Jessica Barnes wins BAAT Tour opener

Jessica Barnes

Fun, pool and lots of prizes were to be found at the Corner Pocket in Largo Florida this past weekend as they hosted the inaugural tournament of the Tiger Bay Area Amateur Tour. Raffles took place all day with players and customers alike winning prizes from sponsors such as strokeitwear.com, billiardscoop.com, Old Chicago, idexpress, Stroker's Billiards and Corner Pocket Billiards. Besides the prizes, the women came out for the fame and fortune of winning the first BAAT tournament. The tournament paid the top 6 women, with those coming in one out of the money and the first lady out of the tournament receiving gifts for their efforts. One of these gifts may help these ladies move towards the top of the field in the future. The 7/8 place finishers each received a certificate for a 1/2 hour lesson from Hall of Fame Legend and co-author of the 99 Critical Shots in Pool, Ray Martin. Finishing 5/6th($50) was a new face on the tournament circuit, Melissa Morlan and a favorite in any 8-ball tournament, Stacey Lantz. Amanda Westerman, always a tough opponent got stopped in 4th place($75) by the determined Leslie Davis-Blaikie. 3rd place($150) was claimed by another new and promising player in the tour arena, Connie Mago. Determined Leslie fought her way to play in the finals against queen of the hill, Jessica Barnes. She had to beat Jessica twice to take home the first place title and money. Although Jessica only had to win once, Leslie proved that she was not going to go away easily. Leslie won the first set 7-6. "Never say die" Jessica found some momentum and finished out the last set with a 7-3 victory.

Thank you goes out to all the players and sponsors for making the first stop of the season such a great success! Thank you to Tiger Products for becoming our title sponsor and www.Furycues.com for providing us with wonderful cues!