Jeannie Seaver went undefeated for the second time in a row this year to take the Tiger Florida Tour’s 8th Annual “Cues for the Cure” breast cancer awareness fundraiser. Thirty-five women played in shades of pink in this $1,000-added modified double elimination event.
Four players from the winners side and four from the loser’s side made it to the final single elimination board. Jeannie handily made it to the final board after sending several players west – Suzayn Yap 7-2, Roe Guarnero 7-5, and Cheryl Perez 7-4. Vanessa also made it to the final board undefeated, getting past Mandolin Robinson 7-0, Sue Roberts 7-5, and Cortney Bernard 7-2. Crystal McCormick also made it to the final board undefeated against Susan Correa 7-4, Stephanie Mitchell 7-3, abd Echo Pinkley 7-5. Marlene Houldsworth was the final player from the winners’ side to make it to the single elimination bracket, getting past Shiri Avrahami 7-1, Susan Ruisi 7-5, and Julia Spinella 7-4. Making it to the final board from the one-loss side: Tour Director Mimi McAndrews, Stephanie Mitchell, Kelly Coyle, and Echo Pinkley.
The final four from one-loss side redrew into a single elimination bracket race to 7. Coyle drew Jeannie Seaver but lost 7-3, and Mitchell drew Houldsworth, winning 7-4. Pinkley matched up against McCormick, winning 7-4, and Vanessa played McAndrews, winning 7-3. Vanessa went on to defeat Pinkley 7-4, making it Vanessa’s first trip to the Finals of a TFT event. Meanwhile, Seaver’s sister, Jeannie, defeated Mitchell in the semi-finals 7-4 to meet up with Vanessa in the first sister-to-sister final! Not to be distracted by playing ‘sis for the first time in the finals, Jeannie went on to win the match and the tournament 7-2. This win also secured the TFT Tour Champion title for the second year in a row.
We thank our title sponsor Tiger Products; Ozone Billiards; Great Lakes Billiards, Ultimate Chalkers, Boynton Billiards, AZ Billiards and Discount Mugs. Of course, thanks to Amy Poulter for being a great hostess again! Thank you also to those who donated prizes for the Cues for the Cure raffle: Janis Sessions, Nicolle Cuellar (Stitchittomeembroidery.com), Pete Franco (Ulterior Chalkers), Boynton Billiards, and Keith Columbo, Billiard Engineering (The Sleeve). And a huge thanks to everyone who supported and contributed to in the fundraiser. All of the proceeds raised benefit the South Florida Affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure.
In 1978, a college junior by the name of Maridana "Mike" Heydon won the Women's division of the American College Union International's annual pool tournament in Lincoln City, Oregon. About a year after college, Maridana Heydon quit the sport, "cold turkey," as she described it, to pursue a career and a family. On the weekend of March 8-9, 36 years later, at a $500-added stop on the Flamingo Tour, hosted by Wally's in Lakeland, FL, the former college champion re-emerged and as Maridana Fitzgerald, went undefeated through a field of 37 entrants.
Fitzgerald's path through the field went through Jennifer Page, Erikka Piersall and Crystal McCormack to move among the final four winners, who advanced to the tournament's single elimination phase, entailing four quarterfinal matches, two semifinals and a final. Her victory over McCormack to make the cut was the first of three straight double hill matches that would eventually move her into the winners' circle.
Fitzgerald drew Wallen, Mitchell faced Seaver, Mulligan had to contend with Ger and Barnes met Roberts. Mulligan shut Ger out to advance to the semifinals, while Mitchell and Roberts advanced with 7-5 victories over Seaver and Barnes. Fitzgerald survived her first of three straight double hill matches, over Wallen.
Both semifinal matches were double hill affairs, and both hinged on last minute mistakes. Mulligan gave Mitchell ball in hand, shooting at the 9-ball in the deciding game. Roberts had been up on Fitzgerald 6-3, but Fitzgerald fought back to tie it at 6-6. In the final rack, Roberts got a look at the 9-ball, but rattled it in the hole, essentially handing the semifinal victory to Fitzgerald.
"I thought the thing was over," said Fitzgerald later, but it wasn't and she advanced to the finals.
The final match also featured a costly error. Fitzgerald and Mitchell fought back and forth to yet another double hill juncture, at which point, Mitchell scratched, shooting at the 1-ball in the deciding rack. Fitzgerald ran the table to complete her undefeated run and claim the event title.
"It was not an easy runout," said tour director Mimi McAndrews of that final rack. "She worked for it."
For Fitzgerald's part, she was glad to be back at the tables, after being away for so many years. And aware, she said, of a higher level of talent than she remembered from her college years.
"I was very impressed with the quality of play at the tournament," she said. "There were some great players, and I was thrilled that I won."
Tour director Mimi McAndrews thanked room owner Jim Thomas and his staff, as well as sponsors Boynton Billiards, Ozone Billiards, and the Simonis Cloth Satellite Tour.
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.
Lisa McElroy, tournament assistant Jeff Mendez, Jessica Barnes and Cassidy Mulligan
She’d shut her out in the battle for the hot seat, but Cassidy Mulligan came back from the semifinals to win the first set of the two-set finals against Jessica Barnes at the May 26 stop on the Bay Area Amateur Tour. Though Mulligan would battle to double hill in the second set, Barnes prevailed to win the $220-added event that had drawn 11 entrants to Wally’s in Lakeland, FL.
