Category: LPRT

Congrats to your Pro winners on the weekend:

– Singles: @Maria Jose Vargas

– Doubles: @Brenda Laime Jalil and Natalia Mendez Erlwein

Vargas finishes off her season with a win, while Laime wins her 4th pro doubles title of the season. Longoria had already clinched the year end title. More in the points section later.

R2 Sports App home page for event: https://www.r2sports.com/website/event-website.asp?TID=49103

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Let’s review the notable matches in the Singles draw.

Singles Match report in the PRS database: https://rball.pro/61cdf6

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In the 32s, two of the best U21 players in the world (Bolivia’s Camila Rivero and USA’s Naomi Ros) topped LPRT tour vets Rodriguez and Synhorst to move on).

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In the 16s, chalk. All top 8 seeds moved on in the season’s final event. The only round of 16 to even go to a tie-breaker was in the 7/10 match, with @Kelani Lawrence advancing over Christina Amaya.

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In the Quarters, again chalk but with some closer matches.

– With @Alexandra Herrera now dropped to the #8 spot, the 1-8 is tougher than it normally is, and indeed @Paola Longoria had to go to the breaker to move past the lefty Herrera 6,(9),2.

– #4 @Ana Ana Gabriela Martínez cruised past #5 Mendez in two.

– #3 Vargas crushed Laime 6,2 in a battle of hard hitters.

– #2 @Montse Mejia wasn’t too troubled in advancing past Lawrence 7,6

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In the Semis, the clear-cut top four players on tour have separated themselves at this point, with a massive gap in the points ranking between #4 and #5. Herrera used to be part of this upper group, and Manilla’s hip injury continues to prevent her from even playing, else we’d be closer to a “big 6” rather than our current “big 4.”

And, true to form, when you have a group of closely matched players, week in and week out you just never know who’s gonna win. And this weekend, we got two upsets in the semis.

– Gaby took out Longoria by the surprising scoreline 3,12 to get to her second final of the season. If Martinez hadn’t missed an event this season, she might e pressing for #2 on tour.

– Vargas flipped the script on Mejia in the 2/3 semi final, winning an incredibly streaky match 6,(3),1.

In the Finals, Vargas powered past the Guatemalan 8,5. Gaby entered the event a little under the weather but made it to the final before running out of gas.

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Points Implications of results

With the win, Vargas made up the ground she was trailing Mejia for #2 on the season and now the two players are in a virtual dead heat for the #2 year end spot. It will come down to point fractions and who was able to win a game in an eventual loss; we’ll keep an eye out for hte final season rankings. No other changes in the top 16 came from the season ender, with the exception of the absent Carla Munoz missing points for the second straight event and now dropping all the way to #16. She’ll face an up-hill climb to get back to the quarters next season.

Here’s a link to my LPRT Rolling 2year Calendar XLS, which I use to approximate the points after each event. It is not exact but it’s usually close enough to the actual rankings, which @Ryan Rodgers does with @R2 Sports App on behalf of the tour after each event, to allow some quick post-event analysis before the rankings post.

women

https://docs.google.com/…/16o0aE4YophvlQdezlMVj…/edit…

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Doubles review

Match report in the PRS database: https://rball.pro/46a919

Laime and Mendez finish off the title as the #1 seeds, topping Vargas and Centellas in the final. Thus, 3 of the four finalists were Argentine, and all four are Bolivian-born players who have left to represent other South American federations.

Meja and Herrera, who dominated the pro doubles circuit last season (they won 6 of the 7 doubles titles in the 23-24 season) won just once together this year as Laime became the top dog. Laime had 4 titles this year with 3 different players. Vargas switched partners, moving from Mendez to Centellas, and managed to make the final in 6 of the season’s 7 events but could garner just one title. Meanwhile, the reign of Longoria/Salas seems over; they made just two finals this season as both players are facing career choices going forward.

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Thanks for all the streaming on the weekend, especially from broadcasters Timothy Baghurst, Jerry J Josey Jr., JTRball, and Tj Baumbaugh

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Next up?

Per our handy master racquetball calendar …

https://docs.google.com/…/1V6OTid6rZ356voXVkoV2…/edit…

Next week is USA Junior Nationals, the last of the big USAR events of the season.

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tags

@LPRT

Right on the heels of the Northern Virginia Invitational, the traditional season ending event for the LPRT is upon us: the Sweet Caroline Open. Normally held in Greenville, SC, at the club that serves as the home for the LPRT’s official Hall of Fame, this year due to club renovations (thankfully that, and not yet another historic racquetball club closing) being held at the Dowd YMCA in Charlotte, NC. The ladies of the tour drove south down 95, passing through my hometown in Richmond, before heading into North Carolina proper.

R2 Sports App link: https://www.r2sports.com/website/event-website.asp?TID=49103

Basically the same set of ladies who competed last weekend in DC, with a couple of changes at the tail end of the seedings. However, thanks to some major ranking shakeups, the quarters project to be completely different than last week.

With her finals finish last weekend, Longoria has sewn up the year end title, her 14th. The top 8 finishes are mostly set; only a huge run of upsets would change the final season rankings from where they sit now. There’s a bit of room in the 9-10-11 spots where someone could nab a “top 10” finish for the season, if the players cared about such a thing. So, a bit to play for this weekend.

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Let’s preview the draw. Here’s some notable qualifying matches that i’m looking forward to:

There’s just 2 matches in the 32s, and both could be interesting. In the 16/17 MRR takes on reigning US National champ @Naomi Ros in a good test for our young champion. Meanwhile, in the 15/18 matchup, the reigning U21 world junior champ from Bolivia @Camila Rivero is in town, taking on tour vet @Stephanie Synhorst.

