Kathie MacDonald (Sandro Menzel)
In the absence of the Northwest Women’s Pool Association Tour’s top-ranked player in member standings, Molina Ortiz, eight of the next nine competitors on the current list showed up this past weekend (Sept. 21-22) to see if they could close the gap separating them from the total points and earnings that Ortiz had racked up in winning the first four stops on the 2024 tour. Tour members Kathie MacDonald and Stephanie Drakulic made the most headway in that endeavor, finishing as winner and runner-up at Stop #5, which drew 38 entrants to Legacy Billiards in Spokane, WA.
As she’d done the last time she won a stop on the tour, at the Martha Hartsell Memorial in July, 2023, MacDonald opted for the loss side route to the winners’ circle, although this time around, it was a much shorter trip; three loss side matches instead of the nine she had to win last time. She opened with a 6-1 victory over Elaine Eberly, after which each opponent she faced, through to the winners’ side semifinal, crept closer, one rack at a time. She defeated Makayla Kvasnicka 6-2 and Maryann McConnell 6-3, before, in a winners’ side quarterfinal, Gwen Townsend broke the pattern, battling her to double hill. MacDonald survived to face Jeanne Christiansen in one of the winners’ side semifinals.
Tour President Stephanie Drakulic, who celebrated her birthday on the day before matches began (Sept. 20), headed for the hot seat by giving up only one rack each to her first two opponents, Lesa Ofosu Antwi and Chris Mundel. She gave up three to Angela Higgins and faced Nicole Donisi in the other winners’ side semifinal.
Christiansen and Drakulic advanced to the hot seat match with identical 6-3 scores over MacDonald and Donisi. Drakulic, looking for her first victory, claimed the hot seat for the first time, defeating Christiansen 6-3.
MacDonald came over to the loss side and picked up Katherine Robertson, who’d lost a double hill, winners’ side quarterfinal to Donisi, then won her first loss side match, double hill, against Aimee Wilson-McDonnell and eliminated Angela Higgins 5-1. Donisi drew Sophia Tran, who’d lost her winners’ side quarterfinal to Christiansen and eliminated Chris Mundel 5-3 and Gwen Townsend 5-2.
MacDonald and Donisi advanced to the quarterfinals with 5-2 victories over Robertson and Tran. By the same score, MacDonald defeated Donisi in those quarterfinals. MacDonald punched her ticket to the final with a 5-3 victory over Christiansen in the semifinals.
In what was already her best recorded earnings year of the two since she joined the tour, this was Drakulic’s third appearance in a tour final. Molina Ortiz had defeated her twice; once each, this year and last year. MacDonald claimed this past weekend’s title with a 9-7 victory in the final. The event results did, however, move both MacDonald and Drakulic ahead of Regene Lane, who came into the event in second place behind Ortiz in the tour standings and finished in the tie for 9th/12th. Now, it’s MacDonald and Drakulic tied for that second place slot with two stops left to go on the tour schedule.
A Second Chance event drew 14 entrants and saw Maryann McConnell go undefeated. She bested Evelyn Hazlett, double hill, in the final. Jessie Blayden finished third.
Tour representatives thanked Alex and Steve Rijon and their Legacy Billiards staff for their hospitality, along with official tour sponsor Littman Lights, event sponsor JamUp Apparel and stream partners Hill-Hill Productions. The next stop (#6) on the NWPA Tour, scheduled for the weekend of October 26-27, will be hosted by OX Billiards in Seattle, WA. Members can register for the tour stop now. Non-member entries open three weeks ahead of the stop.
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