Molina Ortíz (Sandro Menzel)
Claims Player of the Year and Tour Champion awards at annual Banquet
In what was originally planned to be a $1,000-added season finale and Annual Awards Banquet for the Northwest Women’s Pool Association Tour (NWPA) at one location, turned into something else altogether at a different one. The last-minute change of venue launched a search for an alternative location and prompted a wildly successful search for community support.
“As a result of that last-minute change, we had to make up for our planned, $1,000-added money,” explained tour representative, Nicole Donisi. “We put a call out on social media to our community and received an overwhelming amount of support.”
“Many businesses and individuals donated and we ended up with over $4,000,” she added, “all of it going back to player payouts.”
To the surprise of no one, Molina Ortiz went undefeated to claim the tour’s season finale, claiming her fifth title of the six in which she competed this year (12th in three years) and at the Awards Banquet was named as Tour Champion and Player of the Year (more on these awards a little later). The event drew 45 entrants to what was a new room for the tour and could likely become a regular stop in the season(s) ahead, the Silver Star Saloon in Vancouver, WA.
Although you never know when it comes to pool tournaments because of the way that they can sometimes turn on a dime and eliminate the ‘most likely to succeed,’ Molina Ortiz lived up to her two-year billing as the NWPA’s Tour Champion. She gave up only six racks in her 42-game march to the hot seat and overall, including the final, finished with an aggregate score of 45-8, for an average game-winning percentage of 85%. Winning, on average, eight games out of every 10, in races to 6, is a sure-fire way to put a few winning trophies onto one’s mantelpiece.
She opened with a 6-2 win over Kelsey Joe, before shutting out two straight opponents, including the runner-up in the year’s ‘point standings,’ Stephanie Drakulic. She moved on to defeat Ashley Julian 6-1 and drew Andy Camping in one of the winners’ side semifinals. Katherine Robertson, in the meantime (#4 in the point standings), opened up against Linda Massey, downing her 6-3. She moved on to defeat Amanda Hang (2), Maryann McConnell (4) and Tylyn Holzapfel (2) and faced Kira North in the other winners’ side semifinal.
Ortiz chalked up her third shutout, sending Camping to the loss side, as Robertson did likewise to North 6-2. Ortiz defeated Robertson 6-3 and claimed the hot seat.
On the loss side, where a number of spoilers lurked, Stephanie Drakulic (one of them) followed her loss to Ortiz with six straight, which would take her as far as the semifinals. In loss-side races to 5, loss-side wins #3 and #4 eliminated Holzapfel (1) and Nicole Donisi (another one), double hill. In the battles to determine 5th/6th, Drakulic drew Camping. In the other 5th/6th battle, North picked up Ashley Julian, who’d followed her winners’ side quarterfinal loss to Ortiz by giving up only a single rack in her next 11 games; one to Evelyn Hazlett and none to Angela Higgins.
A pair of spirited 5-3 matches, with Drakulic downing Camping and Julian eliminating North. Drakulic led to the quarterfinals. Drakulic then gave up just a single rack to Julian in that quarterfinal match, before Robertson allowed her only two in the semifinals that followed.
Ortiz closed out the NWPA’s 2024 season with a victory in the finals. She defeated Robertson 9-2 to claim the season finale title.
A 15-entrant Second Chance tournament saw Maryann McConnell and Kathie Macdonald battle twice for the title. It was Macdonald claiming the hot seat with a double hill 3-2 win. McConnell moved to the semifinals and shut out Marian Poole, before returning for a second shot at Macdonald. In an extended race to 4, a second, double-hill battle ensued with McConnell winning it.
In addition to Ortiz’ Player of the Year and Tour Champion Awards, the NWPA Awards Banquet gave its Rookie of the Year award to Tylyn Holzapfel, its Most Improved award to Angela Higgins and President’s Awards to Chris Rogers, Kira North, Aimée Wilson-McDonnell and Jordan Oakes.
Tour representatives thanked the ownership and staff at the Silver Star Saloon for their hospitality, as well as the too-numerous-to-mention private donations from the 25+ citizens that added $4,000+ to the amount paid out to the players. Each were thanked individually through social media channels. Representatives also thanked Michael Littman with Littman Lights “for supporting us all year as our official tour sponsor,” JamUp Apparel for being the tour’s Apparel partner, Tour Director Chris Rogers, and official stream partner Hill-Hill Productions (Tyrel Datwyler) “for travelling with us all season.” Dates and locations for the 2025 season will be announced after the NWPA’s January board meeting.
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