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round of 16:

– I’d like to see what Ros can do against Something-time Mexican champ @Paola Longoria (I don’t have any idea how many Mexican national titles Paola has, thanks to shoddy record keeping at the FMR, but I do know she’s won every title save for one since 2014, and likely every title from around 2008-2014, so i’d estimate it at either 16 or 17).

– With Herrera all the way down at #8, she faces #9 Parrilla for a shot at Paola.

– All Argentine grudge match between Mendez and Centellas, in a battle of the long-time representative and the player they’re trying to replace her with.

– Laime got upset early last week; can she hang with hard-hitting Salas to live up to her seed?

– Lotts plays into Vargas, and she can hang with the big hitting Argentine.

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Projected Qtrs:

– Longoria over Herrera: the time where Alexandra could beat Paola seems now past.

– Gaby over Mendez: We never seem to talk about Ana Gabriele Martinez’ draw until suddenly she’s in the semis, taking on Paola.

– Vargas over Laime: Laime seems to either make the final or lose in the first round.

– Mejia over Lawrence. With her win last week Montse moves up to #2 and takes on the American Kelani, who has a couple hour’s drive from her Va Beach home to get to Charlotte for this one.

Semis: I like the top four seeds once again

– Longoria has another close one against Gaby but moves on

– Mejia has the hot hand, Vargas knows she’s out of the title race and loses.

Finals; Longoria finishes off her season with a title in the last event.

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Doubles review

Longoria & Salas take the weekend off from doubles, which paves the way for Mejia & Herrera to get a title, even if they’ve been supplanted in the rankings.

Congrats to your Pro winners on the weekend:

– Singles: Montserrate Mejia

– Doubles: Maria Jose Vargas & @Valeria Centellas

Exec Summary: Mejia denies Longoria and wins her 8th career title, now sitting in 12th place alone. Nonetheless, Longoria secures the 2024-25 year end title, her 14th.

R2 Sports App home page for event: https://www.r2sports.com/website/event-website.asp?TID=48794

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Let’s review the notable matches in the Singles draw.

Singles Match report in the PRS database: https://rball.pro/11b4f8

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In the 32s, a couple of notable results:

– Sanchez took out MRR to move on.

– Synhorst topped the veteran Acosta in a solid win

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In the 16s, just a couple of notable matches to mention:

– Lexi York took #5 Herrera to a breaker but fell

– The sole upset was #11 Parrilla taking out #6 Laime.

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In the Quarters

– #1 Longoria did what she normally does against #8 Lawrence, grinding out a solid win

– #4 Gaby made fast work of #5 Herrera.

– #3 Mejia took out her long-time rival Parrilla 8,7

– #2 Vargas was pushed by her former doubles partner Mendez but advanced 2,11

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In the Semis

– Longoria came out on top of a close 13,14 match against Gaby, who always seems to play Paola tough.

– In the increasingly tough 2/3 battle, Mejia came out on top over Vargas in a breaker. She advances to her 3rd straight final in as many chances after going months without doing so.

In the Finals, Mejia had it going on this day, winning13,5 to take the title, her 2nd in the last three events.

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Points Implications of results

Despite losing in the final, Longoria has officially sewn up her 14th career pro title. She has an insurmountable 334 point lead in the season-to-date standings, and with just one non-Grand slam event remaining she cannot be caught. Longoria returns to the top after missing out on the last two year end titles, and heads into the new season with a commanding lead, having made the final of all 6 stops thus far this season.

In other interesting rankings movement: going by Season-to-date standings, Mejia has not yet sewn up #2 but is close to doing so, but should jump Vargas for that slot in the year end event. Mendez has made a huge jump and projects to finish 5th. After years of being in the top 4, Herrera looks to slip all the way to #8. Munoz’ absence here costs here dearly; she’s projecting to finish #13 now. Lastly, three players are tied with the exact same number of points for 14th place (York, Lotts, and Synhorst), which will make the last event super interesting if they all attend.

Here’s a link to my IRT Rolling 2year Calendar XLS, which I use to approximate the points after each event. It is not exact but it’s usually close enough to the actual rankings, which @Ryan Rodgers does with @R2 Sports App on behalf of the tour after each event, to allow some quick post-event analysis before the rankings post.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/16o0aE4YophvlQdezlMVj_dqPRUoDQqwE5-LtsLbOncg/edit?usp=sharing

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Doubles review

Match report in the PRS database: https://rball.pro/40849b

Centellas got her first pro doubles title in nearly 5 years, teaming with Vargas to take out the Longoria/Salas team.

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Next up?

Per our handy master racquetball calendar …

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1V6OTid6rZ356voXVkoV2sN7KMMbIP9SZd0MssH_nPGU/edit?usp=sharing

The Ladies are right back at it, driving down I95 from DC to get to Charlotte for the season-ending Sweet Caroline Open, normally held in Greenville SC but moving this year due to club renovations.

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tags

@lpLPRT

Welcome to the penultimate LPRT event of the season, the 2025 Northern Virginia Invitational, being held at the Worldgate club in Herndon, VA. Worldgate is right down the road from Dulles Airport in the DC suburbs and was a flagship health club in the DC area for years, with a large indoor racquet sports presence (the club also has or had indoor tennis and had hosted Squash pro tournaments in the past).

