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Corr goes undefeated to win NAPT Coupe de Quebec in Canada

Karen Corr (Photo courtesy of NAPT)

In the two years between January, 2017 and the soon-to-be January of 2019, Irishwoman Karen Corr has chalked up nine major titles (so far). She’s split her competition between wins in WPBA events and with the North American Pool Tour (NAPT), while also cashing in two successive Turning Stone events (XXVII & XXVIII). Last year, she won the WPBA’s Rivers US Open, three events on the NAPT and a stop on the J. Pechauer Northeast Women’s Tour (JPNEWT). This year, she’s added three wins on the JPNEWT and a victory at the Super Billiards Expo’s Women’s Championship to her growing and continuing to be impressive resume.
 
On the long weekend of Nov. 1-4, she added another NAPT win to the list. Corr went undefeated through a field of 42 entrants, on-hand for the $5,000-added NAPT Women’s Division 1 Pro event, held at Dooly’s in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, about 25 miles southeast of Montreal in Quebec, Canada.
 
The event was preceded by a pro-am charity event in which Division 1 players were matched up with a local amateur player for a modified single elimination, blind draw Scotch Doubles tournament. A $20 donation by the amateur players will be used by the venue, Dooly’s, to fund a charity of their choosing.
 
Following an opening round bye and victories over Krista Walsh, Maria Juana and Laura Semko, Corr moved into the first of what would be two against Canada’s Brittany Bryant in a winners’ side semifinal. Eleanor Callado, in the meantime, having defeated Anick Cadorette, Nathalie Chabot, Denise Belanger, and Veronique Menard, squared off against her own sister, Emily Callado, in the other winners’ side semifinal.
 
Eleanor downed sister Emily 7-5, as Corr was busy defeating Bryant 7-4; the first opponent to chalk up that many against Corr. Corr gave up only a single rack to Callado and sat in the hot seat awaiting what turned out to be the return of Bryant.
 
On the loss side, Bryant picked up Naomi Williams, who’d been defeated by Maria Juana in the opening round of play and was in the midst of a six-match, loss side winning streak that was about to come to an end. Williams had most recently eliminated Teruko Cucculelli 7-4 and Menard 7-1. Emily Callado ran into Jia Li, who’d lost a double hill fight to Bryant in a winners’ side quarterfinal and on the loss side, shut out Marilou Therrien and eliminated Denise Belanger 7-4.
 
Bryant ended Williams’ loss-side run, but not before Williams forced a deciding 13th game in the race to 7. Li joined Bryant in the quarterfinals following a 7-3 win over Emilyn Callado.
 
Bryant downed her next two opponents 7-4; Jia Li in the quarterfinal and Eleanor Callado in the semifinal for second shot at Corr in the hot seat. Among many things Bryant may not have expected in the event’s final match, a shutout would have been high on the list. But that’s how Corr punctuated her undefeated run, shutting Bryant out to claim the event title.

“Duchess of Doom” goes undefeated to win 3rd Annual NAPT Summer 10-Ball Classic

Mary Rakin, Molly Bontrager, Allison Fisher and Helena Thornfeldt (Photo – Tony Fox)

 

Allison Fisher went undefeated through a field of 52 entrants to win the 3rd Annual North American Pool Tour’s Summer 10-Ball Classic on the long weekend of August 16-19. And for the second year in a row, the winner of this tournament had to go through relative newcomer, Molly Bontrager. Bontrager battled for the hot seat against Karen Corr last year, then, was defeated in the semifinals by Eleanor Callado. This year, she finished as runner-up to Fisher, whom she faced twice, in the hot seat and finals. The 3rd Annual $5,000-added event drew its 52 entrants to Shooter’s Sports Bar & Billiards in Grayslake, IL.
 
Though the annual event’s defending champion, Corr, was not in attendance, the event’s debut champion, April Larson, did compete. When Larson won in 2016 (at the age of 16), it was her first professional win, which had followed on the heels of five straight victories at the BEF Junior Nationals; three in the 14-and-under Girls Division and two in the 18-and-under Girls Division. She was so excited to have actually won the event, that while she collected the trophy, she forgot to collect the $3,400 check that went with it (later hand-delivered by NAPT President Adrianne Beach). In this year’s event, Larson was moved to the loss side in a tightly-contested, double hill match against Teruko Cuccelelli, and after winning five on the loss side, was eliminated by Canada’s Brittany Bryant.
 
