Cindy Sliva and Suzanne Smith (Photo courtesy of Sandro Menzel)
On March February 27-28th – the NWPA’s first tour stop of the 2016 season, the Washington State 9 Ball Championships, was hosted by Malarkey’s Pool & Brew in Tacoma, WA. The tournament was ran on 9 9-foot Gold Crowns with Rail2Rail Productions providing a free live stream all weekend. The NWPA tour standings and 2016 schedule are available at www.nwpatour.com and is sanctioned by the newly formed North American Pool Tour. New tour sponsors include mzTam.com, who donated 5 goody bags to the NWPA player rewards program, and Dave Jones, who will be donating a custom cue towards increasing player payouts. Get in touch with your favorite NWPA ladies to learn more about purchasing raffle tickets as details are finalized.
Twenty-three ladies came out to compete Saturday morning. There was one new player to the tour, Miranda Sellman from Oregon originally, but now residing in Gig Harbor, WA. The tournament was ran on 9 9-foot Brunswick Gold Crowns. The format was a race to 7, alternating break, 9 ball, with a race to 6 on the B side. The main event was $500 added and a second chance tournament was held on Sunday for players who did not make it into the money rounds.
Sunday morning, eight players remained. A side match ups included Cindy Sliva vs. Kira North and Julie Suzanne Smith vs. Tricia Heintz. Cindy and Suzanne both advanced through their morning matches, 7-0 and 7-4. Cindy and Suzanne then squared off in the hot seat match. Suzanne advanced by the score 7-5 to earn her spot in the final. B side match ups included Kimberly Kirk vs. Clara Silvas and Deby Welfringer vs. Jeanne Christensen. Kimberly and Deby advanced through their first round of play 6-4 and 6-2, earning a shot at Tricia and Kira. Kimberly and Deby both continued on the B side, defeating their opponents 6-3 and 6-2. Kimberly then squared off against Deby. Kimberly advanced by the narrowest of margins (6-5) to play Cindy in the semifinals. Both players battled, taking that match to the hill as well, where Cindy ended up winning the final rack to earn a rematch against Suzanne.
Suzanne Smith path to final: Melissa D. (3), Andy R. (2), Jeanne C. (3), Tricia H. (4), Cindy S (5)
Cindy Sliva path to final: Bye, Adrianne B. (1), Kimberly K. (3), Kira N. (0), loss to Suzanne S. (7-5), Kimberly K. (5)
The final was one race to 9, alternating break. During the early racks, both players tried to find their groove, exchanging racks, with Suzanne then taking a two game lead at 4-2. Suzanne then turned it up a notch and closed out each of the following racks, to make it 7-2 with a break and run. Cindy answered with a break and run of her own to make it 7-3. Suzanne responded breaking and running her second rack of the finals to reach the hill. At 8-3, Suzanne faltered, made some critical errors, including a miss on what could have been her winning 9 ball. At 8-7, Cindy appeared to be running out to tie the set at 8-8, when she got funny on the 7 ball. She pocketed the 7, but left herself long on the 8, which she missed. Suzanne was able to close out the rack and win the event with the final score of 9-7. Congratulations to Suzanne for winning the event and to Cindy for a great event as well.
Great tournament ladies! The NWPA’s next event is the 5th Annual Martha Hartsell Memorial and will be hosted at The Cue Ball in Salem, OR on April 23-24, 2016.
Six ladies returned on Sunday for the $100 added Second Chance tournament. With the low turnout, there was no entry fee and players got lots of table time, playing a round robin, best of 5 games against each of the other players. Patricia and Anna ended up tied for first with 17 wins, however Patricia took top prize, since she had defeated Anna earlier 3-2. Newcomer Miranda Sellman wasn’t far behind in 3rd place with 15 wins. Nice job ladies!
Kira North, Ford and Suzanne Smith (Photo courtesy of Sandro Menzel)
On March 21-22, 2015- the NWPA’s first tour stop of the 2015 season, the Washington State 9 Ball Championships, was hosted by Malarkey’s Pool & Brew in Tacoma, WA. The tournament was ran on 9 9-foot Gold Crowns with Rail2Rail Productions providing a free live stream all weekend. The NWPA tour standings and 2015 schedule are available at www.nwpatour.com and is sanctioned by the WPBA. 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. The main event was $750 added, while a Second Chance tournament was available to ladies not making it to the second day. We would like to thank our sponsors Ozone Billiards for donating magic racks for the entire season and Volturi Cue Cases for donating three $500 vouchers for custom cases. Raffle tickets can be purchased for the vouchers through Suzanne Smith (suzos78@gmail.com), and are $10 each. Only 50 tickets will be sold for each voucher, winners will be announced at the conclusion of each voucher’s ticket sales.
Thirty ladies came out to compete Saturday morning. There were several new players to the tour including including Cindy Salcedo (Bozeman, MT), Claire Binci (Corvalis, OR), Brittany Marshall (Spanaway, WA), Andrea Dexter (Renton, WA), and Dara Koch (Portland, OR). The tournament was ran on 9 9-foot Brunswick Gold Crowns. 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, without any major upsets going through the early rounds.
