On April 26th and 27th the Northwest Women's Pool Association held their second of seven tour stops for 2008 at The Cue Ball in Salem, Oregon. It's considered a favorite event by many of the players for several reasons, notably the amazing playing conditions on the many original Brunswick Gold Crowns.
The Cue Ball sells, installs, and maintains tables from a store located in the pool room itself, and it follows, that they would keep up their own tables to a high standard. If you want to check it out, they hold a monthly tournament called “Win Jim's Money”, Jim Lebold being the owner.
There were twenty players on Saturday morning (the price of gas is not helping turnouts), but a smaller field can mean tougher competition and no room for error and there were some great players who didn't make it to Sunday. The six who did make it were Cindy Sliva playing Mary Hopkin to hill – hill before closing to get to the point match. She faced Mary Olson, who beat Jessica Orth 7-3, and Cindy then got on the point by winning 7-4. Mary H then squeaked past Tamre Rogers 7-6, but Jessica fell to Liz Cole 7-3. Liz, who lost her first match, had rolled through the B side and next got Mary H 7-5. But it's hard to win a tournament after losing the first, and Mary O got her rematch in the finals by beating Liz 7-4. It looked like the finals would be a rout when Mary took a quick 6-1 lead in the single race to nine, but a couple of mistakes by Mary and some strong outs had Cindy first tying it at 7, and then taking the last two to win her first ever NWPA tournament.
Thanks to everyone who came to watch, the entire Cue Ball staff, and the players for making our job so easy. The next stop is at Uncle Jack's in Lynnwood on June 15th and 16th followed by our first event at the brand new “Golden Fleece” in July. See you there.
