Cindy Sliva and Suzanne Smith (Photo courtesy of Sandro Menzel)
On March February 27-28th - the NWPA’s first tour stop of the 2016 season, the Washington State 9 Ball Championships, was hosted by Malarkey’s Pool & Brew in Tacoma, WA. The tournament was ran on 9 9-foot Gold Crowns with Rail2Rail Productions providing a free live stream all weekend. The NWPA tour standings and 2016 schedule are available at www.nwpatour.com and is sanctioned by the newly formed North American Pool Tour. New tour sponsors include mzTam.com, who donated 5 goody bags to the NWPA player rewards program, and Dave Jones, who will be donating a custom cue towards increasing player payouts. Get in touch with your favorite NWPA ladies to learn more about purchasing raffle tickets as details are finalized.
Twenty-three ladies came out to compete Saturday morning. There was one new player to the tour, Miranda Sellman from Oregon originally, but now residing in Gig Harbor, WA. The tournament was ran on 9 9-foot Brunswick Gold Crowns. The format was a race to 7, alternating break, 9 ball, with a race to 6 on the B side. The main event was $500 added and a second chance tournament was held on Sunday for players who did not make it into the money rounds.
Sunday morning, eight players remained. A side match ups included Cindy Sliva vs. Kira North and Julie Suzanne Smith vs. Tricia Heintz. Cindy and Suzanne both advanced through their morning matches, 7-0 and 7-4. Cindy and Suzanne then squared off in the hot seat match. Suzanne advanced by the score 7-5 to earn her spot in the final. B side match ups included Kimberly Kirk vs. Clara Silvas and Deby Welfringer vs. Jeanne Christensen. Kimberly and Deby advanced through their first round of play 6-4 and 6-2, earning a shot at Tricia and Kira. Kimberly and Deby both continued on the B side, defeating their opponents 6-3 and 6-2. Kimberly then squared off against Deby. Kimberly advanced by the narrowest of margins (6-5) to play Cindy in the semifinals. Both players battled, taking that match to the hill as well, where Cindy ended up winning the final rack to earn a rematch against Suzanne.
Suzanne Smith path to final: Melissa D. (3), Andy R. (2), Jeanne C. (3), Tricia H. (4), Cindy S (5)
Cindy Sliva path to final: Bye, Adrianne B. (1), Kimberly K. (3), Kira N. (0), loss to Suzanne S. (7-5), Kimberly K. (5)
The final was one race to 9, alternating break. During the early racks, both players tried to find their groove, exchanging racks, with Suzanne then taking a two game lead at 4-2. Suzanne then turned it up a notch and closed out each of the following racks, to make it 7-2 with a break and run. Cindy answered with a break and run of her own to make it 7-3. Suzanne responded breaking and running her second rack of the finals to reach the hill. At 8-3, Suzanne faltered, made some critical errors, including a miss on what could have been her winning 9 ball. At 8-7, Cindy appeared to be running out to tie the set at 8-8, when she got funny on the 7 ball. She pocketed the 7, but left herself long on the 8, which she missed. Suzanne was able to close out the rack and win the event with the final score of 9-7. Congratulations to Suzanne for winning the event and to Cindy for a great event as well.
Great tournament ladies! The NWPA’s next event is the 5th Annual Martha Hartsell Memorial and will be hosted at The Cue Ball in Salem, OR on April 23-24, 2016.
Six ladies returned on Sunday for the $100 added Second Chance tournament. With the low turnout, there was no entry fee and players got lots of table time, playing a round robin, best of 5 games against each of the other players. Patricia and Anna ended up tied for first with 17 wins, however Patricia took top prize, since she had defeated Anna earlier 3-2. Newcomer Miranda Sellman wasn’t far behind in 3rd place with 15 wins. Nice job ladies!
Second Chance Results
1st Patricia Tipton $50
2nd Anna Busley $30
3rd Miranda Sellman $20
