Oh, you ladies, how you can you make it so much fun? Fourteen ladies paddled their way through the rain to the gorgeous new Fast Eddie's location in northwest Houston to duke it out in the eleventh event of the year in the AO Custom Cue ladies division of the Fast Eddie's 9 Ball Tour.
With so many new unknown faces and top players in the field, it was anyone's guess on the outcome! Top picks were Leslie Anne Rogers - a regular on the WPBA, Amanda Lampert - four time Tour event winner this year, Anne Mayes – former Tour professional, Jennifer Kraber, and Belinda Lee. Also, a big Welcome to the new ladies: Sherri, Katie, Helen, Amber, Trisha, Rachel and Rebecca.
Coming in the fourth place position was Trisha Moses of Houston. This vibrant young lady showed a lot of heart after fighting her way through the one loss side after a first round loss to Belinda Lee, 7-4. For a first time out, what a great showing!
Anne Mayes, creator of AO Custom Cues (Sponsor of the ladies division), showed up in the money again in the third spot even though she has had recent corrective surgery on her eyes for the third time. Anne started with a victory over Elvie Kompan when she ran into Leslie Anne Rogers but was defeated in a nail biter, 7-6. She, then, had wins over Amber Anderson, Belinda Lee, and Trisha Moses before Amanda Lampert stopped her run in the finals of the one loss side.
Leslie Anne Rogers of Dallas, who also played in the open division, showed what winning the hot seat all about with triumphs over Helen Hayes, Anne Mayes, Jennifer Kraber and Amanda Lampert in which she squeaked by Amanda, 7-6.
Amanda Lampert of San Antonio started her run for the gold with victories over Rebecca Goodnight, Natalie Esparza, and Belinda Lee before succumbing to Leslie Anne in the finals of the winner's bracket. In the finals of the one loss side, Amanda defeated Anne Mayes to get her shot at Leslie Anne again in the finals.
Being a double race to seven in the finals, Amanda grabbed the first set with her great shot making to the score of 7-2. Leslie Anne came back hard in the second set to lead 4-0, when Amanda picked it up a notch and tied the score at 6-6. Amanda made a great out to win the second set and her fifth championship of the year. Congratulations to both of these classy ladies!
Thanks to Anne Mayes, cuemaker extraordinaire of AO Custom Cues of Houston, for graciously donating a beautiful custom cue to be raffled with the proceeds going to the ladies add on. Our best wishes on Anne fully recovering with her upcoming eye surgery.
As always we are very grateful to our yearlong supporters who make our Tour possible. They are Ron Geyer of Custom Cue Connection, Bubba and Steve of Cue Sales and Service, Jack and Elvie of Mystick Cues, Anne Mayes of AO Custom Cues, Barberio Music Company, Tino of Teodora's Tacos, Martin Salinas of Alamo Courier, Wayne and Robert of Quality Used Cars and Olhausen Billiards.
A special thanks to Big Lew, Tabitha (GM), Curtis and their great staff at the new Fast Eddie's World Class Billiards in northwest Houston for hosting a great event. If you're in Houston, go by and see this room. It's just not a poolroom; it is a work of art. Big Lew, it's going to be hard to improve on this one!
See y'all in two weeks, December 3-5, at the Fast Eddie's on Embassy Oaks in San Antonio for the 2004 Season Finale. Until then, keep knocking the backs out of those pockets!
Complete Results:
1st Amanda Lampert $450
2nd Leslie Anne Rogers $290
3rd Anne Mayes $170
4th Trisha Moses $50
