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Cole goes undefeated to win Northwest Women’s Pool Association’s season opener

(l to r): Chris Rogers (TD), Liz Cole, Cindy Sliva & Mike Bean (Legends owner)

Under the leadership of a new President, Stephanie Hefner, the Northwest Womens’s Pool Association (NWPA) opened its 2020 season with a $1,000-added, 10-ball stop at Legends Billiards Room in Beaverton, OR last weekend (Feb. 22-23). Hefner, who won the NAPT Division II Championships the previous weekend (Feb.16-17) in Phoenix, AZ, won this most recent event’s Second Chance tournament while finishing in the tie for 17th in the main event. Liz Cole, a long-time competitor on the tour went undefeated through the field of 56 entrants. Cole faced different opponents in the hot seat and finals, but battled another veteran tour competitor, Cindy Sliva, twice to claim the title.
 
Cole opened up with victories over Claire Lewis 6-1, Stacie Larson 6-2 and shut out Cindy Doty before running into Sliva for the first time in the winners’ side quarterfinal. Cole sent Sliva to the loss side 6-3 and drew Melissa Rushton in one of the winners’ side semifinals. Kira North, in the meantime, squared off against Donna Kingsbury in the other one.
 
North and Cole advanced to the hot seat match; North, 6-2 over Kingsbury and Cole, 6-3 over Rushton. Cole downed North 6-3 to claim the hot seat.
 
Cindy Sliva had opened her loss-side campaign with two 6-3 victories over MaryBeth Johnson and Deby Welfringer to pick up Kingsbury. Rushton drew Robin Adams, who’d been defeated by Sliva in the event’s third round and was in the midst of a four-match, loss-side winning streak that had entailed three double hill wins for her. With two of those double hill wins behind her, Adams downed Joyce Robinson 6-3 and then, chalked up her third double hill win, against Shirley Morgan to reach Rushton.
 
Rushton spoiled Adams’ bid for a rematch against Sliva and ended her streak 6-4 to advance to the quarterfinals. She was joined by Sliva, who’d defeated Kingsbury 6-1. Rushton put up a fight in those quarterfinals, falling just a game short of double hill, but Sliva prevailed 6-4 and then, gave up just a single rack to North in the semifinals.
 
Cole completed her undefeated run with a strong victory in the finals. She gave up only two racks and claimed the title 9-2 over Sliva.
 
Tour director Chris Rogers thanked the ownership and staff at Legends Billiards for their hospitality. The next stop on the NWPA Tour will be the Martha Harstell Memorial Tournament, a 9-ball event, scheduled for the weekend of March 28-29, to be hosted by The Cue Ball in Salem, OR.

Suzanne Smith defends her title – Washington State 9 Ball Championships

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!
 
Second Chance Results
1st Patricia Tipton $50
2nd Anna Busley $30
3rd Miranda Sellman $20
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Wagner double dips the Duchess of Doom to take Chinook Winds Open 10-Ball

Rebecca Wagner (Photo courtesy of Nick De Leon)

Owner of a couple of wins on the Arizona Women's Billiards Tour this year (April & September), and a 9th place finish in the WPBA's Regional Tour Championships in January, Rebecca Wagner traveled north and west to join a 30-entrant field at the $4,700-added, 3rd Annual Chinook Winds Casino and Resort's 10-Ball Championships (Ladies Division) in Lincoln City, OR on the weekend of October 9-11. She was awarded a bye in the opening round, and lost her first match to Liz Cole. She went on a seven-match, loss-side winning streak that put her into the finals against The Duchess of Doom, Allison Fisher, and double-dipped her to take the title.
 
With Wagner at work on the loss side, Fisher and Susie O'Connor advanced to the hot seat match; Fisher having sent Joanne Ashton to the loss side 5-2 in a winners' side semifinal, as O'Connor was busy surviving a double hill match against Liz Cole. Fisher, who at that point, was boasting a 20-4 advantage in total games played, made it 25-4 with a shutout over O'Connor and waited in the hot seat for Wagner.
 
Following opening loss-side victories over Sherry Ahola and Melyssa Chasteen, Wagner chalked up two straight double hill wins over Bev Ashton and Kimberly Kirk to earn herself a re-match against Cole. Joanne Ashton drew Cindy Sliva, who'd defeated Deby Welfringer and Bernie Store, both 5-3, to reach her. 
 
