw. Here’s some notable qualifying matches that i’m looking forward to:
In the round of 32:
– two IRT vets in Sam Bredenbeck and Robbie Collins meet in the 16/17 seed match
– Alonso is back after a weekend off; he faces DJ Mendoza in a fun one
– WE get a rematch of last week’s Carrasco-Sendrey matchup
– WE also get a rematch of the great opening round match between Trujillo and Gastelum.
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round of 16:
– Lalo Portillo is back after a weekend off; he plays into Natera in the 8/9
– Montoya-Alonso is a great round of 16 match between two guys who can both get hot and get results
– Wonder kid Flores faces off against Parrilla once again; he beta him 1,3 two weeks ago, but may not be 100% this weekend.
– Manilla-Mar in the 7-10 could be an upset for the lefty.
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Projected Qtrs:
– Kane projects to play Portillo in my predictions; Portillo is an awkward player to play and who can score points, so tough round for Kane
– Montoya-Jake in the quarters is a hard hitter’s dream.
– Acuna/Parrilla could be an upset for the Mexican, who loves Chicago and has some of his best results here.
– Moscoso should cruise through Manilla
Semis: I like Kane over Montoya, and Moscoso over Parrilla, to give us what we want; another 1v2 Kane v Conrrado final.
Finals;
Moscoso has won four straight tourneys, and has beaten Kane 3 times in a row. Can he keep these streaks alive? It certainly didn’t look like it for the first 19 points of the Minnesota final … but Conrrado found a way to win.
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Doubles review
All the usual teams are here and together; even though there’s some compelling partnerships right now on tour, the final will likely come down to whoever wins the semis between newly crowned mMexican national champs Parrilla/Portillo and the Bolivian champs Moscoso/Carrasco. Look for Parrilla/Portillo to win the semis and get another win over Montoya/Mar in the final.
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Look for Streaming in the regular places; follow the IRT on Facebook and sign up to get notifications when they go Live. Look for Carrie Reitmeier, Favio Soto, Pablo Fajre, and the IRTLive crew all weekend on the microphone, calling the shots!
Thanks to the Tourney Director @dave negrete for putting this event on!
Thanks to our main sponsors Papa Nicholas Coffee, KWM Gutterman, and the Klaimatis foundation ; it goes without saying that without you and your support, we don’t have a sport.
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International Racquetball Tour