Stop #2 on the Tiger Florida Tour this past weekend (Feb. 18-19) edged Stephanie Mitchell up to #2 in the early 2023 season rankings, just below Kaylee McIntosh, whom she defeated in the finals of the event. Once the event moved from its double elimination origin to single elimination, the possibility of a mother/daughter (Debbie versus Kaylee) final loomed in a three-round distance that failed to materialize. The $1,000-added event drew 30 entrants to Stixx Billiards in Oldsmar, FL.
Mitchell’s visit to the loss side of the bracket didn’t last long. After an opening round bye, Mitchell downed Danielle Fee 7-5 and ran into the Pink Dagger, junior competitor Sofia Mast, who sent her to the loss side 7-5 for a single match from which she would return.
Mast, who’d defeated Sharlee Norq and Michell Monk before sending Mitchell to the loss side,was one of four who advanced to the single elimination bracket from the winners’ side. Joining Mast in her wait for the loss side to send its four finalists to single elimination were: Kimberly Housmann, who’d defeated Jeannie Seaver, Tiara Pfeife and another junior competitor, Gianna Fiore to advance; Debbie McIntosh, who’d gotten by Denise Reeve, Margie Soash and Jessica Barnes to move into single elimination and Kaylee McIntosh, who’d defeated Tiffany Culn, Miranda Oran and Kim Caso to join the winners’ side group.
On the loss side, Jessica Barnes played a single match, meeting up with Jeannie Seaver, who’d won two on the loss side, including her sister, Vanessa, to reach her. Barnes eliminated Jeannie 5-3 to join the single elimination bracket, facing Kaylee McIntosh. Monk, who’d given up only two racks in 11 loss-side games downed Gianna Fiore 5-3 to join the eight quarterfinalists and square off against Mast. Kim Caso defeated Deanna Laney, double hill, to join the quarterfinalists, and meet up with Debbie McIntosh. Mitchell became the last one, downing Mimi McAndrews 5-2 and facing Housman in the first single elimination round.
Mother and daughter proceeded to do their part in advancing the possibility of their potential match in the finals. Mom, Debbie, defeated Kim Caso, as daughter Kaylee eliminated Barnes, both 7-4. Mast moved into to the semifinals with a 7-2 victory over Monk, while Mitchell downed Housman 7-2.
Kaylee furthered the cause in the semifinals by eliminating the Pink Dagger 7-5. Mitchell spoiled the family finals festivities by defeating Debbie 7-3 in their semifinal matchup.
Mitchell then assured that mother and daughter would at least end up next to each other in 2nd and the two-way tie for 3rd place by defeating Kaylee in the finals 7-4. McIntosh maintained her position at the top of the tour standings, ahead of Mitchell, Jeannie Seaver, Kimberly Housman and Sofia Mast.
Tour director Mimi McAndrews thanked the ownership and staff at Stixx Billiards for their hospitality, along with title sponsor Tiger Products, Boynton Billiards, AZBilliards.com, Stitch It To Me Embroidery, Brutal Game Gear, Simonis Cloth, The Corner Pocket and Brewlands Billiards. Stop #3 on the Tiger Florida Tour, scheduled for Saturday, March 25, will be hosted by Brewlands North in Lakeland, FL.
Helene Caukin, Kaylee McIntosh, Stephanie Mitchell (room owner), ; Michell Monk and Jeannie Seaver
At the 14th Annual Cues for the Cure breast cancer awareness fundraiser, held under the auspices of the Tiger Florida Tour’s season finale this past weekend (Oct. 15-16), it was important to keep one’s eye on the ball, so to speak. While the event signaled the end of the tour season, with the determination of its Tour Champion and the marquee matchups on the modified double elimination bracket on the line, it was important to remember that the event had other benefits going on. It would provide benefits to the Florida chapter of the Susan G. Komen Foundation in its ongoing attempt to fund breast cancer research and services to communities all across the country. That was the ‘ball’ that the 36-entrant, all-female field at the event were keeping their eyes on as they spent their time trying to drop real balls into holes to win games, matches, tour rankings and a cash deposit into their Christmas shopping account. The $1,500-added event was hosted by Corner Pocket in Largo, FL, owned by one of the competitors, Stephanie Mitchell.
So before, during and after fund-raising activities that included raffles with themed mystery baskets (among other things) and an opportunity to guess at the number of M & Ms and Hershey’s Kisses in containers (both won by Dixie Sutton, who guessed the closest number of Kisses in a pumpkin jar and the exact number of M & Ms in a vase; 2,741), the ladies played some pool.
There was a possible scenario emerging from this Tiger Florida Tour’s season finale that would have seen Stephanie Mitchell crowned as the tour’s 2022 champion. It could have happened if Jeannie Seaver had not competed and Stephanie did, finishing among the event’s final eight. Neither of those two things happened. With both of them competing, Stephanie had to finish well ahead of Jeannie to pass her in ranking points. That didn’t happen either. What also didn’t happen was a repeat of the 2021 Cues for the Cure event in which a mother and daughter (Debbie and Kaylee McIntosh) competed in the finals. Both mother and daughter competed this year, with daughter defending her title.
