It looked, in the early going, as if tour director Linda Shea was going to breeze through the field that had signed up to compete in the 9th stop of the J. Pechauer Northeast Women's Tour on the weekend of October 3-4. She gave up a single rack to her first opponent, three to her second and none to her third, before going on a three-match, tough-fight streak that included two double-hill wins to complete an undefeated run which allowed her to claim her first JPNEWT title since last November. The $500-added event drew 23 entrants to Markley Billiards in Norristown, PA.
Shea had to get by Dawn Fox twice to claim the event title; the first time, in a winners' side semifinal, as Jia Li and Meredith Lynch squared off in the other one. Shea navigated the first of her two straight double hill matches to get into the hot seat match against Lynch, who'd defeated Li 7-1. Shea claimed the hot seat over Lynch in her second double hill match, and waited on the return of Fox.
Over on the loss side, Fox, already assured of her best finish on the 2015 tour, picked up Nicole Fleming, who'd been sent west by Lynch in the opening round of play, and was in the midst of a four-match, loss-side streak that included a 7-1 victory over Boye Lu, a 7-3 win over Kia Sidbury and was about to end. Li drew Nicole Monaco, who, like Fleming, had been sent over in the opening round of play (by Shea), and was in the midst of her own five-match, loss-side streak that included victories over Denise Reeve (double hill), and Kathy Friend (7-4) and had one match to go.
Fox ended Fleming's streak 7-1, while Monaco got by Li 7-5. Fox ended Monaco's streak in the quarterfinal match 7-3, and then defeated Lynch by the same score in the semifinals. Shea, down 4-1 to Fox, came back to win the final 7-5 and claim the title.
The victory allowed Linda Shea to maintain her #2 spot in the 2015 JPNEWT rankings, while Dawn Fox's second-place finish notched her up (from #26) to within striking distance of the tour's top 10 players. Fox had defeated #11, Nicole Fleming, who, as a result of her finish in the tie for fifth place had moved among the top 10. Judie Wilson, who entered the event in the #10 spot, finished in the tie for 13th place, which dropped her out of the 10th spot, but five points ahead of Lynch, who finished third.
The next stop on the JPNEWT, scheduled for October 17-18, and hosted by ProShot Billiards in Dickson City, PA will be a WPBA qualifier for the Soaring Eagle 2016 Masters Tournament at the Soaring Eagle Casino and Resort in Mount Pleasant, MI.
