The latest $500 added stop of the Bay Area Amateur Tour brought in a total of twenty regional women players into Stroker's Billiards in Palm Harbor, Florida, on April 19, 2008. The venue offered up an opportunity for the ladies to show off their talents and to better their games in a fun environment.
Since the top two point leaders were not present, the other tour attendees had an excellent opportunity to play catch-up in an attempt to take over the points lead at this event. Many of the women proved to have their highest finishes of the season, including ninth-twelfth finishers Lana Loomis and yet another player that continues to improve her game, Margaret Tarver. In the fifth-sixth places, Bettina Chase (who was making great strides to achieve another great finish, but had to forfeit her match); and Tammy Gillis.
Lisa Parsons went on to finish in fourth place – her time appeared to have finally come as the table and balls seemed to line up in her favor this time around; and Amanda Westerman kept up strong, consistent play throughout the day until she reached the semis where she appeared to struggle to find not only the energy but her focus to challenge Michelle Monk.
The finals pitted last month's champion, Michelle Monk, against Dee Minor - Minor had already defeated Monk once in the day, sending her to the one-loss side. But, inevitably the combination of timing and determination kept the undefeated Minor on top at this latest event, standing her ground and ending Monk's quest for another win.
The tour continues to grow over time and its sponsors do as well – the latest sponsor to come onboard is Stroke in Style gloves. Thank you to all of the sponsors Tiger Products, Fury Cues, Stroke It Wear, and BilliardScoop; to Stroker's Billiards for their support; and all of the players for making the tour such an enjoyment. Special thanks also go out to Stephanie McFarlin for her efforts at keeping up the tour website and keeping everyone's eyes peeled to it.
For more information on this event, future stops, or the tour in general, visit www.baattour.com
Photo courtesy of Cory Wilcox