In something of a prescient move, CueSportsLive’s first two streamed matches featured the eventual winner (Fisher) and runner-up (Bontrager). Bontrager played first at 10 a.m. on Friday, July 16 and made something of an opening statement by shutting out Darlene Dantes. She went on to defeat Laura Semko (double hill), Farla Salmanovitch 7-3, and Taylor Hansen (double hill) to draw JPNEWT veteran Jia Li in one of the winners’ side semifinals.
 
Fisher, in the meantime, who stepped up to the streaming table at noon on Friday, downed Rae Noregard 7-1, and then defeated Autumn Duncan 7-3, shut out Krista Walsh, and then survived a double hill fight against last year’s runner-up Eleanor Callado, to draw Helena Thornfeldt in the other winners’ side semifinal.
 
Fisher and Thornfeldt locked up in something of a predictable double hill fight to determine advancement to the hot seat match. Fisher won it. Bontrager joined her with a 7-3 win over Li. Fisher claimed the hot seat 7-3 over Bontrager and waited on her return.
 
On the loss side, Thornfeldt picked up Bryant, who was in the midst of a four-match, loss-side winning streak that included a 7-5 win over Kaylin Wikoff and the aforementioned double hill win over Larson. Jia Li drew Mary Rakin, who, following her defeat at the hands of Thornfeldt, had defeated Cuculelli 7-2 and survived a double hill fight against Callado.
 
 
Rakin eliminated Li 7-2 and in the quarterfinals faced Thornfeldt, who’d defeated Bryant 7-4. Rakin chalked up a commanding victory, 7-1, over Thornfeldt in those quarterfinals, only to run into an obviously determined Molly Bontrager in the semifinals. Though Rakin would score 5, Bontrager scored the requisite 7 to earn her re-match against Fisher.
 
Last year, Bontrager admitted to being in awe of the woman she faced in the hot seat (Corr), whom she’d been watching play since she (Bontrager) was in her 20s. In much the same situation, Bontrager was going into a match against someone she’d been aware of before she’d begun her still-new pool career. But this time, Bontrager was a little more seasoned than she’d been the year before. She had mentioned in an interview for Billiards Digest that she expected her “newbie attitude” to have worn off by the time she arrived to compete this year. And it did, to a certain extent.
 
“I talked to Allison on and off a couple of times before we played,” she said. “I tried to get to know her a little to break the ice, which makes it a lot easier when you’re playing a match.
 
“She’s a really fun, bubbly person,” she added, “the complete opposite of her demeanor at the table.”
 
While the seasoning that the year provided served her well in this tournament and brought her a step closer to winning the event, she was still somewhat plagued by a lack of practice on 9-ft tables (something she hopes to correct in the year to come) and just a lingering touch of the awe she experienced last year.
 
“I was pleased with the tournament overall,” she said, “and pleased with the results. As far as critiquing myself, I did OK, but not what I’m capable of.”
 
She needed to win two against Fisher in the double elimination final format of the event, but Fisher completed her undefeated run in the opening set. She duplicated her score in the hot seat against Bontrager (7-3) and captured the title. 

Corr recaptures SBE Diamond Women’s Open 9-Ball Pro Championship title

Karen Corr – Photo courtesy of Erwin Dionisio

Ireland’s Karen Corr went undefeated through a field of 56 women who competed in the $8,350-added Diamond Women’s Open 9-Ball Pro Championships, held as part of the Super Billiards Expo on the long weekend of April 12-15, and sanctioned by the North American Pool Tour. It was her third SBE Women’s Pro Championship title, which she won, as well, in 2016, and 2014. It was her first win in 2018.
 
In the field that was vying for $26K in prize money and included anyone’s list of the top women in the sport, the top 16 were seeded at the beginning of the initial, double elimination bracket. When that bracket came down to the final eight on each side, those 16 women entered a single elimination phase that was not seeded. Corr, after defeating Sonya Chbeeb, Rachel Lang and Veronique Menard to secure her spot on the winners’ side Final Eight bracket, got by Janet Atwell 11-8, and Vivian Villareal 11-9 to face Allison Fisher in the semifinals of that winners’ side Final Eight.
 
