The ladies of the NWPA came out to compete at Black Diamond Billiards & Eatery in Spokane, WA. It had been since 6 years since an event was held at this room, formerly known as McQ's. New room owner Steve Legault was excited to host NWPA's 4th tour stop of 2011 and is looking forward to more events in the future. Black Diamond Billiards (BDB) is open daily from 11 am to 2 am, has a full bar with daily happy hour specials, a fantastic menu, and free pool on Sundays. The event was run on nine 9-foot Brunswicks that had recently been recovered with blue 860 Simonis felt and Rail2Rail Productions provided live streaming for the entire event. BDB also has six 7-foot Shelti barboxes and league play for BCA, APA, and Valley are ran on Sundays, Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays. The Spokane Open will be September 3-5, 2011 and is $1000 added with a full field.
Twenty-three ladies came out for the event and the top tour spot would be up for grabs with Kim Jones (ranked #1 in points prior to the event) not in attendance. Four local ladies came out to play, including Sheila Moss currently residing in Oldtown, ID who hasn't played an event for several years. New players to the tour included teammates Nasrin Emam Cornell, Alicia Kvasnicka, and Sharon Bledsoe. Welcome ladies and we hope you can join us again! Early round play went as expected, with few upsets going into Sunday. With the long drive home and a slightly smaller field, NWPA Tournament Directors Chris and Ford decided to bring the field down to 6 players instead of the usual 8. Adrianne Beach (CEO of Rail2Rail) had her best NWPA finish of her career, finishing T7/8th with another local lady Phyllis Fernandez. Great job.
Sunday morning, 6 ladies remained in the main event. B side match ups included Jana Montour vs. Kimberly Kirk and Sheila Moss vs. Deby Welfringer. Jana and Sheila would advance through their morning matches 7-4 and 7-6 respectively, to duke it out for 4th place. Jana defeated Sheila 7-4 to earn her spot in the B side final. Playing on the live stream for the hot seat was Mona Remedios and Liz Cole. Mona defeated Liz 7-5, forcing 2010 #1 and #2 to battle for their shot at the title. Liz defeated Jana 7-4 in that match to earn a second opportunity against Mona, this time one race to nine. The winner would assume the #1 ranking in points and both players had already shown their abilities by winning events earlier in the year. Liz won our first stop of 2011 earning her a bid to the WPBA's US Open in Norman, OK where she tied her best finish on tour, finishing T17-24 against some of the best players in the world. Mona won our 2nd stop of 2011 and was currently ranked 2nd behind Kim Jones.
Path to the Final- One Race to 9, Alternating Break
Mona Remedios (On Point): Adrianne B (3), Alicia K (2), Deby W (5), Jana M (5), Liz C (5)
Liz Cole: Bye, Janie R (4), Kimberly K (2), Sheila M (4), loss to Mona R (5), Jana M (4)
Mona won the lag to start things off, but it was all Liz early on, who jumped out to 3-0 lead before Mona got on the board. They exchanged racks to make the score 4-2 Liz, and then Liz turned things up a notch and won the next four racks to reach the hill first. Consistent shotmaking and position play by Liz put her in a great position to close out her second final appearance of 2011. Mona, not one to let up, rallied to win the next couple games to bring the score to 8-4, but Liz was not to be denied. Liz won game 13 to reach 9 and resume position on top of the NWPA standings, leaving Mona in a close second. Jana Montour also moved up in the rankings with her finish to 3rd overall. Congratulations ladies, and thanks to Black Diamond Billiards for hosting a fantastic event. Our next event is hosted at The Parlor in Bellevue, WA August 13-14th. Come check it out!
Seven ladies came to play in a $100 added/$10 entry Second Chance tournament on Sunday. After a first round bye, Jessica Orth lost a hill-hill match up against NWPA tour president Tamre Rogers. Tamre then defeated Talya Makus for the hotseat. Jessica battled through three hill-hill matches to earn her spot in the final against Tamre, which was one race to 4. Jessica defeated Tamre 4-2 to earn top prize of $52. Congratulations ladies.
