Tiger Bay Area Amateur Tour / Palm Harbor, FL
by Lea Andrews
Stephanie Mitchell, who had a good showing at the WPBA’s inaugural Satellite Tour event, had an even better showing at the $400-added Tiger Bay Area Amateur Tour event the following weekend on July 18. Balancing her tour director and playing duties perfectly, Mitchell went undefeated through the field of 20 ladies who arrived at Palm Harbor, FL’s, Strokers Billiards for the seventh stop of the tour, which is also sponsored by Sterling Gaming, Stroke-It Wear, and Lucasi Hybrid Cues.
Following a 5-2 win over Amy Chen, Mitchell arrived in the hot seat match along with Stacey Lantz, who was coming off a 5-3 win over Samantha Huber. Mitchell, who up to that point had won every match 5-2 except for one that was 5-1, continued the trend, sending Lantz west 5-2.
On the one-loss side, the top three leaders in this season’s tour standings were fighting to stay through to the end. Points leader and two-time event winner Michell Monk moved past third-ranked Sabra MacArthur Beahn 6-3 to meet up with a fellow two-time winner, number-two-ranked Melissa Morlan, who’d gotten by Sheilla Coleman 4-2. It was Monk who prevailed, moving on to a 6-1 win over Chen. Meanwhile, Niki Rasmussen backed up a 6-2 win over Barbara Ellis with a shut-out win over Lisa Parsons, who was herself coming off a very strong 4-1 win over sharpshooter Jeannie Seaver. Rasmussen, though, couldn’t get past Huber, and she landed in fifth with a score of 4-3.
On a roll, Huber didn’t let Monk stand in her way, moving past her 4-3 to greet Lantz in the one-loss semifinal match, where she earned her spot in the finals with a 4-1 win. Mitchell, who’d played very strongly all day long, wasn’t quite up to her par in the final set, but by taking advantage of any unlikely ball in hand that came her way, she continued her 5-2 trend once more, closing out her first win of 2009 in just one set.
Stephanie Mitchell, who had a good showing at the WPBA’s inaugural Satellite Tour event, had an even better showing at the $400-added Tiger Bay Area Amateur Tour event the following weekend on July 18.
Results:
1st Stephanie Mitchell $300
2nd Samantha Huber $225
3rd Stacey Lantz $150
4th Michell Monk $100
5th Amy Chen $50
Niki Rasmussen