Brittany Bryant, in the meantime, who’d lost an opening round match to Kim Whitman, won four on the loss side, against Krista Walsh, Ada Lio, Stephanie Goens, and Dawn Hopkins to claim a spot on the losers’ side Final Eight. In the single elimination phase, Bryant downed Bernie Store 11-7, and April Larson 11-9 to face Jia Li in the semifinals of the losers’ side Final Eight.
 
Long-time adversaries at the table (and friends, off the table), Corr and Fisher battled in what arguably should have been the event final (a seeded single elimination phase might have kept them apart until the finals). Corr won it, 11-8, and advanced to the finals. Byrant joined her, after downing Li 11-9. Corr took the final 11-6 to chalk up her third SBE title.

Corr goes undefeated through field of 53 at North American Pool Tour Freedom Classic

(l to r): Briana Miller & Karen Corr

Karen Corr, the Irish Invader, chalked up her second North American Pool Tour (NAPT) Division I Pro event victory on the weekend of September 30-October 1. Following her victory at the NAPT Summer 10-Ball Classic at Shooter’s Sports Bar & Billiards in Grayslake, IL in August, Corr went undefeated at this past weekend’s $6,400-added NAPT Freedom Classic, that drew 53 entrants to Eagle Billiards in Dickson City, PA.

 
Corr had to get by Briana Miller twice in this event; a chore rendered more significant by an earlier meeting between the two, which took place in June, during the fourth stop on the J. Pechauer Northeast Women’s Tour in Frederick, MD. Looking to secure a second straight win on the 2107 JPNEWT, Miller defeated Corr, double hill, in the third winners’ side round of that event. Corr came back through the loss side to defeat Miller in the finals to win her first 2017 JPNEWT title. It was a match Corr remembered when Meredith Lynch interviewed her for the NAPT, following the Summer Classic and asked her about the influx of young female guns.
 
“There’s a lot of great talent out there,” Corr said at the time. “Briana (Miller) – I played her there in Frederick. She beat me in the one side and we had a close match in the final. It’s challenging for me, too, you know?”
 
They had two close matches in this Freedom Classic. The first one came in the battle for the hot seat. Victories over Denise Belanger, Krista Walsh, Brittany Bryant (5th in the NAPT Summer 10-Ball Classic) and Naomi Williams set Corr up to face April Larson (7th in NAPT Summer 10-Ball Classic) in a winners’ side semifinal. Miller, in the meantime, having worked her way through Alex Calabrese, Teruko Cucculelli, Nathalie Chabot, Jenna Blahoff, faced veteran LoreeJon Hasson in the other winners’ side semifinal.
 
Corr downed Larson 7-3, whiLe Miller sent Hasson to the loss side 7-4. As might have been expected, Miller and Corr locked up in a double hill fight that eventually sent Miller to the semifinals and put Corr in an NAPT Division I hot seat for the second straight time.
 
On the loss side, Larson picked up Bryant, who, after her defeat by Corr, was in the midst of a four-match loss-side streak that included recent victories over Jenna Blahoff 7-3 and Stacie Bourbeau 7-4, and was about to come to an end. Hasson drew Naomi Williams, who’d gotten by Janet Atwell 7-4 and Veronique Menard 7-5 to reach her.
 
Larson defeated Bryant 7-4, and was joined in the quarterfinal match by Williams, who’d eliminated Hasson 7-4. Larson and Williams locked up in a double hill quarterfinal that eventually sent Williams to the semifinals against Miller.
 
Miller got her second shot at Corr with a 7-4 win over Williams in the semifinals. The true double elimination final amounted to one set. As they had done battling for the hot seat, Corr and Miller fought to a deciding game, before Corr closed it out to claim her second straight NAPT title.
 
The next NAPT Division I Pro event – The Desert Shootout – scheduled for November 2-5, will be hosted by Griff’s Pool & Billiards Hall in Las Vegas, NV.
 
 

Jeannie Seaver wins her first WPBA Regional Tour Championship

Jeannie Seaver

After 17 years as a recognized pro, and a long string of victories that began about three years after she'd picked up a pool  cue for the first time, Jeannie Seaver has chalked up a win on the WPBA's annual Regional Tour Championships (RTC). Held on the weekend of January 12-15, the event was the first of three RTC's to be hosted by Zingale's Billiards in Tallahassee, FL, who hosted the 2016 RTC, as well. The event drew 64 entrants, who competed in a combination of round robin and double elimination brackets for $11,000 in prize money.
 