What did happen was that Jeannie Seaver went undefeated to claim the 2022 tour champion title, downing Michell Monk in the finals. Stephanie Mitchell, who finished in the tie for 17th/24th at the event, finished second in the tour rankings, with Jeannie Seaver’s older sister, Vanessa (finishing 13th/16th) in third place and junior competitor, Sofia Mast, not in attendance, finishing in 4th place.
The modified double elimination bracket whittled the field of 36 down to four players on each side of the bracket and then, entered a single elimination phase of eight playing a single match to advance as far as they could. The younger Seaver’s path to the winners’ circle went through Jennifer Merritt 5-3 and then ran into big sister, Vanessa. A double hill, live version of sibling rivalry ensued, after which Jeannie moved on to defeat Sonya Chbeeb 5-1, advancing to become one of the winners’ side’s final four.
Michell Monk earned her way to the winners’ side final four as well, winning three matches by an aggregate score of 15-1 against Kimberly Housman (0), Margie Soash (0) and Carrie Vetrono (1). Two of the three winners’ side matches Lisa Perez played to be among the final four went double hill; her opener against Danielle Marie Fee and the match against Helene Caukin that put her in the final four. Autumn French fell 5-3 in the middle. The last to join the winners’ side advancement was defending champion and junior competitor Kaylee McIntosh, who, like Monk, gave up only a single rack to one of her first three opponents; Lyn Remsen (0), Mimi McAndrews (1) and Jessica Barnes (0).
Two of the four people who’d failed to make the winners’ side list in the last deciding match on that side of the bracket came back from the loss side to join the cash-generating single elimination phase and have a second shot at claiming the title. Sonya Chbeeb faced and defeated her one loss-side opponent, Kim Caso, 5-3 and would face Kaylee McIntosh in the first single-elimination round. Helene Caukin moved over, eliminated Jessica Karamia Human 5-3 and came back for a second shot against Lisa Perez. Keeping aspirations for a second straight mother/daughter final alive, Debbie McIntosh, who’d lost her second match to Carrie Vetrono, won two on the loss side before downing Jessica Barnes 5-3 to be among the loss side’s final four.Jeri Bouvette, who’d been shut out by Barnes in the second round, won two on the loss side and then shut out Carrie Vetrono. Moving out of the frying pan into the fire, she faced Jeannie Seaver in the opening, single-elimination round.
Daughter advances to final four against Seaver, Mom falls to eventual runner-up, Michell Monk
Winners in the quarterfinals that followed advanced to the semifinals by an aggregate score of 20-5. Had the McIntosh family advanced together, they would not have faced each other in the semifinals and might have realized the potential for a second straight mother/daughter final. Daughter Kaylee downed Chbeeb 5-1 and advanced to the semifinals against Jeannie Seaver, who’d eliminated Bouvette 5-1. Mom Debbie fell 2-5 to Michell Monk, who advanced to take her spot in the semifinals versus Caukin, who’d won her rematch against Perez 5-2.
One match shy of her second straight appearance in the Cues for Cure final, Kaylee McIntosh was downed by Jeannie Seaver 5-3. Monk joined Seaver in the finals after eliminating Caukin 5-1. Seaver completed her undefeated run (the tour championship title already in her pocket), with a 5-3 victory over Monk in the finals.
With a request to direct your (the reader’s) attention to the ‘ball’ that was the cornerstone of this event, the Susan G. Komen Foundation, tour representatives hope that you’ll take time to read through this list of people who made it all possible. In addition to all of the players and spectators who came out in support of this event, tour representatives thanked Stephanie Mitchell and her Corner Pocket staff for their hospitality and continuing support of the Tiger Florida Tour and the Cues for the Cure event. They also thanked title sponsor Tiger Products and Tony Kalamdaryan, Larry Wood with Boynton Billiards for donations and continued support of the tour, Stitch It To Me (Nicolle Cuellar; for event t-shirts, and raffle gifts), Brutal Game Gear (Michell Monk; gift certificates), Dixie and Rick Sutton and Estates by Dixie (designer basket donation and pizza for all), Rob Charles for tech help, Texas Roadhouse Grill (St. Petersburg; gift buckets), Deanna Laney (raffle help), Josh Arnold (running a smooth tournament), Andy Cloth and AZBilliards.
