Mary Coffman's been racking 'em up and showing up on WPBA payout lists for nearly 15 years now. Her first appearance in our database shows her finishing in 17th place at a WPBA Regional Tour Championship (RTC), a little less than two months after 9/11.  In 2013, she chalked up two victories on the Northwest Women's Pool Association (NWPA) tour, and finished in the money in the other six stops. She also finished in the tie for seventh place at that year's RTC. Last year, she was runner-up to Sheila Clark in an NWPA tour stop. This year, after finishing in the money at the Chinook Winds Open 8-Ball Ladies Division and both the 8-Ball and 9-Ball US Bar Box Championships,  she returned to the winners' circle with a come-from-the-loss-side victory at Tour Stop # 6 on the 2015 NWPA Tour. The $500-added event, held on the weekend of September 19-20,  drew 20 entrants to Black Diamond Billiards in Spokane, WA.

 

Following victories over Alicia Kvasnicka and Kim Toops, Coffman faced Kimberly Kirk in a winners' side semifinal. Suzanne Smith, in the meantime, looking for her third win on the 2015 NWPA Tour, had defeated Sharon Bledsoe and Bev Ashton, and squared off against Toni Sakamoto. Kirk sent Coffman to the loss side, and in the hot seat match, faced Smith, who'd defeated Sakamoto. Smith sent Kirk to the semifinals 7-4, and waited in the hot seat for Coffman's return.

 

On the loss side, Sakamoto drew Phyllis Fernandez, who'd gotten by Tamre Rogers and Toops, both 6-3. Coffman picked up Ashton, who'd shut out Adrianne Beach, and eliminated Lan Phong 7-4 to reach her. The two winners' side semifinalists advanced; Sakamoto 6-2 over Fernandez, and Coffman, surviving a double hill battle versus Ashton.

 

Coffman downed Sakamoto in the quarterfinals 7-3, and earned herself a shot at Smith in the hot seat with a 7-5 re-match win over Kirk in the semifinals. She completed her trip to the winners' circle with a 9-6 victory over Smith in the finals.

 

On September 13-14, 2014, the NWPA’s sixth tour stop of 2014 was hosted by The Black Diamond in Spokane, Washington. Not only did the Black Diamond add $500 to the tournament, but staff provided excellent service to all players and spectators for the entire weekend. The Black Diamond is the premier location for great pool, food, and entertainment in the Spokane area. They host many Open tournaments throughout the year and the NWPA would like to thank them for their continued support. In addition, The NWPA would like to thank our sponsors Ozone Billiards and Volturi for their support for the 2014 season. Please check out their websites and show them your appreciation at www.ozonebilliards.com and www.volturicases.com. Two drawings were completed at this stop, Cassie Bryant was drawn for the Ozone case donation, while Shari Ross was drawn for the $500 voucher for a Volturi custom case. Congratulations ladies! If you are interested in getting in on the final raffle drawings for the year, please contact your favorite ladies of the NWPA for tickets. Ozone raffle tickets are 2 for $5, 5 for $10 while the final Volturi voucher tickets are $10 each.

 

The NWPA is sanctioned by the WPBA. Tour standings and 2014 schedule are available at www.nwpatour.wordpress.com.  All skill levels are welcome to play and players can accrue points towards their semiprofessional status while gaining experience playing some of the top women players in the northwest.

 

Twenty-one ladies came out to compete Saturday morning. The tournament was run on 8 9-foot Brunswick Gold Crowns with Rail2Rail Productions providing a free live stream all weekend. In addition to the live stream, this event was the first, of hopefully many to come, where live scoring of all matches was available via Score Saloon, www.scoresaloon.com. The format was a race to 7, alternating break, 9 ball, with a race to 6 on the B side. There were several first round byes, but play sped right along. 