It was bought by a large chain in the DC area called Sport & Health, whose owners acquired most of the major racquetball playing clubs in the 1990s and early 2000s and then systematically destroyed the racquetball culture of the area by removing dozens of courts or outright closing racquetball-centric clubs (such as the one where I was the club pro at for a decade). Now they’ve rebranded as a new club name and sold off some assets like Worldgate, who regained their independence and continue on with a handful of courts, some of the few remaining in the DC area.

The LPRT hasn’t been in Northern Virginia for nearly a decade, having last held an event in Arlington in Dec 2015 (the historic Crystal Gateway club, which was gutted to make way for an indoor rock climbing gym). The last time they were in Herndon was in May 2015, which is crazy to think of since long-time LPRT commissioner @TJTj Baumbaugh not only lives down the road from Worldgate but who remains employed by the Sport & Health chain as a master Personal Trainer. You can’t make club executives support the sport, as it turns out, even when you demonstrate programming is healthy and active.

R2 Sports App link: https://www.r2sports.com/website/event-website.asp?TID=48794

We’re getting down to the tail end of the season. The Ladies haven’t been in action for more than 3 months; last event was in March in Boston. We’ve been waiting since that time to see how the rest of the season would shake out; now we seem to have our answer. We have this tier 1 and then the final event of the season, the Sweet Caroline event that’s being played in Charlotte this year as a regular Tier 1 event as well (not its typical Grand Slam points). That generally means 240 points to the winner as the most points that a player may gain per event.

Heading into this event, #1 Longoria holds a bit more than a 400 point season to date advantage over Vargas at #2, so while she hasn’t sewed up the year end title just yet, the odds are she can put herself out of reach with a sufficiently deep enough run this weekend. Vargas or Mejia would have to make the finals here and in the last event of the season, win one of them, and have Longoria forfeit out of both events to have any shot at the title.

That being said, lets preview the draw. There’s 20 ladies here but the entire top 10 is present and a big chunk of the 11-20. There’s basically zero rookies or first timers here.

In the 32s:

– Sanchez- MRR is a nice test for Annie to see how she’s progressing.

– Acosta-Synhort as well.

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round of 16:

– How far has Sanchez come as a player? She’s gotten some impressive wins lately; now she gets a test against the #1 Longoria

– Herrera-York could be interesting: Lexi continues to improve

– Parrilla-Laime may be the best match of the round

– Mendez-Salas in the 7/10 matchup will be a battle of two players who have seen each other for years.

– Vargas may have to play new National team doubles partner Centellas in the 16s.

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Projected Qtrs:

– Longoria-Lawrence; Kelani continues to run into Paola, and continues to edge closer.

– Martinez-Herrera: two former tier1 winners clash in the quarters. Gaby might be ranked #2 on tour had she made the season opening Grand Slam.

– Mejia-Laime; two bashers bring their power game in a drive serving feast.

– Vargas-Mendez: all the Argentines in one quarter.

Semis:

– Longoria over Gaby

– Mejia over Vargas

Finals; Longoria sews up the title with a win over Mejia.

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Doubles review

The doubles seeding is a little interesting: thanks to some missed events this year long-time #1 Longoria & Salas are now the #4 seeds. Laime & Mendez together are #2 despite very little time together, and Vargas’ new Argentine partner Centellas is the #3 seed. Mejia & Herrera remain #1 but will now have to face their long-time rivals in the semis, not the final. I still see Mejia & Herrera winning.

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Look for Streaming in the regular places; follow the LPRT on Facebook and sign up to get notifications when they go Live.

Look for Timothy Baghurst, Sandy Rios, Jerry J Josey Jr., and Tj Baumbaugh on the mike, calling the shots!

Reminder to Players! Please like and follow this page so that when I tag you, you see it. Facebook will only retain tags of people that like/follow a page, which means lots of you are not getting the notoriety of getting tagged and noticed on Facebook. If your name is here and it isn’t tagged … it probably means I attempted to tag you but Facebook stripped it.

Congrats to your Pro winners on the weekend:

– Singles: Paola Longoria

– Doubles: Montse Mejia and Alexandra Herrrera

Longoria pulls a rabbit out of her hat to win the singles final, and in doing so wins her 115th career Tier1 title. Mejia and Herrera take advantage of a Longoria-less doubles draw to cruise to another title.

R2 Sports App home page for event: https://www.r2sports.com/portfolio/r2-event.asp?TID=47428

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Let’s review the notable matches in the Singles draw.

Singles Match report in the PRS database: https://rball.pro/9b76dc

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In the 32s:

– Bolivian Junior national champion Camila Rivero provided the biggest upset of the first round, topping #9 Carla Muñoz in three close games. Rivero has dominated World Juniors the last two years, winning both 18U and 21U in 2023 and then following it up with another win in Guatemala last December. She’s also now representing the country in Adults, though she either missed or didn’t place in the Feb 2025 qualifier in Auroro.

– Hollie Scott cruised past Lexi York in an upset by seed

– Annie Sanchez got the best win of her career with a toppling of long-time tour veteran Jessica Parrilla in three.

– Canadian #2 Juliette Parent pressed Amaya to three games but fell.

– Lastly, another great win for @Sheryl Lotts, downing Valeria Centellas 11,11.

In the 16s:

– Longoria had to face the tricky Barrios to move on, and was stretched 13,11. Not the round of 16 she wanted, but she got the job done.

– Rivero couldn’t follow up her big win and got crushed by fellow Bolivian (at least by birth) @Natalia Mendez 4,7

– Sanchez continued playing well and pushed #6 Lawrence to 14,12 before falling. Is Annie taking a step forward professionally?

– Lotts took a game off of #2 Vargas before falling, testament to how well she’s been playing lately.