Carrie Vetrono, Jeannie Seaver and Stephanie Mitchell
Prior to this past weekend, Sat. Feb. 26, Carrie Vetrono had won only one major event, and it happened to be one that wasn’t reported to us here at AZ; The 2019 West Coast Challenge, Women’s 9-Ball Division in Kissimmee, FL. Vetrono got her second career win this past weekend at the second stop on the Tiger Florida Tour. With a modified double elimination format (double elimination to the winners’ side quarterfinals and then, single elimination to the finals), the $1,500-added event drew 42 entrants to Stixx Billiards in Oldsmar, FL.
In addition to her remote work with a NY law firm, running tournaments at Capone’s in Spring Hill, FL, being the owner/operator (with her Dad) of Capone’s BCA Pool League, and her arguably most important position as head wrangler of a four-year-old son, Vetrono can now (in her spare time, of course) add ‘Up-and-Coming Contender’ at future events on the Women’s pool circuit. Asked how long it might be now before she became the #1-ranked player on the WPBA, she laughed.
“If only,” she said. “As much as I would really love it, (given the multi-tasking noted above), I don’t see it in the cards.”
“I’ve been playing a lot more at Capone’s,” she added of this recent win, “and I’ve been playing with a lot of the guys over there (who’ve) helped me. My game has vastly improved, at least a ball or two over the past 6-8 months. I’m taking smarter shots and playing safeties when I need to.”
“I feel more confident of going for shots, too,” she went on to say, “and, of course, when they go in, that boosts the confidence even more.”
In addition to Vetrono’s (somewhat) ‘break out’ win, Florida Tiger Tour’s second stop had a few ‘headline’ matchups, including a first-round-of single-elimination rematch between the winner and runner-up of the tour’s first stop in late January (14-year-old Sofia Mast and Stephanie Mitchell), a Vetrono/Mitchell match and a final match between Verono and Jeannie Seaver.
It was initially a two-match race to the winners’ side quarterfinal; three for Mitchell and Mast, who were among the 20 entrants that played in a preliminary round. Vetrono got by Krystalann Williams and Nicolle Cuellar to arrive at her winners’ side quarterfinal versus Mast. Mitchell sent Erica Yeager-Lombard, Tracy Mullen and Abigail Schrader to the loss side to meet up with Kimberly Housman. Jeannie Seaver defeated Kim Caso and Dawn Logan to take on Helene Caukin. Kaylee McIntosh, who’d downed Christina Maher and Shanelle Loraine squared off against Michel Monk.
Mast advanced to the first round of single elimination with a double hill win over Vetrono. Mitchell and Housman battled to double hill, as well, with Mitchell ending up on the loss side. McIntosh downed Human 6-4 and Seaver got by Caukin 6-2.
Vetrono won her loss-side match against Jeannie Seaver’s sister, Vanessa, double hill. Mitchell ousted Miranda Orange 5-2. Danielle Marie Fee, who’d lost her opening match to Tiffany Stanaland, won four on the loss side, including a 5-2 win over tour director Mimi McAndrews, to meet and defeat Caukin in a double hill fight. Jessica Human was the fourth loss-side competitor to earn a slot in the single-elimination round of eight, with her 5-1 victory over Michel Monk.
Seaver moved into the event’s second quarterfinal, 6-3 over Fee, while McIntosh was busy eliminating Human 6-4. Vetrono got back in the mix with a 6-2 win over Housman and faced Mitchell, who’d avenged her loss against the teenager Mast in the first stop on the tour by eliminating her 6-3 in the quarterfinals of the second.
“I was up 5-1,” Mitchell recalled of her match against Mast, “when I missed a 9-ball. Then she won a few and I thought, ‘Well, we don’t want to go there,’ so I got back into it.”
“(Sofia) hangs out with all the adults,” she noted of her opponent. “She’s a professional and has better manners than people I know who are older than me.”
So, it was Vetrono against Mitchell and McIntosh versus Seaver in the semifinals.
Seaver advanced to the finals 6-2 over McIntosh and faced Vetrono, who prevailed over Mitchell by the same score. Vetrono completed her second major win 4-2 over Seaver and claimed the Tiger Florida Tour’s second event title.
Tour director Mimi McAndrews thanked Stixx owner Tom George and Kathy King, as well as manager Josh Maville and his staff for hosting the event and their continued support of the TFT. She also thanked title sponsor Tony Kalamdaryan and Tiger Products, Brutal Game Gear, Stitch It To Me, Boynton Billiards, Great Lakes Billiards, AZ Billiards and new sponsors Eastern Billiards and Andy Cloth.
McAndrews sent a special shout out to Jerry Sotelo and Stephanie Mitchell for what she called “their invaluable help in running the event and fending off shot clock grumbles.” The size of the room, the number of tables (10) and attendees (42), led to a reduction of match lengths from 7/5 (winners’ side/losers’ side) to 6/5 in order to complete the event in the single day of Tiger Florida tour stops. The final match was also reduced to its race to 4.
The next stop on the Tiger Florida Tour, scheduled for May 7, will be hosted by Brewlands Bar & Billiards in Lakeland, FL.
