The Parlor in Bellevue, Washington hosted the fifth tour stop of the Northwest Women’s Pool Associations’ 2013 season. Located in beautiful downtown Bellevue, the Parlor offers a full variety of entertainment featuring The Parlor Live Comedy Club, the Ultra Lounge, and the Parlor Billiards & Spirits. In addition to the main floor, The Parlor has two private suites and full catering available for your company gatherings. Check out all they have to offer at www.parlorlive.com.
The tournament was run on eleven Brunswick Gold Crowns with Centennial balls. Twenty-eight players came out to compete Saturday morning and Rail2Rail Productions provided a free live stream all weekend. The format was 9 ball, alternating break, race to seven on the A side and 6 on the B side. New players to the tour included Jocelyn Liu, Helen Wragg, and Gloria Villa. Play wrapped up early Saturday evening and only twelve players returned on Sunday morning with a chance to win the event. On the A side, Liz Cole played Mary Hopkin, while Eve Stockstill took on Suzanne Smith. Liz and Eve both advanced through their morning matches, 7-3 and 7-6, respectively to advance. Liz continued in her winning ways, defeating Eve by a similar margin at 7-4. B side matches included: Gloria Villa vs. Shari Ross, Denice White vs. Natalie Seal, Tamre Rogers vs. Kim Jones, and Stacy Eilts vs. Jocelyn Liu. Shari (6-1), Natalie (6-3), Kim (6-1), and Stacy (6-4) advanced through their morning matches to the money rounds against each other, where Natalie and Kim defeated their opponents Shari and Stacy by the same score (6-3). Fresh off their first round losses, Mary then played Kim, while Suzanne took on Natalie. Kim picked up steam defeating Mary 6-3, while Suzanne recovered from her morning loss defeating Natalie 6-2. Kim and Suzanne then played each other. Up 5-4, in a race to 6, Kim seemed to have the edge in this match, but a failed safety and a missed 4-9 combination gave Suzanne the opportunity to close out both of the last two games with early 9s. Suzanne then went on to defeat Eve 6-3 to earn a place in her first final of the 2013 season.
FINAL Match- Liz Cole vs. Suzanne Smith
Liz Cole- path to the final: Sheila C (2), Jessica O (0), Natalie Seal (1), Mary H (3), Eve S (4)
Suzanne Smith- path to the final: Kathy S (3), Gloria V (2), Jocelyn L (4), loss to Eve S (6), Natalie S (2), Kim J (5), Eve S (3)
The finals were one race to 9, alternating break. Liz won the lag and both players didn’t really catch a groove until the middle of the set. At 5-4 Liz, Suzanne missed a 9 to tie the match. Liz capitalized there to take the 6-4 lead, and never looked back. Then, a miss on the 1 ball and dry break, by Suzanne resulted in Liz running out both of those racks. Liz picked up steam and Suzanne couldn’t withstand the heat. At 8-4, both players made and missed shots. Suzanne got into a tough position late in the rack and ended up making the 8 and scratching, giving Liz ball in hand on the 9 to win the tournament. Liz closed the gap between herself and Mary for top slot in overall standings, while Suzanne jumped up from 9th to 3rd place overall. With two more tour stops, it should be a battle, as always.
Thanks again to The Parlor for their continuous support of the NWPA, our title sponsor Mueller, and all the ladies that make our tour what it is. The next NWPA event has yet to be confirmed, but is planned for Oct 5-6, 2013. Please confirm information on the next stop on the NWPA’s website : nwpatour.wordpress.com
T.D. Ford, Jana Montour, Kim Jones and Jim Lebold owner of The Cue Ball
On April 28-29, 2012, The Cue Ball in Salem, OR hosted the 2nd Annual Martha Hartsell Memorial for the NWPA’s second tour stop of the season. The tournament was held on twenty-two 9 foot Brunswick Centennial and Anniversary tables. Rail2Rail Productions hosted a free live stream all weekend. We would love to thank our title sponsor Mueller for continuing their support of the NWPA. Please check out their website at www.mueller.com. Billiards 911 sponsored the Trivia Challenge on the live stream, donating a prize package of a cue maintenance bundle including Undo the Blue, shaft smoother and burnisher, Prickster Tip Tool, Shaft Magic with Cue Cloth, and a talcum powder pouch. Congratulations to the winner, James Doyle of Roswell, GA.