Lots of great results out of unexpected places this event. Great to see the mid-teen players who have been putting in the work get results.

In the Quarters:

– Longoria cruised past Natalia 1,10

– Herrera got a great win over Gaby 11-6 in the breaker to give her some solid confidence heading into the rest of the season. After getting wins a few seasons ago she’s been passed by Vargas in terms of player interest, but she’s still out there.

– Mejia cruised past Lawrence 5,4

– Vargas held firm against Laime, winning two close ones 14,13.

In the semis:

– Longoria blitzed Herrera 9,0 to make a statement.

– Mejia wasn’t terribly troubled by Vargas, winning 8,9

In the final, we got a rematch of the last event in Arizona, which was a close Longoria win. Mejia had other ideas this weekend, fighting back after a first game 15-12 loss to win 15-8 and took firm control of the tiebreaker. She was up 10-5, missed a sitter, then…. the mental game kicked in. Longoria got the serve back, ground out points after points … suddenly it was an 11-10 win. A complete collapse from Mejia here to give Longoria the title.

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Points Implications of results

The big movement in the rankings should be Gaby taking over #4 on tour. Alexandra, despite beating her h2h here, will fall below her and continue to play her in the quarters. Mendez’ great run of form pushes her back up to #7.

A bit further down: Riquelme up to #14, Lotts up to #16, Centellas up to #19.

Here’s a link to my Rolling 2year Calendar XLS, which I use to approximate the points after each event. It is not exact but it’s usually close enough to the actual rankings, which the tour does a couple days after each event. Sometimes I have to go back and adjust points b/c a Tier 1 turns out to be a Tier1+ or a “mini grand slam” based on points. But, it goes back years if you’re interested.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/16o0aE4YophvlQdezlMVj_dqPRUoDQqwE5-LtsLbOncg/edit?usp=sharing

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Doubles review

Match report in the PRS database: https://rball.pro/470ca2

Eventual winners Mejia & Herrera had their toughest match in their opener, playing Team Guatemala and winning 14,13. From there, smooth sailing, including a 12,5 win in the final over team Argentina.

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Open Singles, other notable draws

– Ros defeated Sanchez in an all-USA Jr national team final.

– The Kelley brothers ended up playing for the Men’s Open final; JKelley d SKelley.

– Sam Kelley made it a double with a win in Open Doubles with Flores

– Jolene_Sullivan_/_Tony_Prater took the Mixed Open title

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Thanks for all the streaming on the weekend, especially from the regular LPRT broadcasters

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Next up?

Per our handy master racquetball calendar …

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1V6OTid6rZ356voXVkoV2sN7KMMbIP9SZd0MssH_nPGU/edit?usp=sharing

The IRT is right back in action with all the traveling internationals in what will be the last pro event at the Glass Door facility. Preview coming on Thursday.

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LPR T

A busy weekend, and a busy month on the global racquetball calendar, sees the @LPRT returning to Boston, one of its longer running stops. The Boston Open has been run by Stewart Solomon for the benefit of the @Frontline Family Foundation annually since 2016.

27 of the best ladies in the world are in Massachusetts this weekend to battle it out. The draw is strong, with the whole top 10 present and only a couple of players from the 11-20 range out (Solis, Key) not present.

Like with the Men, a slew of internationals are here, especially from South America, to get in last minute reps for the upcoming PARC event in Guatemala, which only strengthens this draw and makes for some fun matchups.

R2 Sports App link: https://www.r2sports.com/website/event-website.asp?TID=47428

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Let’s preview the draw. Here’s some notable matches that i’m looking forward to:

Round of 32s:

– Bolivian #1 @Angelica Barrios has fallen so far down the rankings that she’s in the 16/17 match. This is a player who finished in the top 8 three years running. Tough opener for USA junior @Naomi Ros here.

– Rising star Bolivian Junior @Camila Rivero is here; she’s the 2-time defending 21U junior champion and now becoming a mainstay on the adult national team. She faces #9 Carla Muñoz , who doesn’t normally see such a tough round of 32. Upset watch here.

– Two team USA players in Scott and York have to meet in the opener. Even though Lexi York is the #12 seed, I think @Hollie Rae Scott is favored here.

– Team Canada in the house! We get rare LPRT appearances from @Ofelia Wilscam, @chloe Jauvin, and @Juliette parent, all pushing for @Racquetball Canada team slots. Juliette has the best chances of advancing, going against Racquetball TV’s Cristina Amaya Cassino .

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round of 16:

– #1 @Paola Longoria starts off her tournament with Barrios … who she’s 10-1 against lifetime … but that one loss? It was two years ago here in Boston. Interesting. I don’t think Barrios has the reps lately to press Paola, but crazier things have happened.

– In the 8/9 we project @Natalia Mendez and Munoz, if she can get by Rivero. Carla and Natalia have played a dozen times over the years, a lot internationally, and while Mendez owns the h2h Munoz has won the last couple. toss-up here.

– In the 6/11 we project @Kelani Lawrence and @Jessica Parrilla, who vets who will battle it out. Advantage Kelani.

– In the 2/15 we get two Bolivians turned Argentines in Vargas and Centellas. It’s always a little tough with doubles partner dynamics on the singles court, but Vargas shouldn’t falter here.

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Projected Qtrs:

– Longoria over Mendez. Paola is 12-0 lifetime against Natalia, and they’ve met three times in the last calendar year.

– Martinez over Herrera: neither player has a tough draw to this point, but then should have a battle. They’ve met 10 times; Gaby is 6-4 lifetime, and dominated in January 8,4 when they met at the Arizona Open.

