Travis Moore & Kelly Cavanaugh, Stephanie Mitchell and Valerie Dukich & Luis (Stu) Altezd
Valerie Dukich paired with Louis Altes to win a Scotch Doubles Tournament, held in conjunction with the Bay Area Amateur Tour's annual banquet, in which awards were presented to the tour's top performers of the year. The $125-added Scotch Doubles Tournament drew 16 teams to the Corner Pocket in Largo, FL, on Saturday, December 4.
Dukich and Altes were moved to the one-loss side in the tournament's opening round by the team of Niki Rasmussen and Mike Destefano, but came back from the one-loss side through six opponents to reach and win both sets of a true double elimination final over Kelly Cavanaugh and Travis Moore. The Cavanaugh/Moore team was sitting in the hot seat at the time, having defeated the team of Helene and Meredith Caukin 5-1. Previously, Cavanaugh and Moore had sent Melissa Morlan and Casey Merrill west as the Caukins were busy sending Rasmussen and DeStefano over.
Dukich and Altes faced the Rasmussen/DeStefano team a second time in the battle for fifth place and got their revenge in a double hill battle that advanced them to the quarterfinals. The Morlan/Merrill team defeated Chris Field and Larry English, also double hill. Dukich and Altes went on to defeat Morlan and Merrell in the quarterfinals and the Caukins in the semifinals. They took both sets of the true double elimination finals 5-3 over Cavanaugh and Moore to bring home the $350 first prize.
At the awards ceremony, Niki Rasmussen was honored for her first place ranking on the tour, which came with a $500 prize and a custom-made Wayne Ball “Killer” Cue. Jessica Barnes pocketed $300 and a Mike Yingling Cue for her second place finish on the tour. Kelly Cavanaugh was third ($200 and a Nick Varner Cue), and tour director, Stephanie Mitchell, was fourth ($150; Mitchell's room hosted the event, and Mitchell herself made the banquet's lasagna). Chris Fields ($75) finished fifth on the tour rankings.
The Bay Area Amateur Tour will resume its schedule in the New Year on January 22, at an event hosted by Hammerheads, in Holiday, FL.
Scotch Double Tournament Payouts
1st Valerie Dukich and Louis Altes $350
2nd Kelly Cavanaugh and Travis Moore $250
3rd Helene and Meredith Caukin $150
4th Melissa Morlan and Casey Merrill $100
