Gigi Callejas
On Saturday, June 22, the ladies of The West Coast Women’s Tour landed at Hard Times Billiards in Sacramento, CA for their second tour stop of the 2024 season. As a longtime supporter of TWCWT and a pillar of the West Coast pool scene, the tour is proud to feature Hard Times as a sponsor host once again and would like to give special thanks for room owners Oscar and Desiree Dominguez for adding $500 to the prize fund. With a full bracket of 32 players, the competition got underway at 11:00am with a double-elimination 9-ball format. On the winner’s bracket, players would race to five games, while on the loser’s bracket, the race was shortened to three games.
While most of the ladies who came out to the event hailed from around Sacramento and the San Francisco Bay Area, the player who walked away with the tournament’s top prize, Gigi Callejas, came all the way from Los Angeles. Callejas, who has been playing on the tour for nine seasons and achieved the Tour Champion title in 2018, started out the day strong and moved through the winner’s bracket to land in the finals. Along the way, she defeated Amani Ali (5-3), stop #1 winner Khanh Ngo (5-3), Grace Berdan (5-2), Samantha Shaw (5-3), and Lela Andrews (5-3) in the hot seat match.
On the left side of the bracket, Kim Cuarisma was one of the top performers, as she bounced back from a hill-hill loss to Samantha Shaw to take down Vivian Fong, Donna Bulandi, and Cary Horner. However, Cuarisma was then set for a quarterfinal rematch against Shaw, who stayed in form to claim the win (3-0). Samantha Shaw moved on to win the semifinal against Lela Andrews (3-1) and score a place in the finals.
At the end of a long day of battles, the final came down to a faceoff between Samantha Shaw and undefeated Gigi Callejas in a true double-elimination format. Coming off her string of wins, Shaw was hot at the start of the final and jumped out to lead 4-0. Callejas captured the next rack, but Shaw then closed out the first set with a 5-1 win. At this point, Gigi Callejas was ready to focus her energy on the final race to three, and jumped out to a 2-0 lead. In the following rack, Shaw had a chance to stay in the match, but rattled the 9 ball to allow Callejas to take the final set 3-0.
When asked about what led to her successful performance, Callajas responded, “After not playing for five days, I was worried about my stroke, but after getting through my first match I gained confidence and got in stroke. The main thing I focused on was trusting myself, and then my game started to come together. Also, staying positive, always staying in the present, and taking it one ball at a time.”
Gigi Callejas also acknowledged the great environment and how smooth the day’s competition went. “The most notable thing about this tournament is the amazing pool room. Playing with good equipment makes this tournament great, that’s why I didn’t want to miss this stop. Also, the tournament ran quickly and smoothly. I was on the winner’s side and played back-to-back the whole day. I didn’t have to wait a long time to play the finals either,” she said. Callejas also mentioned that she is sponsored by Hustlin’ USA and Tiger Products USA.
A second chance tournament was also held for players who had an early elimination from the main event. This single-elimination tournament was won by local Sacramento player Janna Nelson, while Motoko Siguenza finished second, and the third-place tie was taken by Piper Iwan and Della Murray.
The West Coast Women’s Tour would like to give special thanks to Hard Times Billiards and staff along with TWCWT sponsors: Adam Sickles, Diablo Valley Pool League, and Robbie Lyng Custom Cues & Repair, who graciously donated a custom cue which was raffled during the event. If you’re interested in becoming a tour sponsor, send an email to twcwtour@gmail.com
The next stop on the West Coast Women’s Tour will be held on July 13 at Diamond Billiards in Modesto, CA. For more tour details and announcements, visit http://www.facebook.com/twcwtour/
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