– Mejia over Lawrence; they also met in AZ; a 0,4 beat-down for Montse.

– Vargas vs Laime: this is the toughest one to predict. On the one hand, Vargas is 5-0 against Brenda lifetime, so the prediction should be easy. But, Laime has a habit of getting out of nowhere wins, and plays a very similar game style to Vargas. If Brenda is hitting the ball, she can win this. I’ll go Vargas but in a breaker.

Semis:

– Longoria over Gaby. they’ve met 29 times across their storied careers: Gaby now has 3 wins, all three of them significant. It can happen, but the odds are against it. They usually play close, tough matches, but this time at sea level the advantage goes to Longoria (2 of Gaby’s 3 wins were at altitude, where she trains in Guatemala and has a distinct advantage).

– Mejia over Vargas. Vargas had Montse’s number for a while, but then Montse handled her in Arizona in January. I think she’s back.

Finals; Longoria over Mejia. Montse is playing well, but not well enough to beat Paola right now.

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Doubles review

There’s definitely some interesting teams and interesting draw developments here.

– Amaya and Riquelme are not playing together for the first time I can remember.

– The Guatemalan national team of Gaby & MRR is seeded 8th, which will give them an early test against Herrera & Mejia.

– With no Salas at the event, Longoria chose not to play doubles at all.

– Vargas has clearly dropped Mendez for Centellas in the Argentine pecking order; they’re #3 seeds.

– Reigning Team USA champions Scott & Lawrence are together, they’re the #5 seed.

– Mendez is teamed with Munoz and has enough points for the #2 seed, but won’t be favored to get to the final.

Prediction: #1 Herrera/Mejia vs #3 Vargas/Centellas in the final, with the Mexicans winning.

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Look for Streaming in the regular places; follow the LPRT on Facebook and sign up to get notifications when they go Live.

Look for Timothy Baghurst, Sandy Rios, Jerry J Josey Jr., and Tj Baumbaugh on the mike, calling the shots!

Coincidentally, if you’re interested in playing Fantasy Racquetball for this event, the links to the brackets are advertised on LPRT’s main page. The winner each week gets free swag!

Associations

LPRT

Congrats to your Pro winners on the weekend:

– Singles: Montse Mejia

– Doubles: @Paola Longoria & Samantha Salas Solis

Mejia wins her 8th career singles title, moving into 12th place all time. She returns to the winner’s circle for the first time in exactly a year; she won the 2024 Arizona Open for her last title. Meanwhile, Longoria & Salas win their 50th career pro doubles title together; our records only go back to 2014 and I have them at 40 in the database, which means another 10 in the years prior to 2014 that we could go back and find with enough LPRT event research.

R2 Sports App home page for event: https://www.r2sports.com/website/event-website.asp?TID=45386

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Let’s review the notable matches in the Singles draw.

Singles Match report in the PRS database: https://rball.pro/q89

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In the 32s:

– Lotts and Ros had a battle, going tie-breaker, before Lotts advanced. These 16/17 seed matches are tough.

– Lucia Gonzalez pressed Amaya, losing 8,14.

– Arizona Resident Michelle Key was a withdrawal from her “home” tournament, giving MRR a walkover. She played doubles the next day, so this was an odd wbf-ns.

– Annie Sanchez got a solid win over Lexi York to move on and get a rare win on tour.

– Rhonda’s return to the tour ended with a one-and-done at the hands of Kelani 4,8

– Parrilla made fast work of Enriquez 4,2.

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In the 16s:

– The 8/9 matchup between Amaya and Salas went the distance, as expected, with Samantha squeaking out an 11-10 win.

– Herrera got pushed by Centellas, who won the first game before falling (10),13,6

– Mendez cruised past Parrilla 11,1 to earn another quarterfinal.

– The Vargas-Barrios match was tight as expected, but Maria Jose won 10,12 to avoid the round of 16 upset.

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In the Quarters

– #1 Longoria beat her doubles partner Salas, as the met for the 63rd time on tour. Believe it or not, that’s not the most frequent h2h match we’ve ever seen; Longoria played Rhonda 69 times in their career (see https://rball.pro/uce )

– #5 Gaby made fast work of #4 Herrera 8,4 to setup a solid semi from the top side.

– #3 Mejia seems like she’s on a mission, crushing #6 Lawrence 0,4 to move on.

– #2 Vargas dropped the first game against her now dropped doubles partner Mendez before advancing.

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In the Semis

– #1 Longoria had to come from a game down to beat the Guatemalan Martinez, cruising to an 11-1 tiebreaker.

– #3 Mejia continued her torrid stretch, dominating the the drained Vargas in two 7,9 to move into the final.

In the Finals, Mejia defended her 2024 title in this event with a comprehensive 8,14 win.

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Points Implications of results

Mejia and Vargas tightened the points race, but there’s still a sizeable gap from Longoria to Vargas (300 points or so), and then from Vargas to Mejia (another 300 points or so). The gap from the top 3 players just to #4 Herrera is monumental; nearly 500 points, which would take most of a season to make up.

Changes we saw: Lawrence and the missing Laime switched spots at #6/7. Synhorst should move up to #14 with her round of 32 win. Lotts is climbing up the rankings, now at #17. Centellas jumps a few spots and is now back in the top 20.

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Doubles review

Match report in the PRS database: https://rball.pro/x1k

The doubles draw gave us an upset of the #1 team for the first time in more than a year, as the new-look Argentina doubles team Vargas/Centellas topped Mejia & Herrera in the semis. However, Longoria & Salas (now dumped down to #3) didn’t drop a game all weekend and took the title 12,10.