Wagner successfully navigated her re-match against Cole 5-3, and in the quarterfinals, faced Sliva, who'd eliminated Joanne Ashton 5-1. Wagner advanced to the semifinals with a 5-3 win over Sliva, and then, as Fisher had done before her, shut out O'Connor.
 
Apparently in something of a shutout mood, Wagner took the opening set of the true double elimination final against Fisher 5-0. The Duchess of Doom wasn't about to let that stand and put up a strong double hill fight in the second set. Wagner prevailed, though, to claim the event title. 

Brett and Gicoso set new Behind The Rock Tour Records

Lee Brett

Lee “Lightning” Brett and Jing Gicoso set new tour records last month.  Lee Brett posted a new tour record for Behind the Rock Tour for high score previously set by Tommy Najar back in September of 2011.  

Najar’s record was a solid 139 with 5 Snap games, 2 consecutive Snap games, 1 COE and 1 Cut game.  Brett crushed Najar’s match statistics with 7 Snap games and 1 COE for a score of 154.  If you’ve never played the game 211 before let me tell you these scores are a feat to be reckoned with.  

Jing Gicoso set a new record for highest points scored in one game of 21 points and tied the record for the most consecutive snap games of 3.  These two scores put Gicoso in for tour title holder for the second and third time in the tour title page.  He also has tied the tour record for 3 consecutive Cut games.  You can view all the tour records on the website www.behindtherocktour.com.  What does all this mean?

This is just an example of what happened last month and the excitement with Behind the Rock Tour (BTRT).  BTRT is a weekly national tournament held from any poolroom.  BTRT just celebrated its two year anniversary in May and is excited about the national growth over the past 4 months.  The tour is currently being played in the states of OR, WA, TX, GA, ID, MD, FL and NY with more rooms getting ready to come on board.  Any pool room with 9 foot tables is qualified to be a host location.  Players, this is a weekly tournament not league.  Players are not required to play each week or they can post as many matches as they’d like to pay and play for.  We are currently running 5 divisions with our Advanced and Advanced Scratch divisions just opening up the end of June.

The founder of Behind the Rock Tour (BTRT), Deby Welfringer was inspired to do something for the pool industry after years of watching great players come and go and very little in the industry changing.  We (the pool industry) keep doing the same thing over and over expecting different results.  We need a change.  Ms. Welfringer has been a competitive player all her life including co-founding a women’s amateur tour in the northwest, participating in the women’s regional tours, local and regional open tournaments and the WPBA.  Pool is truly a difficult sport that can take a life time to learn.  So the question was asked, how do we bring the complete package to the players and spectators?  The answer has two parts.

Part 1 is spectators and pool players need to be educated to take them to the next level.  This doesn’t mean educate only the player, but we need to educate the spectators to a level that they understand and appreciate this great sport.  League is a great way to get new players interested in the sport and it’s a great recreational tool for competition, but pool isn’t about win/loss.  Pool is about skill combined with creativity and that’s why we all love the sport.  In addition to players that want an avenue to up their skills at the game we have a whole group of players that are stuck somewhere between league and professional caliber.  This tour was designed as a grooming ladder for players to climb as their skills improve.  This tour was built for the players that want something more from their game.  Maybe a player plays at a high level, but has a job and a family and can’t afford to take a week off work 6-8 times a year to play pool.  Now they can compete with players their caliber without having to go far from home or spend days away from the job or family.  Players can compete in a larger tournament which only takes 1-1/2 hours a night to play and get home in time to go to work the next day.

Part 2 the answer is technology.  With technology and the resources now available to us she has taken advantage of those tools and combined them with our great sport.  We now have a virtual tournament utilizing technology to enhance our industry and this is how it’s done.  We have a robust website that handles everything.  Remote pool rooms upload weekly matches to the website and all tournament results, handicaps and player’s rankings are calculated right on the website.  BTRT is currently only in the USA, but this format allows us the capacity to hold world wide events.  This could be weekly, monthly or annually.  Can you image a weekly world wide event?  With this format it is possible.  Here’s where the tour is today.

