 Leslie Davis-Blaikie |
The second stop of the Tiger Bay Area Amateur Tour (BAAT) season took place on February 9, 2008, at Strokers Billiards in Palm Harbor, Florida. This $500 added event stirred up a total of nineteen ladies to participate. Additional information about future events and the tour in general, along with pictures from this event can be found at www.baattour.com
Saturday night saw the eventual winner, Leslee Davis Blaikie, take center stage. Blaikie played strong the entire day and proceeded undefeated through the brackets. While waiting for her opponent, there was quite a bit of action on the one-loss side taking place.
Two of the new faces to the tour, Bettina Chase and Danielle Simpson, made it to the final eight, but were snuffed out shortly thereafter even after playing good all day. Tammy Gillis came out kicking after finding her game that was hiding during the first tournament of the season. Gillis was able to take down the tour's newest hotshot Melissa Morlan in an earlier match 7-0. But fell into fifth/sixth place along with Amanda Westerman in the end.
The tour season opener winner, Jessica Barnes, faltered in the quarters against Melissa Morlan. Although her play was methodical as always, Barnes ended the match with a heartbreaking scratch on the eight ball to finish the day in fourth.
The semi-final round pitted Helen Caukin and Melissa Morlan at odds. Morlan, playing in her first tour ever, played smart and continued to offer up a challenge for the ladies on the tour during this stop, including Caukin. The match went hill-hill, but Morlan was able to push past Caukin to earn her spot in the final round. At the day's end, the finals saw seasoned player Leslee Davis-Blaikie come out on top of rookie, Melissa Morlan, to take the second event of the season. Congratulations to both women for having a great tournament!
The tour would like to send its appreciation to their title sponsor Tiger Products (www.tigerproducts.com); Fury Cues (www.furycues.com); Stroke It Wear (www.strokeitwear.com); Billiardscoop.com (www.billiardscoop.com); and idxpress.net The next event will be held at Hammerheads in Holiday, Florida on March 8, 2008.
File photo courtesy of Roberta Case.
