TD Chris Rogers, Stephanie Drakulic, Molina Ortiz, Room Owners Vic Albertson & Tammy Culbertson and assistant TD Rafael Guajardo
There are not many pool players who can point to their first recorded years competing for money in the sport and note that in the course of their first year, they won five of the seven events in which they cashed. Portland, OR’s Molina Ortíz is one of them. In her first year of (known) competition anywhere (2022), she won the Northwest Women’s Pool Association Tour’s first three events, held between July and September. She finished as runner-up to Liz Cole on the 4th stop in October, closed out the 2022 season finishing 4th in the final stop in December and became the tour’s Player of the Year.
As of this past weekend (June 3-4), Ortíz has won the first two stops on NWPA’s 2023 season and before the year separating her from her first known regional tour win last July is over, she may have won six of the eight events on the tour. This past weekend, she went undefeated to claim title to the tour’s $2,440-added second stop that drew 48 entrants to Players Sports Bar and Grill in Kennewick, WA.
Ortíz gave up a total of only three racks over her first 21 games, opening with a 6-3 win over Sue Frisbie and then shutting out both Susan Dasher and tour veteran, Stephanie Drakulic. Ortíz then defeated Gwen Townsend 6-4 and advanced to her last three matches against two long-standing tour veterans and a rematch against Drakulic in the finals. Her opponent in the winners’ side semifinal was Cindy Sliva, who won her first and second NWPA Tour victories 14 years ago.
Meanwhile, Liz Cole, who chalked up her first three NWPA Tour victories in her third (recorded) year competing on the tour (2008), was working her way toward the hot seat match. Three of the five matches she took to get there went double hill. Opening against Dyamelle Castilleja, whom she defeated 6-2, Cole moved into the three double hill matches, winning them all; against Elaine Eberly, Kristi Palmer and in a winners’ side quarterfinal, Jeanne Christiansen. She faced Raquel Minjarez in the other winners’ side semifinal.
Ortíz gave up only a single rack to Sliva, while Cole downed Minjarez 6-3. Ortíz then repeated her stingy racks-against routine, allowing Cole only a single rack as she claimed the hot seat.
On the loss side, following her third-round loss to Ortíz, Drakulic embarked on a seven-match, loss-side winning streak that would take her all the way back to a rematch against Ortíz in the finals. She chalked up loss-side wins #3 and #4, both double hill, against Jeanne Christiansen and Katherine Robertson to draw Sliva. Minjarez picked up Sheila Clark, who’d lost a winners’ side quarterfinal to Sliva and on the loss side, defeated Fran Johnson 5-3 and Nicole Donisi 5-1.
Minjarez and Clark locked up in a double-hill fight that eventually sent Minjarez to the quarterfinals. She was joined by Drakulic, who’d eliminated Sliva 5-2. Drakulic put an end to Minjarez’ single-match, loss-side winning streak 5-3 in those quarterfinals.
Both of the women competing in the semifinals had been sent to the loss side by the woman waiting for one of them in the hot seat. If it’s true that the most pivotal matches in a tournament are won by the competitor who wants it more, then on this Sunday night, at this place and time, it was Drakulic. It was over in under an hour, Drakulic defeating Cole in the semifinals 5-2. Ortíz completed her undefeated run with a 9-4 win in the finals over Drakulic to claim the NWPA’s second stop on the 2023 tour.
Tour representatives thanked Vic Alberson and Tammy Culbertson, as well as their Players Sports Bar and Grill staff for their hospitality and sponsorship of the tour stop. They also thanked official tour sponsor Littman Lights, JamUp Apparel and The Billiard Shop. Streaming was provided by Hill Hill Productions. Matches can be watched on the NWPA YouTube channel.
The next stop on the NWPA Tour, scheduled for the weekend of July 15-16, will be hosted by Phil’s Bar and Grill in Salem, OR. Interested players can register to compete at playnwpa.com
0 comments