Sunday morning, only eight players remained. A side match ups included Cindy Sliva vs. Liz Cole and Julie Valdez vs. Kira North. Cindy and Kira both advanced through their morning matches, 7-2 and 7-5. Cindy and Kira then squared off in the hot seat match. Kira advanced by the score 7-5 to earn her spot in the final. B side match ups included Carissa Biggs vs. Kirsten Fery and Suwanna Matarazzo vs. Suzanne Smith. Carissa and Suzanne advanced through their first round of play 6-1 and 6-4, earning a shot at Liz and Julie. Liz and Suzanne both advanced through the next round by the same score: 6-3. Liz then squared off against Suzanne. Liz led throughout the entire match; however, it was Suzanne who would sink the final 9 ball in their hill-hill match up. Suzanne then played Cindy and defeated her as well, 6-4.
Kira North path to final: Mary O (F), Kathy S (3), Kim T (5), Julie V (5), Cindy S (5)
Suzanne Smith path to final: Patricia T (0), loss to Natalie S (6), Elaine E (2), Tamre R (4), Rebecca S (2), Suwanna M (4), Julie V (3), Liz C (5), Cindy S (4)
The final was one race to 9, alternating break. During the early racks, both players tried to find their groove. At 3-2 Suzanne, Kira was at the table with a 2 ball out. Unfortunately, Kira missed the 9 and scratched giving Suzanne the 4-2 lead. From that point, Suzanne continued to shoot with confidence, increasing her lead to 5-2 in the next rack, then allowing Kira her final rack of the set to make the score 5-3. Suzanne took advantage of opportunities afforded by her opponent, running out three of the final four racks from the 4, 5 and 2. Congratulations to Suzanne, this was her first tour stop in win since 2009, and to Kira for making her second final appearance in only three events played.
Great tournament ladies! The NWPA’s next event is the 4th Annual Martha Hartsell Memorial and will be hosted at The Cue Ball in Salem, OR on April 25-26.
Eight ladies returned on Sunday for the $100 added Second Chance tournament. With a $10 entry, half the field made some money in the true double elimination tournament, race to 3 on the A side and race to 2 on the B side. Kim Toops ended up winning top prize, defeating Dara Koch in the finals. Good work ladies, nice shooting.
On March 22-23, 2014, the NWPA’s first tour stop of 2014 was hosted by Malarkey’s Pool & Brew in Tacoma, WA. The tournament was ran on 9 9-foot Gold Crowns with Rail2Rail Productions providing a free live stream all weekend. The NWPA tour standings and 2014 schedule are available at www.nwpatour.wordpress.com and is sanctioned by the WPBA. 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-eight ladies came out to compete Saturday morning. There were several new players to the tour including Kathie MacDonald (Victoria BC), Anna Busley (WA), Kristen Cambas (OR), and Lindsay Hays (WA). Ladies returning after a minimum of one year (or more) not playing on the tour included Western BCA Grandmasters Linda Carter, Carissa Biggs, and 2014 US Bar Table 10 Ball Champion Cindy Sliva. Liz Cole also returned for the inaugural event, climbing to 24th in the WPBA rankings after her performance at the WPBA Masters in Mt. Pleasant, MI Feb 6-9, 2014. The format was 9-ball, alternating break, race to 7on the A side and a race to 6 on the B side. There were several first round byes, but play sped right along, without any major upsets going through the early rounds.
Sunday morning, only eight players remained. A side match ups included Kathie MacDonald vs. Jing Liu and Liz Cole vs. Cindy Sliva. Jing and Cindy both advanced through their morning matches, by the same score of 7-4. Jing and Cindy then squared off in the hot seat match. Jing advanced by the score 7-6 to earn her spot in the final. B side match ups included Carissa Biggs vs. Anna Busley and Natalie Seal vs. Suzanne Smith. Anna and Natalie advanced through their first round of play 6-3 and 6-2, only to come up short in their next rounds, Anna and Natalie both fell to their opponents Liz and Kathie by the same score, 6-2. Kathie then squared off against Liz. Kathie seemed to have the edge in their match and advanced by the score 6-4. Kathie then played Cindy and defeated her as well, 6-4.
The final was one race to 9, alternating break. Throughout the entire final, Jing shot with confidence and precision, affording her opponent few and fewer opportunities as the match proceeded. Jing maintained and expanded her lead steadily throughout the match, allowing her opponent only four racks of the 13 games played. Jing was the 2013 NWPA Rookie of the Year and demonstrated how hard work and perseverance in the off season can contribute to growth as a player. Congratulations to Jing for her win and to Kathie MacDonald for such a strong debut performance.
Great tournament ladies! The NWPA’s next event is the 3rd Annual Martha Hartsell Memorial and will be hosted at The Cue Ball in Salem, OR on April 19-20.
Seven ladies returned on Sunday for the $100 added Second Chance tournament. With a $10 entry, nearly all players received at least their entry fee back in the true double elimination tournament, race to 3 on the A side and race to 2 on the B side. Rebecca Slyter ended up winning top prize, defeating Linda Carter 2-1 in the second set of the finals. Linda won the first set 3-2. Good work ladies, nice shooting.
