Niki Rasmussen, Strokers owner Jose DelRio, and Runner-up Virginia Billie
Niki Rasmussen came from just outside the money slots on the one-loss side to win seven straight (with one forfeiture) to take first place in the Bay Area Amateur Tour event on Saturday, July 24. The $500-added event drew 24 entrants to Stroker's Billiards in Palm Harbor, FL.
Virginia Billie, who'd sent Rasmussen west from among the winners' side final eight, advanced to meet Shanelle Loraine, as Tour Director Stephanie Mitchell squared off against Chris Fields. Billie sent Lorraine to the one-loss bracket 5-1. Fields hung on to win a double hill battle versus Mitchell. In what would prove to be Fields' last match of the day, Billie gained the hot seat with a 4-1 win.
Rasmussen's seven-match trip back to the finals began with a 7-2 win over Chris Brenner , and was followed by a 6-1 victory over Heather Platter. Kelly Cavanaugh, in the meantime, was busy ending Sabra MacArthur Beahn's day with a 4-4, double hill win, that she followed with a 5-2 victory over Connie Mago. Rasmussen drew Mitchell, coming over from the winners' side final four, and Kavanaugh picked up Loraine.
Once Rasmussen had dropped Mitchell into the tie for fifth place 5-1 and Loraine had shut Cavanaugh out 4-0, the two got tangled up in a quarterfinal match that leapfrogged the winner into the finals. Loraine had a three-game handicap advantage in that quarterfinal, so at 6-3 in favor of Rasmussen, they were at double hill. Rasmussen preserved her streak and advanced with a final victory.
At that point, Rasmussen took a forfeit win versus Chris Fields in what would have been the semifinals and advanced directly to the double elimination finals. She and Billie played a total of 15 games in the two sets with Rasmussen winning 12 of them; all but one in the first set, and two, in the second. She finished with a break-and-run flourish that gave her her second BAAT victory of the year. She'd successfully held off a one-loss side challenge from Cavanaugh back in April at Park Place Billiards in Clearwater.