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Open Singles, other notable draws

– LPRT U21: Yanna Salazar took out countrymate Daniela Rico for the U21 title.

– Women’s Open: Naomi Ros faced Angelica Barrios as the two tops seeds, and the former top 8 LPRT pro won out as she rebuild her ranking points.

– Men’s Open: US Jr National team member Grant Williams faced Texan Daniel Bautista for the title and won 10,5.

– Men’s Open Doubles was taken by Arizona residents Coy Rogers and Alonzo Tavares

– Mixed Open Doubles was taken by Katie Neils & Freddie Villalon in a walkover that may have been travel related (i.e. someone had to get on a plane).

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Thanks for all the streaming on the weekend, especially from broadcasters Timothy Baghurst, Jerry J Josey Jr., JTRball, and Tj Baumbaugh

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Next up?

Per our handy master racquetball calendar …

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1V6OTid6rZ356voXVkoV2sN7KMMbIP9SZd0MssH_nPGU/edit?usp=sharing

There was an IRT satellite in Kansas this weekend that we’ll do a quick recap of. The next big pro event is the IRT Lewis Drug in Sioux Falls in two weeks’ time.

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tags

LPRT

Welcome to one of the longer running events on tour, the Arizona Open, run by hall of famer @Jim Winterton in Tempe on the campus of Arizona State University.

R2 Sports App link: https://www.r2sports.com/website/event-website.asp?TID=45386

We’ve got 27 pros entered in the singles division here, which is a high water mark so far for the new season and seems to indicate a slight increase of “tour depth” from last season.

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Let’s preview the singles draw.

In the 32s:

– We get a rematch of Lotts/Ros in the 16/17 from the Lombard event in November; Lotts won 11,10 back then, but Ros is improving by the month.

– We get a rare sighting of Lucia Gonzalez, former Mexican junior phenom. She takes on Amaya in the 32s, but based on Cristina’s form I don’t see an upset here. Gonzalez, in case you didn’t know who she was, won 7 IRF Junior world titles in her junior career, including the 18U world title in 2013 at a time when the 18U world champion basically was a guarantee of a top 10 LPRT pro (the 2 18U champs preceeding and following Lucia? Lambert, Vargas, Hererra and Mendez).

– Michelle Key, now all the way up to #12, takes on former touring pro regular MRR.

– Lexi York takes on Annie (Roberts) Sanchez, looking to take a step up after finishing off her junior career last December. Sanchez hasn’t had the success on tour that she’s had internationally and this is a good test.

– We have a @Rhonda Rajsich sighting! She’s entered an LPRT event, in her home state, for the first time in two years. She has an easier round of 32 this time than she did two years ago (when she faced Vargas), but she’s still and underdog against #6 @Kelani Lawrence .

– A tough matchup of Mexican top 10 veterans Parrilla and Enriquez is set for the 10-23 round of 32.

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round of 16:

– Amaya/Salas projection in the 8/9 match for the fourth time in a year. Salas has generally been winning these veteran battles, but they’re usually going tiebreaker.

– Gaby-Key in the 5/12: these two have been meeting somewhat regularly in international play for a decade, with Martinez holding the edge.

– Mendez vs the Enriquez/Parrilla winner. Mendez has struggled in her career against Parrilla, but has been playing well as of late and has been playing to her seeds pretty frequently.

– Vargas vs Barrios: this is brutal draw for the #2 seed Vargas, playing a player who has a slew of career wins over her. They’re 4-4 for their career against each other, though Vargas has beaten her handily in the two meetings they had last year. Nonetheless, this is about as big of a contrast in styles as you’ll see on tour and this will always be an upset watch.

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Projected Qtrs:

– 1/8 @Paola Longoria over the Salas/Amaya winner; if its Salas, it would be their 63rd professional meeting.

– 4/5 Herrera vs Gaby; this isn’t a great matchup for Gaby, who has lost to Alexandra the last three times they’ve played. They’ve all been close, but Herrera’s game style seems to stymy Martinez. I’ll go with the lefty to win here.

– 3/6 Mejia vs Lawrence; they’ve played 3 times in their careers, none were especially close. Mejia to advance.

– 2/7 Vargas tops her doubles partner Mendez, to whom she’s never lost in singles.

Semis: It’s more of the same; last event Herrera missed but Laime filled in, but was still the same crew in the semis that i’m projecting here.

– Longoria over Herrera: Alexandra had Longoria’s number for a brief moment, but seemingly no longer. Paola to the final.

– Vargas over Mejia: somehow these two have avoided each other for nearly a year on tour despite both being ranked in the top 3 that entire time. Vargas has had the upper hand lately, but this is always a fun one to watch because of the power-first style of both players. Vargas to win again.

Finals; Another Paola vs Vargas matchup. Did you know these two have played 55 times in pro and high-level IRF events over their careers? It’s been a tale of two players in their head to head career:

– From their first meeting at 2012 Worlds to this Arizona event in 2023, Longoria held an astounding 41-2 over Vargas. She won their first 26 meetings.

– From Feb 2023 to now? Vargas leads 7-5.

Yes those are arbitrary endpoints. But we know Vargas flipped a switch in 2023, which led to her first title in June of 2024, and that switch has stayed on. These two have met in two finals so far this season, splitting them both, both in TBs. No reason not to think that’ll happen again here. When Vargas has an easier semi, she seems to have an easier final; i don’t see that here. So i’ll go with Longoria to win.

