La Mirada Park, CA, WPH Press, 6/8/25
La Mirada Park played host to the 22-team “Road to Vegas” 3-Wall big ball doubles handball tournament on the first Saturday in June, featuring many of Southern California’s top big ball stars.
WPH Outdoor stars and “Road to Vegas” top seeds Jerry Vicencio and Chava Cordova were stunned in the quarterfinals by Race 4 Eight star Erik Torres and Omar Gallegos. Playing together for the first time, Team Chopper Hernandez and Eddie Rocha gelled, ending the Cinderella run of Team Torres/Gallegos in the upper bracket semifinals and advancing to the final.
Team Manny Suarez and Capullo met Team Chopper/Rocha in the final, advancing in the bottom bracket by defeating Team Flash Tojin and Ramon Valencia.
Icebreaker singles and doubles champion Chopper Hernandez and perennial Icebreaker contender Eddie Rocha dropped the first game of the final after holding game point and rallied to win the next two games, earning the “Golden Ticket” to the October 25-26 Las Vegas Shoot Out.
“Me and Chopper were both killing but Manny was playing really, really good and Capullo was diving and re killing balls that were honestly really hard to get for sure,” an ecstatic Rocha would later say. “One of my hardest finals in my career. The crowd was going crazy every rally. I loved every bit of it. It was an awesome experience, truly. Couldn’t have been better. Very hard team to beat.”
“It was a great experience to play against these local legends,” Chopper would later say. “We went to war and it was our day today. The chemistry was on point throughout the entire tournament. We played a conventional side-to-side game giving the serve to whoever had the hot hand.”
Final: Team Chopper/Rocha def Team Suarez/Capullo 11-12, 12-10, 12-9
Team Chopper/Rocha earned a three-night stay at the Plaza Hotel Casino, spending money, and entry into the October 25-26 Las Vegas Shoot Out, while Team Suarez/Capullo earned spending money and entry fees into the Las Vegas Shoot Out.
David Fink
WPH Senior Writer