June 18th and 19th was a good weekend for the 4th stop of the year on the Hunter Classics Amateur Women's Tour. Fifty-nine women came from as far away as Missouri, North Dakota and New Mexico to compete in Dallas, Texas at Pugsley's Library.
Kim Pierce from Bastrop, Texas placed 3rd which earned her not only $415, but also her highest finish yet on the Hunter Classics Tour. Kim defeated local favorite Tara McCracken Sunday morning 7-4 and was sent to the one-loss side 7-2 by Heather Pulford from Austin for the winner's bracket.
Jillian Valles from Houston, aka "Killer," placed her highest finish to date as well on the Hunter Classics Tour placing 7th after a tough hill-hill loss to Jennifer Kraber. Jennifer from Austin then lost a tough hill-hill match to Cathy Vanover. Amanda Lampert from San Antonio was sent to the one-loss side by Cathy Vanover on late Saturday afternoon but on Sunday, Amanda won 5 matches in a row to reach Heather in the finals.
Heather Pulford just came off a win at the Fast Eddie's Tour last weekend by double dipping her opponent in the finals and her streak of wins continued until she reached the finals of the Hunter Classics Tour. Amanda and Heather are members of the same team that won the BCA Women's Open Team event in May in Vegas. These two friends both played very well throughout the tournament, including the final match.
Amanda started off winning 5 games in a row, but Heather never gave up and tied it at 6-6 in the first race to 7. In this true double elimination tournament, the last game in the first match proved to be a tough one. Heather nailed a long tough shot on the 7-ball but barely missed a long rail shot on the 8-ball. Amanda was left with a long rail bank on that 8-ball and she went for it and made it, along with achieving perfect shape on the 9-ball, which she also pocketed.
The second set wouldn't be as close as Amanda sunk two 9-balls on the break on her way to her first Hunter Classics Stop win with a score of 7-3. Amanda pocketed $750 for 1st place and also the WPBA Qualifier for Peoria, IL in August. Heather won $600 for her great 2nd place finish.
Thanks to all of our sponsors, especially Wes Hunter of Hunter Classics Custom Cues who has been sponsoring the tour for 12 years.
Visit the Hunter Classics Tour next month at Paradise Billiards in Denver, CO the weekend of July 23-24, which will also be a WPBA Qualifier for a 2006 event.
Complete Results:
1st Amanda Lampert $750 + WPBA Qualifier
2nd Heather Pulford $600
3rd Kim Pierce $415
4th Cathy Vanover $300
5th/6th Jennifer Kraber and Tara McCracken $160
7th/8th Leslie Anne Rogers and Jillian Valles $125
9th-12th Deanna Henson, Shayla Neris, Jennifer Smith and Christina Hauck $80
Photo courtesy of Adam Zayas
