Though seven of the Bay Area Amateur Tour's top 10 players were on hand for a tour stop on Saturday, May 14, it was two newcomers – Brenda Anderson and Theresa Nunez – who battled it out for both the hot seat and finals. Anderson took two out of the three matches and took home the first place prize. The $260-added event drew 13 entrants to Stix Billiards in St. Pete Beach, FL.
They met first in the hot seat match, after Anderson had sent Chris Fields (# 3 in the rankings) west 4-4; Fields needing to reach 6, and Nunez had sent front-runner in the rankings, Sabra MacArthur-Beahn to the one-loss side 5-5; Beahn needing 7. Anderson prevailed in their first meeting, 5-3, and sat in the hot seat awaiting her return from the semifinals.
With Jessica Barnes (#7) finishing in the 13th spot for the tournament, MacArthur Beahn and Fields, in the meantime, moved west to take on Alice Parnell (#4) and Kelly Cavanaugh (#2). Parnell had advanced past Deanna Foster 4-3, and Dawn Fitzpatrick 4-2 to draw MacArthur Beahn. Cavanaugh defeated Freida Walker 5-3 and tour director Stephanie Mitchell 5-4 to pick up Fields. With Beahn needing to reach 8 games, Parnell moved on to the quarterfinals with a 4-5 win, as Cavanaugh downed Fields 5-3.
Cavanaugh and Parnell locked up in a double hill battle, won by Cavanaugh, which, following MacArthur Beahn's finish in the 5/6 slot, moved Cavanaugh into the tour's top-ranked position.
"That darned Kelly pushed me out of first place in the standings," said MacArthur Beahn in an e-mail. "Guess I'll have to learn how to play better."
Cavanaugh's run, though, ended right there, as a semifinal, straight-up-race-to-5 match against Nunez, went Nunez' way, 5-3. Nunez rode momentum into the opening set of the true double elimination final and prevailed in a double hill match. Anderson fought back in the second set to win 4-3 and capture her first BAAT title. It is the fourth time in as many 2011 stops on the BAAT tour that a new name has captured the event.