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Doubles review

There’s some interesting developments in the Doubles draw. Herrera/Mejia are #1 as expected, but Vargas is playing with Centellas, not Mendez. Both represent Argentina, and they’ve never once played together previously. So, Mendez picks up one of the best doubles players in the world in Michelle Key and they’re the #2 seeds.

Key/Mendez will have their work cut out for them, as team Guatemala is the #7 seed and is a favorite to upset them. Meanwhile, the experienced team of Scott/Lawrence will test the new-look Argentines in the 4/5 matchup.

At the end of the day, I th ink its the two top Mexican teams facing off once again in the final, with Herrera/Mejia topping Longoria/Salas for the title.

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Look for Streaming in the regular places; follow the LPRT on Facebook and sign up to get notifications when they go Live. Look for Timothy Baghurst, Sandy Rios, Jerry J Josey Jr., and Tj Baumbaugh on the mike, calling the shots!

Coincidentally, if you’re interested in playing Fantasy Racquetball for this event, the links to the brackets are advertised on LPRT’s main page. The winner each week gets free swag!

Associations

@LPRT

Hashtags #racquetball #proracquetball #lprt

Congrats to your Pro winners on the weekend:

– Singles: Paola Longoria

– Doubles: @Montse Mejia and Brenda Laime Jalil

comments on winner; updated # of tourneys, updated season, etc

R2 Sports App home page for event: https://www.r2sports.com/website/event-website.asp?TID=46046

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Let’s review the notable matches in the Singles draw.

Singles Match report in the PRS database: https://rball.pro/bd7

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In the 32s:

– @Erika Manilla made a winning return to the tour, topping newlywed Maria Renee Rodríguez 11,7 in the opener. She fell to Vargas in the next round, but she’s back on tour, which is the best news following her 10-month injury absence.

– @Frederique Lambert blasted Michelle Key 6,1 in a surprise first round matchup. Key is coming off taking Longoria to a breaker in the last event but was handled easily by the part-time player/ER doctor Lambert.

– @jesJessica Parrilla topped @Laura Brandt 0,4 to move on. Notable only because Brant’s appearance on tour at age 62 was the 3rd oldest known tour appearance in the history of the Ladies pro tour. https://rball.pro/nyi

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In the 16s:

– #9 Carla Muñoz turned the tide on a recent lost to Cristina Amaya Cassino , topping the #8 seed in a breaker. This could be a fun rivalry for a while.

– #3 Mejia was pressed by @Valeria Centellas but moved on 10,14.

– #11 Parrilla got a solid win over #6 @Kelani Lawrence to earn a rare quarter final.

– #7 @Natalia Mendez kept her recent streak alive over #10 @Samantha Salas Solis , going breaker to advance.

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In the Quarters

– #1 @Maria Jose Vargas moved past Munoz 1,11

– #4 @Ana Ana Gabriela Martínez held off #5 Laime in a close 10,12 match.

– #3 Mejia moved past country-woman Parrilla with ease 4,5

– #2 Longoria was not troubled by Mendez, winning 6,8

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In the Semis

– Vargas and Gaby went down to the wire, with Gaby having a match point at 10-10 but was unable to convert. This was just the opening Vargas needed, as she rolled off a couple points 9-10 down to win the semi 11-10 and move on. Heartbreak for the Guatemalan.

– Longoria continued her recent mastery over Mejia on the singles court 13,5 to earn another final.

In the Finals, Vargas and Longoria had another back and forth affair, this time with the long-time #1 coming out on top.

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Points Implications of results

With this win. Longoria should take back over the #1 spot on tour, which she relinquished in December 2023 for the first time since 2008. Munoz and Amaya should switch spots at the 9/10 range. Michelle Key rises to #14, which may be a career high. Lastly, Manilla comes in at #20 and will have her work cut out for her as she regains ranking points here on forward.

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Doubles review

Match report in the PRS database: https://rball.pro/rve

Manilla and her Team USA teammate Michelle Key topped the #2 and #3 seeds to earn a final, but lost to the #1 seeds Mejia & Laime there. Still, a great result.

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Open Singles, other notable draws

– Women’s Open Singles: Centellas got the title, with a win over MRR in the final. MRR had topped Parrilla in the semis for a solid win.

– Men’s Open Singles: Local IRT veterans @Mario Mercado and MoMo Zelada , co-founders of @Formulaflow and playing out of their home club, met in the final, taken by Zelada in three.

– Mens Open doubles: IRT staff member Samuel Schulze and local Maryland player John Behm shocked Mercado/Zelada in the Open doubles final.

– The Simmons Father/daughter duo took the Mixed Open/Elite doubles title, topping two local players Imani Valentine & Chris Ruano in the final.

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Thanks for all the streaming on the weekend, especially from broadcasters Favio Soto, Steve Schulze, Pablo Fajre and the IRTLive crew

Reminder to Players! Please like and follow this page so that when I tag you, you see it. Facebook will only retain tags of people that like/follow a page, which means lots of you are not getting the notoriety of getting tagged and noticed on Facebook. If your name is here and it isn’t tagged … it probably means I attempted to tag you but Facebook stripped it.

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Next up?

Per our handy master racquetball calendar …

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1V6OTid6rZ356voXVkoV2sN7KMMbIP9SZd0MssH_nPGU/edit?usp=sharing

the International Racquetball Federation – IRF World juniors event is underway in Guatemala, with group stages going on now. We’ll possibly post a preview of the knockouts based on time this week, otherwise we’ll recap it next week. There’s one big outdoor event happening this weekend, then the year wraps up.

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tags

LPRT

Welcome to the halfway point of the LPRT season, and the final pro event of the 2024 calendar year. It is the long-running DC-area based Christmas Classic, which has been an LPRT stop for years. The event is in its 32nd year, which puts its first iteration in the 1991.

