The Ladies Spirit Tour was in action with a field of 33 players playing on the beautiful Robertson tables at Jose Delrio's Strokers Billiards in Palm Harbor, FL this weekend.
Co-points list leader Ga-Young Kim was not in attendance this month, but Jeannie Seaver (who shares the lead with Kim) was in attendance and earned the hot-seat with a 7-6 win over Tracie Hines who was ranked third on the points list.
Hines had competed in the finals of every Spirit Tour stop she had played in this season and she was not about to end that streak this month. She went to the one-loss side and squared off against the latest member of the ladies Japanese contingent to make their way to the states, Saeko Mori. Mori had just defeated Miyuki Sukai from Japan, but this match went to Hines who scored a 7-6 win to earn the rematch with Seaver in the true double elimination finals.
Since Seaver is already a touring pro, just making it to the finals was enough to win Hines the qualifier for the WPBA Florida event in September. But this final match was for more than just the qualifier. It was for pride and both players showed how important that was.
Hines scored a hard-fought 7-5 victory in the first set of the finals to force a second set. It looked to the crowd like Hines would run right over Seaver in the final set as she raced to a 5-2 lead. The players then traded games to take the score to 6-3 with Hines on the hill. Seaver has long been known as "The Comeback Kid" and she once again lived up to her nickname. Seaver won the next three games to know the score at 6-6, but she was unable to score the final victory as Hines won the match 7-6.
Hines took home $700 as well as the WPBA qualifier for first place, while Seaver settled for $500 in second place prize money. Both ladies put in a great performance for their new sponsor Slayer Technologies. Congrats to both of the "Slayer Players". Saeko Mori and Miyuki Sukai filled out the top four spots.
The Ladies Spirit Tour will be at World Famous Sports Cafe & Billiards in Delray Beach, FL on June 26th - 27th for another WPBA qualifier.
Complete Payouts:
1st Tracie Hines $700
2nd Jeannie Seaver $500
3rd Saeko Mori $350
4th Miyuki Sukai $200
5th/6th Helene Caukin, Niki Rasmussen $100
7th/8th Marvel Mayfield, Amanda Westerman $50
9th/12th Bonnie Coats, Crystal McCormick, Stephanie Mitchell, Kim Caso $25