The event drew 33 players, most of them tour regulars. However, several new and returning players entered including Julie Stallings (Junction City, OR), Angela Higgins (Portland, OR), Jennifer Windell (Oregon City, OR), Andrena Browne (Springfield, OR), Laura Hardie (Portland, OR), Tina Tillett (Coos Bay, OR), and Kim Allen (Oregon City, OR.) Remaining funds from the Johnny Archer/Nick Varner raffle in early April resulted in an additional $250 added to the main event payout, to bring the total to $1000 added. Player rewards included autographed photos of Johnny/Nick, coffee from local Portland company Coava Coffee Roasters (www.coavacoffee.com), QClip donation , and instructional video Point The Way by well-known road player/guru Timothy Miller (The Monk). We would love to thank all parties that made donations to the NWPA. In addition to the player raffle, scratch tickets were awarded for 9 ball breaks and break & runs.
With 33 players, the tournament format was a race to 7 on the A side and a race to 6 on the B side. Saturday was action packed and only eight players returned on Sunday in the main event. On the A side, it was Jana Montour vs. Kris Robbins and Liz Cole vs. Shelby Locati and on the B side it was Eve Stockstill vs. Sheila Clark and Kim Jones vs. Suzanne Smith. Jana and Liz both advanced through their morning matches, 7-6 and 7-3, to force a repeat of our first stop’s hotseat (and final) match which had a similar result, Jana advancing by a score of 7-5. On the B side, Eve and Kim both defeated their opponents by similar score of 6-4. During Sunday’s second round, Kris and Kim defeated Eve and Shelby by identical 6-2 scores. Kim just seemed to pick up speed from there, going on to defeat Kris (6-0). Kim then defeated Liz, in a hill-hill nail biter where a scratch on the break by Liz, resulted in Kim taking a 1-9 combo for the win.
THE FINAL- Jana Montour vs. Kim Jones was one race to 9, alternating break.
Path to the final- Jana M: Elaine E (0), Talya M (4), Kim J (3), Kris R (6), Liz C (5)
Path to the final- Kim J: Julie S (6), Angela H (3), loss to Jana (3), Tamre R (2), Suzanne S (4), Shelby L (2), Kris R (0), Liz C (5)
Jana won the lag, but right from the beginning did not appear comfortable at the table. She was somewhat inconsistent with her position play and shot making, which appeared to associated with indecision in her pattern play. Kim took advantage of every opportunity with superb run out patterns and safeties, jumping out to a 7-0 lead before an accidental hook left Kim attempting a jump over the 8 ball resulting in a bad hit. Jana ran the 7, 8, 9 to win her first rack. Kim bounced right back with the next rack to reach the hill first. With her back against the wall, Jana fought through the next two racks to make the score 8-3 before a safety on the 2 ball resulted in an opportunity for Kim to pocket an off angle 2-9 carom to win her first event of 2012.
Congratulations ladies! Our next event will be June 16-17 at Malarkey’s Pool & Brew in Tacoma, WA.
Main Event Payouts
1st600Kim Jones
2nd400Jana Montour
3rd275Liz Cole
4th200Kris Robbins
5/6th125Eve Stockstill/Shelby Locati
7/8th95Sheila Clark/Suzanne Smith
Seven players returned for the $175 added Second Chance Event. The tournament ended up being a Race to three on both sides, the final being one race to four. Sandy Badger defeated Debbie Cicchiti in the final
They met first in the winners’ side quarterfinals, when Jana Montour sent Kim Jones west. Montour moved on to occupy the hot seat, but Jones returned from the loss side, after winning five straight to defeat Montour in the finals of the Martha Hartsell Memorial Tournament, the second stop on the 2012 Northwest Women’s Pool Association tour. The $1,000-added event drew 33 entrants to The Cue Ball in Salem, OR.
They had each won two, when they met among the winners’ side final eight; Montour, having defeated Elaine Eberly and Tayla Makus, as Jones got by Angela Higgins and Mary Hopkin. Montour took the first of their two 7-3, and moved into the winners’ side semifinals against Kris Robbins. Liz Cole, in the meantime, squared off against Shelby Locati. Montour survived a double hill battle against Robbins, while downed Locati 7-3. Montour got into the hot seat with a 7-5 victory over Cole, and waited for what turned out to be the return of Jones.
Jones moved over and chalked up wins against Tamre Rogers 6-2 and Suzanne Smith 6-4, to draw Locati. Robbins drew Eve Stockstill, who’d defeated Sandy Badger double hill and Sheila Clark 6-4. Jones downed Locati 6-2, and was joined in the quarterfinals by Robbins, who’d ended Stockstill’s day 6-2. Jones shut Robbins out, and turned to face Cole. A 7-5 victory in the semifinals gave Jones the second chance against Montour that she’d been battling for.
She took full advantage. She allowed Montour only three racks in those finals and took home the top prize.
According to NWPA and WPBA President Tamre Rogers, next weekend’s WPBA West Coast Regional Tour Championships, scheduled for May 5-6 at Parlor Billiards and Spirits, in Bellevue, WA, will feature 13 members of the NWPA, including Jones and Montour.
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.
