Fort Pierce, Fla. (Oct. 24, 2009) – Gas money was no problem on the ride home for Stephanie Mitchell and Sabra MacArthur-Beahn as the two took home the top prizes in the October 24th Flamingo Billiards Tour stop. The pair had road-tripped together across the state to Ultimate Billiards in Fort Pierce, Fla., where Stephanie found herself in the driver's seat by defeating Sabra 7-5 in the finals.
But the road wasn't easy for either player. Sabra had a shaky start with a loss to Shanelle Loraine (2-7), but grew stronger as the day wore on, defeating Janis Sessions (7-4) and Mimi McAndrews (7-1). After topping Amy Poulter (7-4), Sabra's dead stroke was catching everyone's eyes.
Stephanie defeated Vanessa Seaver (7-3) and Mimi McAndrews (7-3) before going hill-hill and losing to Niki Rasmussen (6-7). The BAAT Woman (www.baattour.com) quickly rebounded on the left side by defeating Robin Boggs (7-2).
On the modified double-elimination redraw, Jeannie Seaver defeated Helene Caukin (7-4), Christie Cloke squeaked by Emily Wilmoth (7-6) and Sabra defeated Michell Monk (7-4). In a rematch of their previous double-hill set, Stephanie and Niki Rasmussen paired up, and again went hill-hill, but this time Stephanie prevailed. When the dust settled, three of the four winners'-side finalists were now on the other side of the rail.
In the semi-finals, Sabra matched up with Christie Cloke, who made a very impressive showing in just her second Regional Tour event. Each player capitalized on 9-ball combos early in the match, but with the score 4-3, Sabra caught stroke and went on to win the next three games and the match.
For the third time in a long afternoon, Stephanie found herself in a hill-hill situation as she matched up with Jeannie Seaver. The game started badly for Jeannie with an inadvertent hand foul that affected the 1-ball's roll. Jeannie fouled on both 1-ball safes by Stephanie, and the match ended on the 3-foul rule.
In the finals, Sabra went up 4-1 with well-timed safety play setting up long runouts. After a long day of double-hill matches, Stephanie called for a 5-minute break, and returned with renewed focus. She ran the table in Games 6 and 8, caromed the 9-ball early in Game 9, and capitalized on Sabra's rare misses to take Games 10 and 11.
With Stephanie suddenly on the hill (6-5), Sabra made two balls on the break and left the 4-ball hanging – a roll that would end up being fateful. Later, with the 4-ball deep in the pocket and the 5-ball causing shot and shape problems, Sabra missed a kick at the 4 and gave up ball-in-hand. Stephanie made short work of the rack, running five balls and taking the match 7-5.
Stephanie pocketed 1st Place money, a trophy and a Sniper jump/break cue from tour sponsor Concept Cues (www.conceptcues.com). Special thanks to Flamingo Billiards Tour sponsors Boynton Billiards (www.boyntonbilliards.com) and Tweeten Fibre (www.tweeten.us), and to Ultimate Billiards (www.ultimate-billiards.com) for their top-notch equipment, atmosphere and continued support.
