What a great event!  Mickey Milligan’s in New Bern, NC was the host site for the 2017 ECC, the weekend of July 15-16.  Gerry Shepherd, owner, welcomed the Ladies of the WPBA Tiger SMART Tour with open arms and wants to have us back twice in 2018! March and July will find TigerSMART at Mickey Milligan’s and we can’t wait.

 

Nine new members for the 2017 season added to the excitement of the event.  In the first round, last event’s winner, Ashely Rice was bested 7-1 by new member Cathy Perry; Debbie Teichert defeated Lisa Cossette 7-2; Heather Lakatos lost a nail biter 7-6 to Tracy Callaghan; Melissa Ipock took Holly Feher 7-5; Miranda Werner beat Christy Miller 7-2; and Marianne Merrill squeaked out a victory, hill-hill, over Erica He.

 

Second round saw Cathy Perry best Maria Finnegan 7-1; Tracy Callaghan defeating Debbie Teichert 7-1; Miranda Werner over Holly Feher 7-3; Marianne Merrill winning over Crystal Gent 7-3; Lisa Cossette over Heather Lakatos 7-5; and Melissa Ipock over Christy Miller 7-2.

 

Final four on the winner’s side were Tracy Callaghan in a very exciting hill-hill match over Cathy Perry and Miranda Werner besting Marianne Merrill 7-3.  On the one loss side, Crystal Gent beat Lisa Cossette 7-5and Debbie Teichert defeated Erica He 7-3 leaving Lisa and Erica tied for 7th-8th.  Gent over Perry 7-5 and Teichert over Merrill 7-3 leaving Perry and Merrill in 5th-6th.  

 

That left the final four to return on Sunday to shoot it out.  In the one loss bracket Gent got off to a 6-4 lead. Teichert was able to fight back and take the last three games for a 7-6 victory. The winner’s bracket final saw Tracy Callaghan defeat Miranda Werner 7-3 to take the hot seat.  In the semi-final match, Teichert’s run would come to a close with a 4-7 loss to Miranda Werner.

 

This set up a doozy of a finals match between Tracy Callaghan and Miranda Werner. Werner was ahead almost the entire one set, race to 9, match.  Callaghan would eventually tie the match at 8 and go on to become the Eastern North Carolina 9-Ball Champion.  Too, exciting!

 

Tiger SMART would like to thank its Title sponsor, Tiger Products, Inc. and also other sponsors who help in the success of the tour: Simonis Cloth, Aramith Balls, Ozone Billiards, and Quick-Clean.  The next event will be the Georgia State 9-Ball Championship at Rack&Grill II in Augusta, GA, on September 16-17.