Stephanie Mitchell, Mary Lou Mendez, Jeannie Seaver, Jeff Mendez, and Lisa McElroy
Jeannie Seaver shut out 72-year-young Mary Lou Mendez twice to win her second of three stops on the Bay Area Amateur Tour on Saturday, July 21. As a result, Seaver moved into the top spot in tour rankings. With two stops to go on the tour, Seaver finished five ranking points ahead of Lisa McElroy and Cassidy Mulligan, tied for second place. The $400-added event drew 16 entrants to Stix in Palm Harbor, FL.
Seaver went into the tournament ranked at the bottom of the top five players on the tour, and was one of only two among those five who made it to the winners' side final four. She faced the other, Echo Pinkley, who entered the stop in fourth place. Mendez, in the meantime, squared off against Deanna Foster. Seaver sent Pinkley west 7-2, as Mendez was busy downing Foster 4-3. Seaver shut Mendez out and sat in the hot seat to await her return.
Pinkley moved over to meet up with McElroy, who'd been sent to the loss side by Mendez, and defeated Jessica Barnes 3-2 (Barnes racing to 6), and shut out Jamie Toennies 3-0. Foster drew Mulligan, who'd been sent west by Seaver, and then, shut out Barbara Ellis and given up only one rack against tour director Stephanie Mitchell. Foster chalked up the fourth of five shutouts among the event's final 12 against Mulligan, and in the quarterfinals, faced McElroy, who'd ended Pinkley's day 3-1.
In those quarterfinals, McElroy again gave up only a single rack, defeating Foster 3-1, and turning to a grudge match semifinal against Mendez. For the second time, Mendez defeated McElroy with a tie score. In their first meeting, Mendez had won 4-4, with McElroy going to 6, and in their second, Mendez won 3-3, with McElroy racing to 5. Though a victory on this year's tour has eluded her, McElroy has finished third twice and second, once, which has left her in second place in the overall tour rankings.
Though Seaver would shut Mendez out for the second straight time in the finals to capture the event title, Mendez chalked up her best finish on the tour, ever. She had previously finished in 7th place in a November 2011 tour stop.
The event scrambled the rankings of the top five players on the tour. Seaver moved from fifth place to first, while seventh place finisher, Jessica Barnes, who'd held the top stop previously, dropped to fourth. Mulligan came into the tournament in second place, just ahead of McElroy, and the two finished, tied for second. Echo Pinkley rounded out the top five, dropping from fourth to fifth on the heels of her 5th place finish. The women will have two more chances to re-arrange that list. The tour will stop at Stroker's in Palm Harbor on September 1 and hold the tour's Grand Finale at Capone's in Spring Hill on October 20.