BTRT is a weekly national (USA) competition run out of local pool rooms.  The intent of the tour is to support the rooms with 9 foot tables to keep the game where it belongs and educate the players about the sport.  Each week pool rooms run their events and players play their matches.  By midnight Saturday participating locations upload matches to www.behindtherocktour.com and the tournament is closed.  Every Sunday that week’s tournament is calculated, winners are posted and payouts are done every Monday.  Every division pays a third of the field and is paid out every week.  This allows rooms to have a smaller group of players, but combined with the rest of the national locations each week it turns into a larger event that is competitive according to skill level and very exciting.  Just imagine if we had 3 rooms in each state, with only 10 players in each room the weekly payout would grow to be $12,000/week.  That’s something the pool world has to look forward to.

Behind The Rock Tour (BTRT) is designed to inspire players to improve their games, provides an educational avenue for players that want to grow and a format that supports the purpose.  The format forces players to take a real look at their skill level.  Since players do not have an opponent all excuses are removed, bad rolls no longer exist and it’s only up to the player to perform.  This format helps to identify problem skills, highlight personal great performances and so many other things that we didn’t expect for example:  a shift in mind set, importance of the break in any game, commendatory between the players, player interaction and competition dynamics.

BTRT is designed for all skill levels using a 90% true handicapping system.  This handicapping system has never been applied to pool until now.  This system lets players that have a personal high performance and shined that week to push up into the money because they are competing against players their own skill level.  This means no matter the player’s skill level they could be next week’s winner based on personal performance.  BTRT just opened the Advanced and Advanced Scratch division which makes 5 divisions for players to play from:  2 scratch divisions for players just getting started and establishing their averages, Intermediate – 0-30 points (less than three balls per game), the Open division is 30-70 points (players will run an average of 3-7 balls per game or maybe slip in a Snap or Cut game along the way), the Advanced division are players who score over 70 points.  The advanced division players are typically players who consistently break and run more than 3 racks out of 11 games.  All players start in a scratch division for 6 matches to establish an average and then are moved to a division according to skill level and assigned a true 90% handicap (similar to what works in golf or bowling).

Tri-annual events run every 4 months with a higher entry fee and money added.  The next event is scheduled for Aug. 4-5.  All rooms will play simultaneously starting at 10:00am PDT.  Two rounds are played and matches are uploaded to the website www.behindtherocktour.com.  Winners of round 1 are calculated and the top 75% of the field move to the Sudden death round.  Sudden death is one match.  Matches are uploaded and the top one third of the field goes to the finals on Sunday for 2 matches.  This is a very exciting event.  Some rooms live stream their matches so other rooms can watch their opponents play and/or they provide a live screen to watch as new matches are completed and posted across the nation.  As matches are completed they are uploaded to the website.  Players on the west coast can view scores that are coming in on the east coast (and vice/versa).  To qualify for the tri-annual events, players need to have played 11 matches during the previous 4 months.  Since the Advanced division is new, Advanced players will need 6 matches to qualify for this next tri-annual even Aug. 4.  

In “211” player’s play 11 games of 10 ball vs. The Ghost which means players break, take ball-in-hand and run balls in rotation until they foul, miss or run-out.  Every ball pocketed scores one point.  A Snap, Cut and COE defines they type of run-out a player had.  A Snap simply means at least one ball was made on the break and the player ran out.  A Cut means the player did not make a ball on the break, took ball-in-hand and ran out, and a COE means in the game following the Cut game he/she did not take ball-in-hand after the break.  Brett had a total of 8 break and run games out of 12 games (if you break and run in your 11th game you shoot a 12th game to finish scoring the 11th game).  This extraordinary performance by Lee Brett should inspire all players, pro’s and amateurs alike to give the tour a shot.

We encourage all players to join the tour and put your skills to the test.  We will be at the Southern Classic Event in Tunica July 20-27th running mini-tournaments if you’d like to come by and take the format for a test drive.  Pool rooms we encourage you to provide this format for the players to inspire players to practice, work on their game and support your room.  Players if you’re looking for something different and a challenge, this is for you.

If you’d like to play, talk to your local pool room owner and contact us at 253-226-3594 or info@behindtherocktour.com and let’s get you playing.

Congratulations Lee Brett  and Jing Gicoso on your new World Records in the Behind the Rock Tour 211 Tournament!