 

Sunday morning, only eight players remained. A side match ups included Suzanne Smith vs. Sheila Clark and Mary Coffman vs. Kimberly Kirk. Sheila and Mary both advanced through their morning matches, by the scores of 7-6 and 7-4, advancing them to the hot seat match. Table speed got the best of Sheila during this match and Mary capitalized on mistakes to advance to the finals by the score of 7-1. B side match ups included Amber Foster vs. Alicia Kvasnicka and Rebecca Slyter vs. Jing Liu. Alicia and Jing both advanced through their morning matches by the scores of 6-5 and 6-3, respectively.  Fired up from their morning losses Suzanne and Kimberly rallied back through their next round, defeating Jing and Alicia by the score of 6-3 and 6-0. Suzanne then squared off against Kimberly in a hill-hill match up, that had Kimberly make a clutch out to advance 6-5. Kimberly then played Sheila to see who would play Mary in the finals. Sheila took down that match by the score of 6-4, earning herself a rematch.

 

Mary Coffman path to the final: Fran J (2), Jenny L (), Kim T (4), Kimberly K (4), Sheila C (1)

 

Sheila Clark path to the final: Bye, Jing L (5), Alicia K (6), Suzanne S (6), loss to Mary C (1), Kimberly K (4)

 

The final was one race to 9, alternating break. During the first eight racks, both players struggled with the table speed, creating more difficult patterns to work through. Tied at 4-4, Sheila settled in and found her groove, while Mary struggled to find the confidence she had during the hot seat match. In rack 9, a miss on the 4 ball, by Mary, led to a strong run out by Sheila to take her first lead of the match. Sheila proceeded to shoot with minimal errors, closing out each of the remaining racks to win the set 9-4 This was Sheila’s first tour stop win on the NWPA. Congratulations to both ladies for an excellent tournament.

 

With Jing’s finish, she maintained her position on top in overall standings, guaranteeing her first WPBA Regional Tour Championship appearance. Suzanne also stayed at 3rd, while Sheila jumped up to 4th place in overall standings. Going into the final tournament of the season, the tour champion and guaranteed spots at the WPBA Regional Tour Championships will still be up for grabs.  The NWPA’s year-end event is at The Parlor in Bellevue, WA on November 1-2. 

Mary Hopkin picked up her second victory on the 2013 Northwest Women's Pool Association Tour by going undefeated on the tour's fourth stop. She had won the tour's second stop in April. The win moved her into the #1 slot in the tour's standings, replacing Liz Cole, who has won the other two stops on the tour, but was absent for this most recent event. The  $500-added, June 22-23 event drew 22 entrants to Black Diamond Billiards in Spokane, WA.

 

It was a five-match journey for Hopkin that was almost derailed in the battle for the hot seat. She had defeated Adrianne Beach 7-1, Amber Foster 7-5, and among the winners' side final four, Alicia Kvasnicka 7-3, when she met up with Natalie Seal in that hot seat match. Seal had survived a double hill, opening match against Sheila Clark, defeated Joyce Robinson 7-2, and Elaine Eberly 7-5, before meeting and defeating Alisha Rogers 7-5 in the other winners' side semifinal. Hopkin and Seal, in their first of two, battled to double hill before Hopkin prevailed to sit in the hot seat, awaiting her return.

 

On the loss side, Kvasnicka ran into Elaine Eberly, who, after being sent west by Seal, had shut out Sharon Bledsoe and defeated Suzanne Smith 6-4. Rogers drew Suwanna Matarazzo, whom she'd sent to the loss side in the second round, and was on a four-match, loss side streak that included victories over Julie Valdez 6-1 and Amber Foster 6-4. Kvasnicka defeated Eberly 6-2, and in the quarterfinals, faced Rogers, who'd successfully defeated Matarazzo a second time 6-4.

 

Kvasnicka dropped Rogers into the fourth place slot 6-4, earning herself a shot against Seal in the semifinals. Both were looking for a second chance against Hopkin, but it was Seal who earned it, allowing Kvasnicka only a single rack in their semifinal match.

 

Seal got her second chance against Hopkin, with thoughts of their double hill hot seat match relatively fresh on her mind. Hopkin, though, had those thoughts in her head as well, and left little to chance. She defeated Seal 9-4 to claim the event title, as well as first place in the tour rankings.