Emmons dodges early exit, re-takes Cup
Posted: 07-01-2009 (modified: 07-29-2009)

Maybe they should rename it the Emmons Cup.

Robert “Buddy” Emmons III held on early and dominated late in the 2009 RFA Cup Sunday, wrapping up his third career Roofball title and second RFA Cup championship with a 56-24 win over Casey Campbell in the Championship Game.

Emmons, whose wife, Molly, gave birth to their first daughter just six weeks ago, dedicated the win to his new baby. “I love you Isabella. This one’s for you,” he said.

In winning the title, Emmons became the first player in Roofball history to be the lowest seed in both the 2nd round and Semifinals and yet go on to win a tournament championship.

In both the 1st and 2nd rounds, Buddy was one good opponent’s throw away from elimination. Ehren “Dieter” Leipzig could’ve knocked Buddy out with a ping in the 10th inning of their head-to-head 1st round game, but only got a catch. Buddy escaped with a 24-23 win – the lowest winning score not only of any 1st round winner, but of all 12 players that advanced to the 2nd round.

Emmons’s score of 37 in his 2nd round game put him in the wild card hunt. Robert Saliski’s Game 2 score of 41 pushed Emmons to #2 in the wild card standings. In Game 3, Kevin Carlson had 34 points after nine innings, but an over in the 10th kept Emmons alive. Matthew Azar had 31 after just eight innings in Game 4, but a 9th inning over doomed his chances.

Emmons survived the 2nd round with the 6th best score – the lowest to advance to the Semifinals.

In the semis, Emmons posted an around-fueled 51 – his high score of the day – and earned the top seed in the Cup Round. In that round, Emmons again dodged a bullet, as rookie Steve Stupey’s 9th inning throw pinged but then went over – a ping-catch would’ve tied the two up for second place in the game entering the final inning. Stupey, playing through pain after injuring his left shoulder earlier in the game, finished with the 3rd Place trophy.

But in the Championship it was all Emmons. A 2nd inning over seemed to rattle Campbell, who was trying for his 5th Roofball title and lost in a final for the first time in his career.

Emmons put up eight pings and an around en route to a title-game 56, the fourth-best Championship Game score in Roofball history and only the second 9-mark performance in a final.

The third title for Emmons put him among Roofball’s elite. Only Daniel “Danno” O'Reilly (6), Campbell (4) and Adam Willis (4) have won more Roofball championships.

Alexandra “Allie” Demopoulos, playing in her second career tournament, posted a 1st round 27 to win the Women’s Championship (while outscoring eventual champion Emmons). Her performance was a dramatic departure from her debut at the 2008 RFA Cup, in which she set the women’s record for lowest score with an over-riddled -13.

3rd Place winner Steve Stupey was the beneficiary of a couple of early departures. Defending RFA Cup champ James Hunt had to withdraw due to illness after winning his 1st round game, and 2nd-time player Todd Chatalas withdrew because of to work-related obligations after posting a 1st round score of 26. Stupey got the second of two newly-open 2nd round spots with a score of 25. He won his 2nd round game and earned the Semifinal wild card spot before being eliminated in the Cup Round.

Rising star Derek Weber posted a career-high 61 in the 1st round, the 13th 60+ game in Roofball history and high score of the tournament. Weber advanced to the Semifinals but lost his touch there, throwing his 1st, 2nd and 3rd career overs en route to a career-worst score of 17. Despite the troubles in the semis, Weber raised his career points-per-game average to 42.00, second best in Roofball history.

Besides Stupey, two other newcomers took their first Roofball throws at the 2009 RFA Cup. Dale Bernhardt and Mark Putnam both participated after first seeing Roofball on TVC-TV, which also taped the ’09 RFA Cup for future broadcast. Putnam just missed out on a wild card berth with a 1st round score of 24, while Bernhardt

NOTES: Emmons had five arounds in the tournament and now has 59 all time, a Roofball record. Despite scoring his 50th career around (2nd player to that milestone) Roofball founder Adam Willis was eliminated in the 2nd round after posting a score of 13, the 3rd-lowest of his career. It’s just the 2nd time in 24 tournaments the game’s inventor was out before the Semifinals. Willis also raised his Roofball record career overs total to 33. O’Reilly scored his 300th career mark during his 2nd round game – he’s the 2nd Roofball player to reach that plateau. O’Reilly also took over the lead in career obstacle hits. His three car hits took him up to 23 all time. Stupey and Josh Alexander both had three obstacle hits in single games, tying the Roofball record. Weber now averages 47.63 PPG outside of the Semifinals, and 27.00 in the semis. The tournament was the first since the 2007 RFA Cup not to have a player score in negative figures.