Montour maintains NWPA top ranking with undefeated win on third tour stop

Jana Montour (File photo courtesy of Ray Lassilat)

Jana Montour has advanced to the hot seat in all three of the Northwest Women’s Pool Association Tour stops this year, and won two of them. She began in March with a victory over Liz Cole. In April, her advancement to the hot seat, included a victory over Kim Jones, who came back from the loss side to defeat her in the finals. At the latest stop on the weekend of June 16-17, Montour, once again, sent Jones to the loss side, but this time, when she came back, Montour hung on to win and complete an undefeated weekend. The $750-added event drew 28 entrants to Malarkey’s in Tacoma, WA.

Montour and Jones met first in the third round. Montour had received a bye and defeated Sandy Badger. Jones had gotten by Sheila Clark and Cindy Sliva. In that first meeting, Jones got to the hill, ahead by five games. Montour roared back, and won six in a row.  That win put Montour among the winners’ side final four, where she faced Shari Ross. Suzanne Smith, in the meantime, met up with Deby Welfringer. A double hill win for Welfringer set her up for the hot seat match against Montour, who’d defeated Ross 7-5. Montour sent Welfringer to the semifinals 7-2, and awaited her second straight final against Jones.

Jones moved over and defeated Kathy Stanley 6-1 and Mary Hopkin 6-2 to draw Smith. Ross drew Liz Cole, who’d defeated Badger, double hill and  Kit Dennis 6-1. Ross ended Cole’s day 6-4, and in the quarterfinals, met up with Jones, who’d downed Smith 6-3. Jones then defeated Ross, 7-5 and earned her second chance versus Montour with a 6-4 win over Welfringer in the semifinals.

As had happened in their earlier match, Jones took an early lead in the race-to-9 finals. She was up by four games before Montour got on the board. Each then won a game to make it 5-2, Jones. Montour then won four straight to take her first lead, and another to go up 7-5. Jones won a game to pull within one.

Montour won the 14th rack to reach the hill first. Jones took the 15th rack to pull back within one, but Montour closed it out with a victory to complete her undefeated weekend. The victory left Montour atop the NWPA tour rankings, with Jones right behind her.

Jones wins WPBA West Coast RTC; will face Megan Smith at the US Open

Kim Jones

On April 29, Kim Jones won the second stop on the Northwest Women’s Poolplayers Association Tour. A week later, on May 6, she joined 28 regional players in Bellevue, WA for the WPBA West Coast Regional Tour Championship, and in the finals, battled to a double hill victory over Liz Cole. The victory earned her the right to face the WPBA’s East Coast champion, Megan Smith, in a one-on-one battle to crown an overall regional tour champion at the WPBA US Open next month in Oklahoma. The $2,000-added RTC, hosted by Parlor Billiards and Spirits in Bellevue, featured a series of round-robin matches that sent eight, top-scoring women to a single elimination round of three matches which eventually crowned the West Coast champion.

The 28 entrants were broken up into four groups of seven, which played a series of six, round robin matches, tallying points (games won) along the way. The top eight scores (two from each group) at the end of the series, advanced to a three-match series of single elimination rounds. Liz Cole went undefeated (30 points) in her group, defeating eventual, final-eight competitor (Shelby Locati) in the process. Jones, who won five of her six matches to finish with 27 points, was in a group with the current, top-ranked player on the NWPA tour, Jana Montour; Jones is second on that tour, and Cole is third. Montour finished the round robin matches, a point ahead of Jones. Jones had won their head-to-head battle, but had scored only two points in a second round match against Trinh Lu.

Mary Hopkin and Linda Carter (the only competitor among the final eight not ranked on the NWPA Tour) advanced from their group with 25 points each, edging out Talya Makus (ties broken by head-to-head records in the round robin series). Suzanne Smith (28 points) and Deby Welfringer (26 points) completed the group of eight finalists. Jones faced Welfringer, Cole drew Hopkin, Montour took on Smith, and Locati squared off against Carter.

Jones advanced to the semifinals with a 9-4 victory over Welfringer and faced Locati, who’d downed Carter 9-3. Cole took her place among the final four with a 9-5 win over Hopkin, and was joined by Montour, who’d defeated Smith 9-4. 

In a reversal of the April 29 hot seat match on the NWPA Tour, which Montour won 7-5, it was Cole advancing to the finals with a 9-4 victory. Jones advanced with a 9-6 win over Locati.

