It sure was a hot summer weekend in Texas over the July 12-13 weekend. While
many visitors to the Arlington, Texas area were riding rides and eating hotdogs
at the Six Flag Amusement Park, 45 women were staying cool, playing pool and
eating Bar B Q inside at Speed's Billiards. Eight of the women paid
the Qualifying Fee for the WPBA Canadian Cues Stop in October. On Sunday
morning with only 12 ladies left in the main event, only 5 were still eligible
for the Qualifier. In the end, Orietta Strickland would win the tournament,
but Terri Kelley would place second and also claimed the WPBA Qualifier.
Rob (our helper) and Tanya (the Manager) made us feel right at home for the second year in a row by
providing coolers on Sunday (when one of the AC units went out) and cooking
food for the ladies and spectators. The bartenders, Jessie and Amy,
were wonderful and our waitress Christi was very helpful both busy days.
Tanya, helping serve food to the players
Rob and Tanya - the Raffle
Wes Hunter donated yet another beautiful cue, valued at $1,900. Frequent
supporter of the tour, Kathy Krabbenschmidt, won the cue and was extremely
excited with her good fortune.
Bert Kinister, the creator of numerous
Pool Instructional Vidoes, visited the Hunter Tour. Here he is with
Tour Member, Susan Petty.
On Sunday morning, the one-loss side pitted many good player's against each
other. Most Improved Player of 2002, Audra Carter, lost 7-3 to 2002 Hunter
Tour Champion , Leslie Anne Rogers. Austin's Rachel Hurst defeated
Kim Pierce from Bastrop 7-3. Board Member Lucille Donahue lost 7-2 to Lisa
Marr from Arkansas and Julia Gabriel from Illinois defeated Austin's Jennifer
Kraber 7-4 . On the winner's side, Orietta Strickland defeated newcomer
Lisa Henderon-Major (from Arkansas) 7-3 while Terri Kelley (from the
DFW area) defeated San Antonio's Amanda Lampert.
On the one loss side, Rachel Hurst and Leslie Anne Rogers went hill-hill
for an awesome nail biter for the crowd. While Lisa Marr and Julia
Gabriel were fighting it out on another table. Eventually, it would
be Lisa and Leslie both winning those matches and their next, to play each
other for 4th place. This was another hill-hill match which Leslie
eventually won. Lisa earned $240 for her 4th place finish. Then
Leslie played Terri Kelley, who had just narrowly lost to Orietta Strickland
7-6 for the winner's bracket . Terri Kelley took claim on that match
with Leslie 7-1, to meet up again with Orietta in the finals. Leslie
won $375 for placing 3rd. Although Terri had already won the Qualifier
by defeating Leslie, she wanted the tournanment win also. Down 5-2 in
the first set, Terri came back to win it 7-5. So, the next set was
on, in this true double elimination tournament. Terri was down the second
set again but started coming back. 5-2, 6-4. But Orietta wanted
to win also and won the match 7-4. Orietta won $750 for her first
place finish, while Terri won $550 for her second place finish.
Congratulations to all the ladies!
Orietta didn't even realize she won this same tournament last year and when
we reminded her she was very happy and surprised. We asked her how she felt
about winning and she said, "I wasn't even going to come, so to win means
a lot to me. I had some tough matches and this feels good." Orietta
is sponsored by Hawley's Billiards and thanked them, Speed's Billiards for
hosting the event and the Hunter Classics Tour. Last year after
Orietta won, she took some of her winnings and paid the waitresses and bartenders
some big tips and thanked them for their support of the Tour. Orietta
did the same this year and put smiles on the faces of everyone around her
for being so generous.
Terri Kelley and Orietta Strickland in the finals.
The second chance tournament had 20 women competing. Deanna Henson from Austin defeated Janine Robinson from
the DFW area in the finals. Deanna earned $120 while Janine earned $85. Shayla Neris won
$50 for third place and Yvette Cox placed 4th and won $25. Congratulations,
Ladies!
A BIG thank you to Wes Hunter who has sponsored this tour for Ten Years now.
Thank you, Wes! Visit the Hunter Classics Tour next month at
Legend's Billiards in League City, TX on August 9-10 for the Coors Light Qualifier, where the winner will
automatically win a spot into the WPBA Nationals.
Second Chance Tournament
Deanna Henson (1st), Janine Robinson (2nd) and Shayla Neris (3rd)
1st
Orietta Strickland
$750
2nd
Terri Kelley
$550
+ Qualifier
3rd
Leslie Anne Rogers
$375
4th
Lisa Marr
$240
5-6th
Lisa Henderson-Major and Amanda Lampert
$165
7-8th
Julia Gabriel and Rachel Hurst
$120
9-12th
Audra Carter, Lucille Donahue, Jennifer Kraber and Kim Pierce
$70
13-16th
Teedaa Clarke, Kathy Ray, Sharon Townsend and Deanna Henson
$40
17-24th
Kathryn Long, Michelle Cortez, Monica Anderson, Andrea Wardell, Krystia Sparks, Suzanne Walkuski, Shayla Neris and Tammy Kroop.
