Karen Corr and Ashley Benoit
As human beings, we do like our ‘underdog’ stories, which can trace their distinctly Western- culture origins back to the Old Testament’s David and Goliath. We fast-forward through to the ragtag crowd of farmers, blacksmiths and shopkeepers who defeated the mighty British Empire that created out nation and onward, to Dorothy and the witches of Oz and much later, the sports battle between the Giants and Patriots in Superbowl XLII.
To the best of our knowledge, Ashley Benoit and Karen Corr had never met, at the tables, prior to this past weekend’s (Oct. 5-6), 2nd Annual Pennsylvania State Women’s 8-Ball Championships. Benoit went undefeated and Corr was runner-up at the $2,000-added event, a collaborative effort of the J. Pechauer Northeast Women’s Tour (JPNEWT) and PA Pro-Am Pool, which drew 34 entrants to Bluegrass Billiards in Philadelphia. In its inaugural year, the event crowned Briana Miller as its first champion, with Elise Qui as runner-up and Skylar Hess finishing third. Ashley Benoit finished in the tie for 13th.
Benoit’s ‘David’ credentials begin with the fact that she’s only been recording her wins and payouts with us here at AZBilliards for the past three years, recording her first cash payout and her first regional event win at the inaugural Women in Pool’s 9-Ball Championships at Yale Billiards in Wallingford, CT (2022). She has, since that time, recorded 17 cash finishes, including six (two wins) on the J. Pechauer Northeast Women’s Tour and seven at events of the WPBA, with whom she is currently ranked at #22. She was in the midst of her best recorded earnings year before she showed up in Philadelphia.
Karen Corr’s ‘Goliath’ resume dates back to five months after AZBilliards went on-line in 1998. In her best recorded earnings year (2006), she chalked up 16 cash finishes and won three WPBA titles. In those three WPBA finals, she defeated Kelly Fisher, twice (WPBA’s Carolina and Midwest Classic) and Allison Fisher in that year’s WPBA Florida Classic). Corr went on to cash in four other WPBA events that year while competing and cashing in other regional events, like the Joss Northeast 9-Ball Tour (three times) and its Turning Stone competition (Numbers VI and VII, at that point in time). Her runner-up finish in Pennsylvania was, however, her first cash payout in 2024 and her first shot, competing in a final match at an event title, since she was defeated by JPNEWT’s tour director and top-ranked competitor, Briana Miller, in April of 2023. She recorded her last ‘official’ event victory in 2022, when she and Miller both went undefeated to the finals of a JPNEWT event that employed a Round Robin format, allowing both, through later single-elimination play, to reach the final without a defeat. They opted out of playing that final match and shared the recorded win.
In Philadelphia, they met in the opening round of play and battled to double-hill. Benoit sent Corr to the loss side, where she began an eight-match march back to the finals, which ended up including the defeat of another metaphoric ‘David,’ junior competitor, Skylar Hess in the semifinals.
In races to 5, following her victory over Corr, Benoit followed up by shutting out Kaley Sullivan and defeating Amanda Laverriere (2), to draw Lai Li in one of the winners’ side semifinals. Hess, in the meantime, downed Carol Clark (3), Mindy Maialetti (1), and shut out Anna Marks to draw Rachel Walters in the other winners’ side semifinal.
Identical 5-3 scores sent Hess (over Walters) and Benoit (over Li) to the hot seat match. Benoit and Hess battled to double hill in that match, until Benoit prevailed and claimed the seat.
Karen Corr played 25 games over the five matches she played to reach Rachel Walters. She won 20 of them, which included the elimination of Giovanna Napolitano 4-2 and Briana Miller 4-1. Lai Li came over from the winners’ side semifinal loss to Benoit and picked up Dawn Luz, who’d lost her third-round match to Walters 5-2 and then defeated Kaley Sullivan, double hill, and Rebecca Hilton 4-2.
Corr gave up just a single rack to Walters, as Li was busy shutting out Luz. For personal reasons, Lai Li (who’d finished in the tie for 5th in last year’s event) withdrew from the quarterfinals, allowing Corr to leapfrog into the semifinals against Skylar Hess, who was looking for her first professional win on either a regional tour/event or the WPBA. Having finished third in this past August’s MD State Ladies 9-Ball Championships (behind Briana Miller and Tina Malm), Hess was competing to appear in her first (recorded) professional final. Corr defeated her 4-1 and advanced for the rematch against Benoit.
It was shaping up as another race-to-five, double-hill battle but didn’t quite make it. Benoit edged out in front at the end and claimed the PA State Women’s 8-Ball title 5-3.
Tour directors Briana Miller from the JPNEWT and Frank Maialetti from PA Pro-Am Pool thanked the ownership and staff at Bluegrass Billiards for their hospitality, along with sponsors J. Pechauer Custom Cues, Kamui, Crossroad Cues, MindForge Nutrition, M & TS Billiard Instruction, Cue Pocket, LLC, Perceptive Lighting, InTheBox Sportwear, Marty Magee’s Irish , The Players’ Choice Pool Table Repair, Matchroom Pool and Trophy Smack.
The next event on the JPNEWT calendar, scheduled for this weekend (Oct. 11-13), will be Allen Hopkins’ 1st Annual Atlantic City 9-Ball Championship at the Showboat Hotel on the boardwalk in Atlantic City. The following week, the JPNEWT will return to Pennsylvania for a $1,000-added event at Eagle Billiards in Dickson City, PA.
The next event for PA Pro-Am Pool, scheduled for Oct. 26-27, will be the PA State (Open) 8-Ball Championships, once again at Bluegrass Billiards.
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