Cole took an early 3-0 lead in the race-to-9 finals, and maintained that lead, through to 6-3. By the 12th rack, the lead was down to two at 7-5. Jones promptly chalked up three in a row to reach the hill, and Cole came back to tie it – double hill. A shot at the 7-ball in the final rack was missed by Cole, and Jones took advantage to capture the WPBA West Coast RTC championship.

“Liz was the toughest challenge,” said Jones, a day later.

“I felt like I was struggling in that last match,” she added. “I felt I was shooting well, but I made a few errors in the last three games.”

It’s on now to Oklahoma for the (free entry for Jones) WPBA US Open, scheduled for June 6-10 at the River Spirit Casino and Resort in Tulsa, OK, for a match versus the East Coast champion, Megan Smith. Smith earned the East Coast title, when the winner of that event, My Hanh Lac, determined that she could not attend the Open.

“I’ve played her quite a few times,” said Jones, who began her competitive career on the East Coast, “but I think I’ve only beaten her once.”

“When I played her,” she added, “she was dominating that (JPNEWT) Tour.”

NWPA and WPBA President Tamre Rogers extended thanks to Steve Olson (owner) and Dave Lauer (manager) of Parlor Billiards and Spirits in Bellevue, Rail2Rail Productions, which provided live streaming at the event, and Billiards 911 for the event’s raffle cues. Rogers also thanked the WPBA for their contribution of a free entry to the US Open for the winner.

1st Kim Jones
2nd Liz Cole
3rd Jana Montour
Shelby Locati
5th Suzanne Smith
Mary Hopkin
Linda Carter
Deby Welfringer

Montour goes undefeated to open NWPA season

Jana Montour (Photo courtesy of Don Akerlow – On The Break News)

In a repeat of the Northwest Women’s Pool Association (NWPA) season finale last November, Jana Montour and Liz Cole locked up in a finals battle in the opening event of the 2012 season on the weekend of March 3-4. Same opponents, different result. This time, Montour took a more direct route to the finals than the one she’d taken last November, when she had to win eight on the loss side to meet Cole, and this time, she defeated Cole twice to win it. The $1,000-added event drew 34 entrants to The Golden Fleece, in Kenmore, WA.

It was a four-match trip to the winners’ side final four for Montour and a three-match journey for Cole, who drew a bye in the opening round. Montour got by Stephanie Goens, Shelby Locati, Eve Stockstill, and Kim Jones to meet up with Shari Ross. Cole defeated Suwanna Kroll, Talya Makus, and Mary Hopkin to meet up with Cindy Sliva. Montour sent Ross west 7-1and turned to the hot seat battle against Cole, who’d sent Sliva over 7-3. Montour took their first of two 7-3, and waited in the hot seat for Cole to come back.

Meanwhile, on the loss-side, Ross met up with Mary Hopkin, who’d been sent west by Cole and defeated Kris Robbins 6-4 and Suzanne Smith 6-3. Sliva drew Kim Jones, who’d been sent west by Montour and defeated Mona Stickley, double hill, and Deby Welfringer 6-2. Sliva and Jones fought to double hill before Sliva prevailed, advancing to the quarterfinals versus Ross, who’d defeated Hopkin, also double hill. Ross chalked up a second straight double hill win in the quarterfinal battle against Sliva and advanced to meet Cole in the semifinals. Cole got her second crack at Montour with a 6-3 victory over Ross.

November’s season finale, though won by Cole, left Montour at the top of the 2011 tour rankings; each had won three stops. The single, race-to-9 finals went double hill before Montour prevailed to open the NWPA season the way she’d finished the previous year; at the top of the tour rankings. 

Liz Cole wins NWPA Season Finale

On November 19-20th The Parlor in Bellevue, WA hosted the NWPA’s 7th and final tour stop of the 2011 Season.  The tournament was ran on 10 9 foot Brunswicks and Rail2Rail Productions provided live streaming throughout the event.  As always, The Parlor was a gracious host and even provided comedy club tickets to several of the entrants after the NWPA banquet hosted as a buffet style dinner at The Ultra Lounge.  Some of the The Parlor’s upcoming events include The Vixen Gauntlet and Country Line Dancing on Wednesdays, Thursday/Saturday football specials with 16 HD TVs and all kinds of door prizes and giveaways, DL Hughley on December 8-10, and Comic Search open auditions on December 15-17.

