The ladies of the Northwest Women's Pool Association were at Jillians on Lake Union in Seattle WA for their July event, a qualifier for the WPBA Canadian Classic.
Tour favorite Hsin Huang was still in Taiwan and two time winner Kerry Impson lost her first match of the tournament, opening up the right side of the board for new players to ascend to the top. Impson was not willing to just give up, and she won two matches on the left side of the board before Shari Ross handed her loss #2.
On the winners side, Kim Gates escaped close matches with both Deby Welfringer and Linda Carter to arrive in the quarterfinal match. In that match, Gates dominated Jackie Fitchner for the 7-1 win. This left Gates in the hot-seat, waiting for an opponent in the extended final match.
Fitchner did not win the WBPPA Chinook Winds 8-Ball Tournament Masters Division by folding under pressure, and she rebounded from her loss with a 7-2 win over Deby Welfringer on the one-loss side. The final match went to hill-hill, but in the end it was Fitchner scoring the 9-8 victory to secure her first NWPA title.
Fitchner earned $435 in addition to the WPBA qualifier, while Gates settled for $280 in prize money. Welfringer and Martha Hartsell filled out the top four spots.
1st Jackie Fitchner $435
2nd Kim Gates $280
3rd Deby Welfringer $185
4th Martha Hartsell $145
5-6 Linda Carter, Cindy Doty $86
7-8 Trish Lee, Shari Ross $66
