Karen Corr won eight out of the nine stops in which she competed on the J. Pechauer Northeast Women's Tour last year. On the weekend of April 30-May 1, at the second stop on the 2016 tour, she went undefeated to claim her first JPNEWT victory of the year. The $500-added event drew 24 entrants to Markley Billiards in Norristown, PA.
Corr gave up an average of just two racks to five opponents, touching each of five possibilities, from shutout to the four racks that Colleen Shoop chalked up against her in the event's second round. Carol Clark managed a single rack against her in the opening round before Shoop checked in with her four. This set Corr up against tour director, Linda Shea in a winners' side semifinal. Nicole Fleming, and Jia Li squared off in the other one. Corr sent Shea to the loss side 7-3, and in the hot seat match, faced Li, who'd defeated Fleming 7-4. Corr and Li had met up a few times last year, including an August double hill battle in the finals that eventually led to Corr's sixth straight win on the tour. This time out, battling for the hot seat, Li managed the opponent average of two racks against Corr, and moved to the semifinals.
On the loss side, Fleming mounted a three-match, loss-side campaign to the finals that began when she faced Kathy Friend, who was on a four-match, loss-side streak of her own, that included victories over Denise Reeve 7-3 and a double hill win over Shoop. Shea picked up Meredith Lynch, who'd eliminated Dawn Fox 7-3 and survived a double hill fight versus Erica Testa.
Shea and Fleming advanced to the quarterfinals; Shea 7-4 over Lynch, and Fleming 7-3 over Friend. Fleming had advanced to the quarterfinals before; three times in 2015, and in 2014, had made it to the finals (versus Shea). On this weekend, she advanced to a semifinal re-match against Li with a 7-3 victory over Shea. She got her second (ever) shot at being added to the JPNEWT's Wall of Fame (listing event winners back to 1999) with a 7-4 victory over Li. Corr thwarted Fleming's shot at a first JPNEWT title by shutting her out in the finals, and claiming her first 2016 JPNEWT title.
The event was a qualifier for the inaugural North American Pool Tour's Division I Women's 10-Ball Invitational, scheduled for the weekend of June 4-5 at Breaker's Sky Lounge in Herndon, VA. Having already been invited, Corr's qualification slot (paid entry fee) went to Fleming, who, having chalked up 130 ranking points with her runner-up finish, moved among the JPNEWT's top-ranked competitors, two stops into the season.