We would like to give special thanks to our title sponsor MUELLER for their continued support of the NWPA, please show your support to the NWPA by supporting Mueller (www.mueller.com). We would also like to extend a warm welcome to two new players: Clodagh Lancaster from Redmond, WA and Sara Mullenniex from Bellingham, WA.  

2011 NWPA Awards were given at the banquet Saturday night and included:

Tour Champion- Liz Cole

Player of the Year- Kimberly Kirk

Most Improved- Stacy Eilts

Also at the banquet, conclusion of our annual raffle took place.  Ed & Shelby Locati, Phyllis Fernandez, and Liz Cole all won cues and cases donated by Mueller, Brian Johnson and Alisha Rogers both won NWPA merchandise, and Shawn Graves won the coveted Passion Party basket, donated by Liz Cole’s sister.

Fresh off her first top 16 performance at the WPBA’s Tour Championship event Liz Cole was the favorite to win.  With that performance, Liz earned her 2012 exemption on the WPBA, so whoever earned second in the NWPA’s overall standings would prove to be the NWPA representative, along with Liz, on the WPBA for 2012.  In contention were Kimberly Kirk and Deby Welfringer, both players would have to have their best tournament of the year to have an opportunity.  Kimberly would need to win the event, while Deby would need to finish 3rd.  

Twenty ladies came to play on Saturday morning, and unfortunately due to snow, a few of the tours’ top players were not in attendance.  Matches started at 10 am, and the field was whittled down to 8 players who returned on Sunday.  On the A side, Liz Cole squared off against Michelle Hughes (her first Sunday appearance), while Shelby Locati battled against recently crowned 2011 US Amateur Champion, Suzanne Smith.  Liz and Suzanne both won their matches 7-4 and 7-2.  Liz then defeated Suzanne 7-4 to secure her 6th final appearance of the season.  On the B side, Kimberly Kirk played Jessica Orth and Deby Welfringer played Clodagh Lancaster.  Both Kimberly and Deby defeated their opponents 7-5, and momentum from their morning wins propelled them through their second rounds where Kimberly defeated Shelby 7-6 and Deby defeated Michelle 7-3.  

The next match would prove to be a true test, for if Deby were to advance she would be guaranteed a 3rd place finish and take over 2nd place in the standings.  Kimberly had different plans, as she was also in contention for that 2nd place spot, and ended up defeating Deby 7-2.  Kimberly continued her superb play and defeated Suzanne 7-4 to secure her spot in the final against Liz.

Path to the Final
Liz Cole: Andy R (6), Shari R (5), Kathy S (2), Michelle H (5), Suzanne S (4)

Kimberly Kirk: Bye, Sara M (0), loss to Michelle H (5), Andy R (3), Jessica O (5), Shelby L (6), Suzanne S (4)

Kimberly won the lag.  Straight out of the gate, Kimberly continued stroking the ball well to take a 3-0 lead, forcing Liz to take her break early to regain her composure.  After Liz’s break, a couple untimely errors by Kimberly allowed Liz to tie up the match at 3 games each.  Both ladies were shooting great and the match was alos tied at 4-4, 5-5, and 6-6, however in game 14, with an opportunity to tie the match again at 7, a hung 8 ball by Kimberly allowed Liz to take a two game lead 8-6.  Kimberly then scratched on the break for the first time of the set in the next rack and Liz methodically ran out the rack to end Kimberly’s hopes of securing 2nd place in the standings.  Congratulations Ladies, Great Tournament for you both.  Congratulations to Jana Montour as well, who with her 2nd place position in the NWPA’s overall standings has earned her tour card.  Thanks to all who came out to support the NWPA.  It was a great season and we will see everyone (and hopefully more of us) in 2012.

Five ladies returned on Sunday for a $100 Added Second Chance Tournament.  A round robin format was used, so each lady played the others five games.  Alisha Rogers won the most games to claim top prize, while only 1 game separated 2nd and 3rd places. Sara and Talya ended up tied for fourth position, but since Sara had defeated Talya in their match, Sara received 4th place prize.

Second Chance Payouts
Place $ Player
1st 45 Alisha Rogers
2nd 35 Tamre Rogers
3rd 30 Andy Ruth
4th 25 Sara Mulleniex