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.

|8972|Jessica Barnes turned in her best performance on the 2011 Bay Area Amateur Tour, when she went undefeated to take top honors in the tour’s Grand Finale on Saturday, November 12. Kelly Cavanaugh, in spite of finishing in the four-way tie for ninth place, added 50 points to her tour ranking totals, and finished the season as the 2011 BAAT Tour Champion. The $800-added Grand Finale drew 17 entrants to Stroker’s in Palm Harbor, FL.

At the start of the tournament, the top three tour ranking spots were up for grabs. Cavanaugh entered the tournament at # 1, but was well within points-reach of Sabra MacArthur Beahn (#2) and Chris Fields (#3). Tour director Stephanie Mitchell was holding down the fourth spot, but was nearly 200 points off the tour ranking pace. Cavanaugh’s very presence at the Grand Finale meant that she couldn’t be caught by Mitchell. She could, however, be caught by MacArthur Beahn, only 65 points behind and Fields, 140 points off the pace.

Mitchell and Fields advanced to face each other among the winners’ side final four, with both Cavanaugh and MacArthur Beahn already working from the loss-side (MacArthur Beahn having been sent west by Barnes from among the final eight winners).  Also among the final four winners were Barnes, who came into the tournament at # 8, and Cortney Bernard, who came in at # 11. Mitchell sent Fields to the loss-side 5-3, as Barnes advanced to join her in the hot seat battle with a 6-2 win over Bernard. With Mitchell needing to win six games before Barnes reached five, Barnes gained the hot seat with a 5-4 victory and waited for what turned out to be Fields’ returns.

Fields moved over to take on Deanna Foster, who’d ended MacArthur Beahn’s day 4-3 (with Beahn needing 5) and in so doing, opened the door to Chris Fields for taking over the second spot on the final tour rankings. Foster went on to shut out Tracey Mullen, who came into the tournament at # 5. Bernard picked up Jamie Toennies, who’d come into the tournament at # 6. It was Toennies who, after being sent to the loss-side by Fields, put an end to Cavanaugh’s bid in this event, defeating her in a double hill battle. Toennies then shut out both Mary Lou Mendez and Cortney Bernard to set up a quarterfinal re-match for her against Fields.

As the quarterfinals got underway, MacArthur Beahn was still in second place in the tour rankings, 135 points ahead of Fields in third place. Fields’ second defeat of Toennies in those quarterfinals, a 5-2 win, closed the gap to within 10 points. 

Fields, though, went on to a second re-match, this time in the semifinals against Mitchell, who’d sent her west from among the winners’ side final four. Fields exacted her revenge with a double hill victory, and in so doing, secured second place in the overall tour standings.  Now, with Cavanaugh’s point totals already frozen at 830, and Fields at 640, the Tour Champion title was within Fields’ grasp. All she had to do was earn 35 extra points by putting an end to Barnes’ bid for an undefeated day.

With Fields needing to win one more game (a 5-6 race), Barnes ended Fields’ bid for the tour’s top ranking. She defeated Fields 5-3 to conclude her undefeated run and her best overall finish on the 2011 tour. The victory also moved her from eighth to seventh on the overall tour rankings for the year.