Gail Lave wins the Fast Freddy's Hunter Classics tournament two years in a row!

 

Forty-two women showed up on this hot, Texas weekend to play some great pool at Mike Lynch's pool room, Fast Freddy's, on August 4-5, 2001 in Arlington, TX.  Although many of the women were Texans, some traveled from as far away as Minnesota, Missouri and Colorado to compete.  Even Gail caught a Friday afternoon flight from Missouri and almost missed her plane ride back on Sunday evening after her final match with Leslie Rogers, the runner-up in this event.

 

The Hunter Classics Tour would like to welcome the new players that joined us at this great event!  We hope to see you again soon!

 

Wes Hunter made another beautiful Hunter Classics Cue, this one valued at $1,700.  Made of tiger maple and cocobolo with teal and red veneers with a black and white irish linen wrap, Kathy Krabbenschmidt was ecstatic when she won it!  Thank you to Wes for supporting this tour with another one of his exquisite cues!

 

12 ladies survived until the Sunday matches, with the winners side matches of Leslie Rogers versus Sherri Hudson (who was very pregnant) and Nancy French (having a great tournament) versus Alicia Teskey (who had her highest finish yet, playing solid pool all weekend).

 

Houston-area girls LaDonna Ulrich and Nicole Bacon (who was playing with a broken finger) placed 7th/8th, with Mindy Williams having her best tournament yet at 9th-12th place, along with Linda Long.  Brenda Plantz, always one to contend with, placed 5th/6th along with Sherri Hudson.  Rounding off the top 12 were Austin ladies Heather Pulford and Deanna Kniola placing 9th-12th.  Congratulations to all of these women on a great tournament!

 

Gail Lave started her fight Saturday morning beating Kim Mills (7-2) and Wendy Echols  (7-0) before losing to Deanna Kniola (5-7).  She then fought through the loser's bracket beating Sandi Dunlap (7-1) and Shayla Neris (7-2) and came back on Sunday to compete some more.  On Sunday she beat Heather Pulford (7-4), Nicole Bacon (7-5), Sherri Hudson (7-4), Nancy French (7-1) and Alicia Teskey 9-7 before reaching Leslie in the finals.

 

Leslie Rogers had a tough road for her as well, playing 4 nail-biting double hill matches along the way (including the finals).  Leslie got a bye the first round, then proceeded to beat Kathy Krabbenschmidt (7-1), Nicole Bacon (7-4), Mindy Williams (7-6), Sherri Hudson (7-6) and Alicia Teskey (9-7) before meeting up with Gail in the finals.

 

The finals was a hard fought race, with both wanting to taste the win.  For Leslie, it would have been her first Hunter Classics Tour win (and she was playing very well) and Gail could see how close herself was to winning this event two years in a row.  Going back and forth, tied several times, it then down to the last game in a race to 11.  Gail came out on top, winning with a score 11-10 and $750 richer, with Leslie placing second and winning $550.  Alicia got 3rd place and $375, with Nancy French placing 4th and receiving $250.

 

Downstairs on Sunday, 18 women were fighting in the Second Chance Tournament, with $100 added.  Melissa Norton, Sherry Pouncey, Beth Shriver and Stephanie Tuinstra all placed their highest yet, finishing respectively, 1st ($100), 3rd ($50), 5th and 6th ($15).  Melinda Bailey finished 2nd ($70), with Kelly Harmon (always consistently placing) finished 4th ($30).

 

Mike and his staff were wonderful as always and we can't wait for their stop again next year.  Randy Cole ran the tournament smoothly for us ladies and again, thank you to Wes Hunter.  Without Wes, we wouldn't have the longest running regional women's tour!

 

Don't forget to visit us at our next stop in Las Vegas, September 8-9, when a WPBA Qualifier will be in contention at this Hunter Classics event!

 

Visit us on the web for all information: www.hunterclassics.com.