Tina Pawloski has won the 2005 WPBA Amateur Nationals.
Pawloski, from San Diego California, made her way through the field of 28 players to the quarter final match where she took on Missouri's Julia Gabriel for the hot-seat. This match was all Pawloski as she cruised to a 7-2 victory.
On the one loss side, Gabriel took on Canadian Rachael Abbink. This match stayed close early, with Gabriel trying to lock Abbink up with safeties but Abbink staying in the match with the use of her jump cue to get out of most problem spots. At 2-2, the tide turned Gabriel's way as Abbink lost three games on uncharacteristic errors. With a 5-2 lead, Gabriel was able to win the match 7-3 to set up the rematch with Pawloski in the finals.
The finals were an all out battle with both ladies giving all they had in an attempt to pocket the $1650 first prize. Gabriel took the first two games, but Pawloski came back to take the lead. By the midpoint of the match, both ladies started getting frustrated with small mistakes and reverted to a more defensive strategy. Gabriel fought back to tie the match at 7-7 and then took advantage of a missed 8-ball by Pawloski to take the lead at 8-7. Gabriel hooked herself while running out what could have been the final game, and gave the table back to Pawloski who finished off the rack and tied the match at 8-8. As is usually the case in hill-hill games, it was the player breaking who had the advantage and that was Pawloski as she won the final game for the 9-8 win.
Pawloski earned $1650 plus a spot in the WPBA Nationals, while Gabriel took home $1060 plus a spot in the nationals. Abbink and Val Finnie filled out the top four spots.
We will have a photo gallery from the event online later this week.
Complete Results:
1st - Tina Pawloski $1650
2nd - Julia Gabriel $1060
3rd - Rachael Abbink $840
4th - Val Finnie $890
5/6th - Kim Pierce, Leslie Anne Rogerts $380
7/8th - Ellen Van Buren, Betty Sessions $200
9/12th - Mona Renedios, Karen Lincoln, Rhonda Pierce, Tisha Leslie $150
