On October 19th and 20th, Pockets of Tucson played host to 21 ladies of the AWBT. Susan Williams came away with her second championship in a row by beating Bernie Store 9-7 in the one set final. The win left Susan10 points behind Bernie in the race for the Tour Championship with one event still to play.
Susan eased her way into the tournament with a first round bye and then had wins over Jaye Succo (7-4) and Sara Miller (7-6) to make Sunday’s final 4 winners. Williams dispatched Amanda Pulley (7-0) but then lost to Store (7-4) for the Hot seat. Bernie’s path to the finals also started with a bye and then wins over Renay Justus (7-5), Jodi Hirning (7-4), Rebecca Wagner (7-5), and then Williams to win the hot seat. Bernie had to wait while Susan took on Rebecca Wagner. Rebecca was sent to the Loser’s side by Bernie but then won a close (7-6) match over Sara Miller and then bested her Las Vegas road partner Stacy Allsup (7-3). This set up a match between the two Tour Champions. In a very close set that went down to the last 9-ball Susan eked out a 7-6 win.
In the one race to nine final Susan jumped out to a big early lead and it appeared that the final was going to be a walkover. With Susan needing only 2 games, Bernie dug in and crawled her way back into the match to get to 7-8. Not wanting it to get to hill hill, Susan won game 16 and the match 9-7 for her second tournament in a row. These ladies put on a great show for the many fans who came out from the Tucson pool scene.
The other Sunday finalists were Stacy Allsup who came all the way from Las Vegas in 4th place. Sara Miller finished in 5th, stopped only by two heartbreaking 6-7 losses. Amanda Pulley, one of the AWBT’s young guns, also took home 5th money. Always in the cash, Susan Wilbur was 7th, along with Jodi Hirning making her second consecutive final 8.
The AWBT welcomed several new ladies from the local bar table leagues. While no Tucson woman made the final 8, these ladies exhibited plenty of skills and we look forward to having them compete and cash in our future events. A big thanks goes out to Tracie Hamman for her work in getting these girls out to play.
Sunday’s Second Chance had an additional $50 added to it by Pockets owners Lenny and son
Curtis Johnson (thanks). Lois Schnitt, who only played the Sunday event, beat Jaye Succo to win the 13 player redemption event. Lois’ fine play left us wondering about where she would have placed in the main event. Great Job Lois and thanks to all the ladies who came back to play on Sunday.
Thanks to Lenny Johnson and son Curtis for hosting and adding a total of $350 to our event.Thanks to the always friendly and capable staff of Pockets who make this a favorite stop each year.Thanks to the Tucson pool fans who came out in large numbers to root our ladies on.Thanks to The Friends of the AWBT for adding $200.Thanks to my co-director Kristie Ortega and Scott for putting on another fine event.
Our next event will be November 16th at Bullshooters.