Molina Ortíz
Happy Birthday, Molina Ortiz!!
That birthday, celebrated on Sunday, June 23, didn’t start out that well, but it ended with her winning her 9th of 11 tournaments in which she’s competed on the Northwest Women’s Pool Association Tour (NWPA) over the past three years. She began her birthday celebration by losing her first match on the second stop of the NWPA’s 2024 season (June 22-23). By the end of the day, she had completed a nine-match, loss-side winning streak and really had something to celebrate (other than the birthday itself), when she followed that run with a victory over Regene Lane in the finals; a rematch from the finals of Stop #1 back in April. The 10-Ball event drew 48 entrants to Golden Fleece in Everett, WA.
While credit is certainly due to the competitors who made it through to compete in the final stages of the winners’ side bracket, the comparison in their overall match performances pales before Ortiz’ accomplishments on the loss side of the bracket and overall. On average, Ortiz won four out of every five games she played on the loss side; a 54-13 game record (80%). Her opening-round loss to Katherine Robertson (4-6) brought her overall game record down to winning three out of every four games she played; a 58-19 overall game average, or 75%. Regene Lane (33-25) and Iris Wang (32-25), who battled for the hot seat, won 57% and 56% of their matches, respectively.
Through her opening four matches on the winners’ side, Lane’s opponents were gaining on her. She gave up two racks to Maryann McConnell, three to Shauna Bedford, and four to Kathie MacDonald, before a double-hill (6-5) win over Angela Higgins in one of the winners’ side semifinals put her into the hot seat match. Iris Wang had much the same experience in her first four matches, although her racks-against came at her in short waves of two; giving up two racks each to Marian Poole and Susan Andree, three each to Aimee Wilson-McDonnell and Elaine Eberly, and four to Suzanne Smith in the other winners’ side semifinal to join Lane in the hot seat match.
Lane claimed the hot seat 6-2 over Wang and waited for Ortiz to complete her loss-side run. If the time-stamps on the digitalpool bracket are to be believed (and sometimes they’re not, because the people tasked with entering the times do not always post them when they actually happen), Lane didn’t have long to wait. According to the time-stamps, the quarterfinals finished ahead of the hot seat match by about 20 minutes, so actually, it was Molina who had to wait that 20 minutes to learn who were semifinal opponent was going to be.
On the loss side, Ortiz was six matches into her nine-match, loss-side streak when Angela Higgins came over. To that six-matches-done point, Oritz had given up only six racks in 36 games, including most recent victories over Elaine Eberly (1) and in her rematch versus Katherine Robertson, as many racks as she’d given up to her previous five opponents (3). Suzanne Smith drew Maryann McConnell, who’d followed up her opening round loss to Lane with six in a row, including the recent elimination of Andrea Turner 5-1 and Kathie MacDonald 5-3.
Ortiz gave up a single rack to Higgins and advanced to the quarterfinals. Smith defeated McConnell 5-2 and joined her. Smith became only the second person to chalk up three against Ortiz, who won their quarterfinal match 5-3 and watched for that aforementioned 20 minutes for Lane to claim the hot seat.
Iris Wang, who came right off her loss in the hot seat match into the semifinals versus Ortiz, was looking (as far as we know) for her first cash payout anywhere. Given her overall performance, she likely arrived with a fair amount of confidence that she had a good chance for a second chance at claiming her first regional tour title. She may (or may not) have been aware that her opponent was looking for her 9th title in three years, or that she’d just finished winning eight in a row and not given up more than three racks in any of them. Either way, it’s doubtful that she expected to be shutout in the semifinals. She was. Ortiz and Lane squared off in their second straight NWPA final.
The last time they’d met in April, it had been Lane who came from the loss side. She’d lost a winners’ side quarterfinal to Ortiz and came back through five opponents (two by shutout and one, double hill) to challenge Ortiz in the finals. She lost that last match 9-6. When Ortiz showed up from the loss side this time, she’d played twice as many matches as Lane, 10 to Lane’s 5. So there was some hope that Ortiz might, just might be running out of gas.
Apparently not. Ortiz got out in front early and stayed there, winning her second straight event on the 2024 NWPA Tour 9-3 and moving on to celebrate a birthday she’ll likely not forget any time soon.
A Second Chance tournament was won Andy Camping, who downed Evie Hazlett in the finals. Kristi Palmer finished in third place.
Tour representatives thanked Dave and Kim along with their staff at Golden Fleece Billiards for their hospitality, along with their official tour sponsor Littman Lights, FNL Productions, and streaming partner Hill-Hill Productions. The next stop on the NWPA Tour, scheduled for the weekend of July 20-21, will be hosted by Bobalou Billiards in Roseburg, OR.
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