As anticipated, day two of the CAT season finale at Champion Billiard and Sports Café in Rockville, Maryland proved to be exciting. The day started with a bang in the winner bracket match between Karen Armstrong and relative unknown but rising local DC area player Amanda Smith. Smith took a resounding lead including two nine-ball breaks. However, veteran Armstrong showed her experience in tournament play by fighting to come back and sent the talented Smith to the one-loss side by winning the last 4 games in a row. Also in the winners side in the early morning matches Evelyn Hazlett couldn't catch a gear and ever-consistent Gail Grecar quickly sent Hazlett to the other side of the board with a 7-4 win.
The next couple of hours proved to be all about Smith, who dispatched top veteran players and the two CAT point leaders, Sueyen Rhee (7-6) with a stunning come from behind victory and Ellie Chang (7-4). In the match against Chang, Smith began her campaign to close out the match with a gutsy length of the table tough angled cut four-nine combo. The next game she also drilled the nine on a combo and within 15 minutes the match went from 4-4 to Smith handing Chang a passport home.
Now Smith and Armstrong found themselves once again across the table from one another in the semi-finals. Both are fierce and aggressive competitors who have a well-rounded arsenal of shot knowledge. However, in this case Armstrong was in dead stroke and gave as little opportunity to Smith as she possibly could. In one of Armstrong's rare misses, she left the cue ball half an inch or so away from the four ball, both near frozen to one of the long rails. Smith took up her cue and executed a beautiful full masse. The four ball plowed down the rail like it had a magnet to the corner pocket. The room went dead quiet. However the cue ball zoomed into the opposite end corner pocket resulting in Armstrong having ball in hand and the opening she needed to finish the match and head for the finals.
In the final match, Armstrong faced WPBA Touring Pro and always poised and steady Ohio player Gail Grecar. The match turned out to be all Grecar, with her making few errors and Armstrong not getting the needed rolls. Grecar was getting perfect shape and played textbook to a resounding 7-1 win. Grecar took the $400 first place prize money, however Armstrong won the qualifier spot as Grecar already has a spot for the WPBA event in 2004.
1st Place: Gail Grecar ($400)
2nd Place: Karen Armstrong ($330 + WPBA Qualifier Spot)
3rd Place: Amanda Smith ($235)
4th Place: Ellie Chang ($125)
5th / 6th Place: Sueyen Rhee / Evelyn Hazlett ($100)