Barnes would give up only one rack in the two matches that left her in the hot seat. She sent Lisa McElroy west 6-1, and facing Mulligan, who’d defeated Echo Pinkley 4-2, she didn’t give up any.
McElroy moved over to face Cortney Bernard, who’d been sent to the loss side by Mulligan, and then defeated Tammy Gillis, double hill, and Terri Cockrell 4-1. Pinkley picked up Marci Whitaker, who, after falling to McElroy in the winners’ bracket, defeated Sabra MacArthur-Beahn 3-3 (MacArthur-Beahn racing to 7) and Kelly Cavanaugh 3-5 (Cavanaugh also racing to 7).
Pinkley and McElroy got right back on track; Pinkley downing Whitaker 5-1 and McElroy eliminating Bernard 3-1. McElroy then shut out Pinkley in the quarterfinals to face Mulligan in the semifinals. The three left standing were now the same final three who had battled on the tour’s last stop in March; Mulligan had won that event, McElroy was second and Barnes had finished third. By reaching the hot seat, Barnes had already prevented a repeat of that finish. Mulligan, looking for her second straight tour victory, gave up only a single rack in a semifinal victory over McElroy, and turned to a second chance against Barnes.
Barnes, racing to six in the opening set of the true double elimination final, took the first four games, but Mulligan, racing to four, took the next four to force a second set. Mulligan, this time, racing only to three, took the opening game, but Barnes, now needing five, took the next two. Mulligan won the next game, which put her on the hill, but Barnes chalked up three in a row to spoil Mulligan’s two-straight bid and win the event title.
Stephanie Mitchell, Cassidy Mulligan, Lisa McElroy and Jessica Barnes
Cassidy Mulligan gave up a single match in the opening set of a true double elimination final against Lisa McElroy, but came back to win the second, claiming first place in the Bay Area Amateur Tour stop on Saturday, March 31. The $300-added, second stop on the tour drew 14 entrants to Hammerheads in Holiday, FL.
From among the winners’ side final four, Mulligan sent Echo Pinkley west 4-1, as Jessica Barnes was busy doing likewise to Vanessa Seaver 6-3. Mulligan then defeated Barnes 5-4 (Barnes going to 7) and sat in the hot seat, waiting for the return of McElroy.
Seaver moved to the loss side to meet up with her sister, Jeannie, winner of the first BAAT stop, who’d defeated Terri Cockrell 6-1 and Lana Loomis 8-1. Pinkley picked up McElroy, who’d been sent west from among the winners’ side final eight by Barnes, and then defeated Cortney Bernard 3-2 (Bernard going to 4), and Kelly Cavanaugh 3-3 (Cavanaugh going to 6). Jeannie Seaver shut out sister Vanessa, and was joined in the quarterfinals by McElroy, who’d downed Pinkley 3-1.
McElroy had sent Jeannie Seaver to the loss side in the opening round of play, and duplicated that effort in the quarterfinals, shutting her out. McElroy then turned to face the woman who’d sent her over, Barnes, in the semifinals. A 3-3 victory (Barnes going to 5) sent McElroy to the double elimination finals against Mulligan.
In a straight-up race to 4, McElroy won the opening set 4-2. In the second set, reduced to a race to three, Mulligan gave up only a single rack to secure the event title.
The victory moved Mulligan into second place in the current, two-stop tour standings, behind Jeannie Seaver, whose fourth place finish, allowed her to remain atop the leader board. McElroy moved from fifth to third, behind Mulligan. Next stop on the BAAT tour is scheduled for May 26, at Wally’s in Lakeland, FL.
Jeannie Seaver dominated the season-opening stop of the Bay Area Amateur Tour on Saturday, February 11, winning, on average, four out of every five games she played and going (almost needless to say) undefeated to capture the event title. Seaver’s 46-game journey took her past 2011’s tour champion Kelly Cavanaugh twice. The $300-added event drew 18 entrants to a new venue for the BAAT Tour – Cue-Phoria, in Casselberry, FL.
Seaver and Cavanaugh met first among the winners’ side final four, as tour newcomer, Echo Pinkley, was squaring off against Jessica Barnes. Seaver gave up two of her (total tournament) nine racks in a 6-2 victory that sent Cavanaugh west, as Pinkley downed Barnes 5-4 (Barnes needing to reach six games). Seaver then gave up only a single rack in the match that sent Pinkley to the semifinals, and left her sitting in the hot seat.
Cavanaugh moved over and won three straight double hill matches that propelled her into a rematch against Seaver in the finals. First up was Lisa McElroy, who’d been sent over by Pinkley, and then won two straight double hill matches, against Cassidy Mulligan and Alice Parnell. Barnes, in the meantime, drew Michelle Parker, who’d gotten by Chris Fields 3-3 (Fields needing six), and Marci Whitaker, double hill, to reach her. Cavanaugh survived a double hill match versus McElroy (5-2), and in the quarterfinals, faced Barnes, who’d shut out Parker.
In a straight-up race to four, Cavanaugh left Barnes in fourth place with a double hill win, and moved on to face Pinkley. With Pinkley needing to win one less game (5-4), Cavanaugh left Pinkley in third place, double hill, to earn a second chance at Seaver. For nought, however, as Seaver gave up only two racks in the final for a 6-2 win that concluded her undefeated day.
