Karen Corr
It's becoming a familiar, repetitive story. Women gather to compete on the J. Pechauer Northeast Women's Tour, and as a result of how things have played out over the past two seasons, most of the tournament entrants are fighting to figure out who'll finish in second, third and/or fourth place, because Karen Corr takes home the title; five out of nine times in 2014 (she didn't compete in the other four), and all five times so far in 2015. She chalked up her most recent victory during the fifth stop on this year's tour, on the weekend of July 18-19. The $1,500-added event ($500 from Coins of the Realm) drew 25 entrants to Champion Billiards and Sports Cafe in Frederick, MD.
On the previous stop (June 13-14), Corr made it to a winners' side semifinal, having given up only four racks through her first 32 games. She gave up nine in her first 30 games during this most recent stop, including six in a race to seven against Jia Li, who won three stops in 2014, and was runner-up to Corr in another. Corr prevailed and after a subsequent 7-1 victory, she moved into a winners' side semifinal against Lai Li (no relation to Jia Li). Linda Shea, in the meantime, who was runner-up to Corr twice last year, and twice this year, faced Melissa Jenkins. Corr downed Li 7-3, as Shea defeated Jenkins 7-1. Corr claimed the hot seat 7-3 over Shea and waited, once again, on her return.
On the loss side, the narrowly defeated (by Corr) Jia Li was working on a seven-match winning streak that would take her as far as the semifinals. She shut out Nicole Fleming and defeated Pauline Mattes 7-5 to draw Lai Li. Melissa Jenkins picked up Kathy Friend, who'd gotten by Denise Reeve 7-5 and Tina Scott 7-3. Jia Li defeated Lai Li 7-2 and in the quarterfinals, faced Friend, who'd eliminated Jenkins 7-4.
Jia Li defeated Friend 7-2, and then had her loss-side winning streak snapped 7-5 by Shea in the semifinals. Corr closed out her fourth straight win on the 2015 JPNEWT with a 7-2 victory over Shea in the finals.
