HUNTER CLASSICS AMATEUR WOMEN'S TOUR
Second
Hunter Classics Stop a Big Success at Legends Billiards!
40 women came to compete
on April 7th and 8th at Legends Billiards in League City, TX. 12
of the women paid the extra $50 to have a chance at winning the WPBA qualifier
and it was a hard fight to get it. Five of the top 8 finishers were
in contention, but in the end it was Noriyo Yurino (who is from Japan,
but currently lives in Canada) who came out on top. Noriyo won $750
and the WPBA Qualifier.
The weekend was well-hosted
at Legends Billiards where room owner and Tournament Director Mindy Cohen
made us all feel welcome, as always. Her many pool tables allowed
us to not only get play done early, but also had practice tables available
for us. Thanks Mindy! Mindy had the help of Jimmy Moen, Dennis
Strickland and Chuck Mills calling shots. We also had WPBA Professional
Belinda Campos visit our tournament over the entire weekend. Thanks
Belinda!
A big thank you to Wes Hunter
for his continued support of the Hunter Classics Tour. Dwight Brookland
won the beautiful Hunter Classics Custom Cue valued at $1900. This
time the cue was of
Brazilian Rosewood, Tiger
Maple and Ivory Inlay with a Black Linen Wrap! Also raffled off where
autographed cue balls by Vivian
Villarreal and Johnny Archer.
Dwight Brookland,
winner of the Hunter Classics
Custom Cue
After the smoke cleared on
Saturday, 12 women came back to play in the big event on Sunday.
The rest of the ladies competed in the Second Chance Tournament.
LaDonna Ulrich (local favorite) came out on top of the Second Chance Event
with Trish Kaston (from Missouri) coming in 2nd, Kelly Harmon coming in
3rd (who had a great main event finish as well!) and Karen Smith (from
Denver) coming in 4th.
Second Chance Tournament:
Lucille Donahue (Tour Director),
LaDonna Ulrich (1st place), Trish Kaston (2nd place) and Julie Stephenson
(Tour Director)
On the other side of the
room, Michelle Cortez, Julie Stephenson, Nicole Bacon and Deanna Kniola
were waiting for the winner's brackets matches. On the winners side it
was Shayla Neris (this was Shayla's first time to be on the winners bracket
on Sunday!), Sherri Hudson, Melanie Koger, Leslie Rogers, Sybil Wingard
(great tournament!), Lisa Marr, Noriyo Yurino and Brenda Plantz.
As play went on, Melanie Koger beat Noriyo for the winners bracket hill-hill,
running out nicely.
Noriyo then had to play Brenda
Plantz (who had just beat Lisa Marr and Deanna Kniola). Noriyo won
9-4. It was time for Melanie to play Noriyo again. After being
tied 5-5, Noriyo came out on top with a score of 11-9. Congratulations
to Melanie for another great finish and for Noriyo on her first Hunter
Classics win and the WPBA Qualifier. On their way to the finals,
Noriyo beat LaDonna Ulrich 7-2, Tasha Salandanan 7-1, Kim Mills 7-3, Sybil
Wingard 7-3, Lisa Marr 7-4, lost to Melanie Koger 6-7 for the winners
bracket, beat Brenda Plantz 9-4 and Melanie Koger 11-9. Melanie had
a bye and then beat Gail Lave 7-2, Teresa Hayes 7-1, Leslie Rogers 7-2,
Shayla Neris 7-2, Noriyo Yurino 7-6 and then lost the in the finals to
Noriyo Yurino 9-11. Looks like it was only Noriyo that could get
past 2 games against Melanie! Great tournament ladies!
Other news surrounding the
tournament was the missed group of San Antonio girls, who were competing
in a city tournament back home. Some of the Dallas/Fort Worth girls
were also missing, playing in their own league tournament as well on this
weekend. A special note to Crystal Livingston (all of 12 years old),
who won her first match in the Second Chance Tournament 5-1!
Again, a big thank you to
Wes Hunter who is thought of every day of the year that the ladies get
to play the sport they love. And, don't forget to visit Wes and the
Hunter Classics Tour at www.hunterclassics.com.