I first helped out with this event, as far as my old files tell me, in the 8th iteration in 1999 when the event was run in at the Tysons club in Tysons Corner (McLean) Virginia. The event has moved around the DC area as clubs were closed or lost enough courts to make hosting impossible; the event has gone from Tysons to Crystal Gateway in Arlington, to Sportfit in Laurel Maryland, and now at the Severna Park Health & Racquet facility in Millersville/Severna Park area closer to Baltimore. LPRT sanctioning began in 2007 and has been consistent ever since, making it one of the longest continually running pro events out there, for either the Ladies or the Men.

R2 Sports App link: https://www.r2sports.com/website/event-website.asp?TID=46046

There’s 24 players here this weekend. Top players missing include #4 Herrera, #15 Barrios, #19 Ros and #20 Scott.

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Let’s preview the draw. Here’s some notable qualifying matches that i’m looking forward to:

In the 32s:

– We have the triumphant return of @Erika Manilla , who comes in at the #16 seed. She’ll face off against another player who’s attendance has been spotty lately , long-time tour player #17 Maria Renee Rodríguez for a shot at #1 Vargas.

– The 24th seed out of 24 is California @Erica Williams, who’s flow 3,000 miles from her home town in the Bay Area to play and watch. Williams is one of the biggest supporters of racquetball on the west coast and its great to see her in the DC area.

– Two top Canadian players are entered this weekend; @Juliette Parent faces off against #12 @Lexi York in what could be a great match. Meanwhile, Frederique Lambert makes a rare appearance coming off her Canadian National selection event win last weekend; she plays into #13 Michelle Key , who’s been on fire lately.

– #12 @Jessica Parrilla faces off against Laura Brandt , who is playing this event in her age 62 season, which has to be close to a record for the LPRT. Hmm; that sounds like a query worth writing: oldest player ever to appear in a pro event? That might be a fun one.

– In the 15/18 we get María Paz Riquelme versus Khyathi Velpuri , a good test for the young Colorado based American.

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Projecting the round of 16:

– #1 @Maria Jose Vargas has to contend with Manilla in her first event back: it may be a bit too early for Erika to take out Vargas, but this is a semis-quality match in the 16s.

– In the 8/9 @Carla Muñoz and Cristina Amaya Cassino face off in the round of 16, in this 8/9 match, for the 4th time since May. Munoz won the first two this year, but Amaya got her two weeks ago in Chicago. Coin flip.

– #4 @Gaby Martinez is here, making a somewhat rare appearance, and she gets the winner of the Lambert/Key match as an opener. Gaby is a threat to win whenever she enters and has three tournament wins in the last four seasons. If she’s to go on a run she’ll have a tough opener to get her started.

– #6 @Kelani Lawrence makes the drive up from Virginia and gets a second ever meeting against @Jessica Parrilla . Kelani beat Leoni in May; can she do it again?

– #7 @Natalia Mendez and #10 @Samantha Salas Solis look to meet for the third time in the round of 16 since June; Mendez has crushed Salas the previous two times.

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Projected Qtrs:

– #1 Vargas over Munoz/Amaya winner; Vargas is 15-1 combined against her two possible opponents career on the LPRT and is coming off a win in Chicago two weeks ago.

– Great potential quarter between #5 Brenda Laime Jalil and #4 Gaby. Laime had Longoria beat two weeks ago in Chicago; I thought she rolled out match point before having it called a skip and then losing 11-10. If she’s playing at that calibre, then she’s going to be tough for Martinez to beat here. These two met in the semis in Denver, a tough TB win for Gaby before she won the title. however, these are Laime’s home courts, and they’re not playing at altitude as they did in Denver (where Gaby lives and trains and had the advantage). I’ll go with Laime in the upset.

– #3 @Montse Mejia versus the Lawrence/Parrilla Winner: Mejia got waxed in the last pro event, and hasn’t made a final since April. She shouldn’t be troubled by either player at this juncture, but can’t look forward to her anticipated semis meeting against Paola.

– #2 Paola Longoria likely faces Mendez, just as she did two weeks ago, and likely moves on with little trouble.

Semis:

– Vargas over Laime. They’ve played 5 times, but most are older results. The last time they met was in June 2023, a tie-breaker win for Vargas. I sense Laime presses Vargas to a breaker but falls.

– Longoria over Mejia; they’ve met 26 times in top-level/non-regional event competitions. After a spell in 2022 when Mejia had her number, Longoria has taken back over the h2h rivalry and should win here.

Finals; I like Vargas over Longoria again to keep her lead atop the rankings.

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Doubles review

The partnerships in DC are crazy this week, with Longoria curiously not playing and Herrera missing. After winning the previous title with Key, Laime picked up Mejia and are the #1 seeds. meanwhile, Key teams with the returning Manilla to form a pretty solid team on paper; all depends on how rusty Manilla is. Team Argentina remains #2, while team Guatemala is #6 and is a real favorite from the bottom half. The two top Canadians are here, but both Lambert and Parent are playing with others (instead of getting cycles playing together for future IRF events). So, interesting draw for s ure.

I’ll go with #1 Laime/Mejia from the top, Rodriguez & Martinez from the bottom, and Laime/Mejia title.

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Look for Streaming in the regular places; follow the LPRT on Facebook and sign up to get notifications when they go Live. Look for Timothy Baghurst, Sandy Rios, Jerry J Josey Jr., and Tj Baumbaugh on the mike, calling the shots!

Associations

@LPRT