"I don't know what made it different this year," said Seaver, who competed in her first WPBA event, the WPBA US Open, in 1999 (finishing 17th), and finished fifth in last year's RTC. "I ran out when I could and played safe when I could.
 
"I never think I'm going to win," she added. "I just go in trying. I know when I hit a gear, though, and when it happens, it happens."
 
It happened for her at this year's RTC. By the time the field of 64 completed the round robin phase of the event, half of the competitors were gone, leaving a field of in-the-money 32, Seaver among them, to compete in the double elimination phase. Seaver got by Tam Trinh, Kimberly Pierce, and Ricki Casper to move into a winners' side semifinal match against Betty Lea. Gail Eaton, whose career goes back as far as Seaver's, with a number of previous head-to-head matchups, had defeated Angela Garza, Denise Berlanger (double hill), and Michell Monk, and faced Leslee Blaikie in the other winners' side semifinal.
 
Seaver and Eaton moved into the hot seat match with identical 7-3 scores over Lea and Blaikie. Seaver's 'gear' slipped a little in the winners' side final, as she managed only a single rack against Eaton and with Eaton in the hot seat, moved west to the semifinals.
 
On the loss side, Autumn Duncan, who'd lost her opening round match, double hill, to Debbie Teichert, was in the midst of a six-match winning streak that would take her as far as the quarterfinals. She downed Michell Monk 7-3 and  Windy Tang 7-4 (loss-side wins # 4 and #5) to face Betty Lea. Ricki Casper, who'd been sent to the loss side by Seaver in a winners' side quarterfinal, defeated Krista Walsh 5-4 and Jessica Human 7-1, to draw Blaikie.
 
Duncan and Casper advanced to the quarterfinals; Casper with a double hill win over Blaikie, and Duncan 7-4 over Lea. Casper ended Duncan's loss-side streak 7-5, and then had her own four-match, loss-side effort ended by Seaver 7-4 in the semifinals.
 
Eaton jumped out to an early, slim lead in the finals, taking a 2-0 lead, before Seaver responded with two racks to create the first of four ties in the match. They traded racks to a 3-3 tie, before Eaton chalked up three in a row. Seaver came right back with three to tie it again. They traded racks to the last tie of the match at 7-7, but Seaver's 7th win was the first of three in a row that gave her the 9-7 win and her first RTC title. 

Brittany Bryant wins Canadian 9-Ball Title

Brittany Bryant

The 2012 Canadian Championships is up and running at Shooters Snooker and Sports Club in Toronto. The first event of the Championships was the Women’s Open 9-ball.

In the A-Side bracket, reigning champion Brittany Bryant had no trouble earning her spot in the finals after getting past Naomi Williams (9-5), Joanne Ashton (9-4) and Denise Belanger (9-0). The B-Side finals was an entertaining match with Denise Belanger matching up against Naomi Williams. After being down 7-2 Naomi pulled out a hill-hill victory 9-8.

For the 5th consecutive year, it was Naomi Williams vs Brittany Bryant in the finals. Naomi started out strong pulling ahead in the match 4-2. With some strong defensive play, Brittany fought back to tie the match 5-5. With Naomi up 7-5 she rattled the 8-ball, only to witness Brittany also rattle the 8 in the same pocket. Naomi makes an excellent draw shot on the 8 for perfect position on the 9 to put her up 8-5. Some good fortune in the next two racks put Naomi on the hill. With the score now 10-5, Naomi managed to get ball-in-hand on the 3-ball. After a great run out, Naomi missed the 9-ball in the side pocket to keep Brittany’s hopes alive trailing 10-6. Some great shot making from Brittany tied the score at 10-10.

It the final rack, Brittany Bryant made the 9-ball off the break along with the cue ball. Naomi approached the table one last time with ball in hand and a wide open table. After falling out of line on the 5-ball, she handed the table back to Brittany. Brittany cleaned up the last few balls making a great cut shot on the 8-ball to defend her title. What a match!

This is how they finished:
1st – Brittany Bryant
2nd – Naomi Williams
3rd – Denise Belanger
4th – Joanne Ashton
5-6th – Angela Belding
5-6th – Krista Walsh

This article originally appeared on thepoolscene.com