J. Pechauer NorthEast Women’s Tour / South Amboy, NJ
by Lea Andrews
Karen “The Irish Invader” Corr, who won the WPBA’s inaugural Satellite Tour event on July 12, is on a winning streak, and no one, not even Kelly “Kwikfire” Fisher, seems able to bring her down. Corr and Fisher were among the 44 ladies who gathered July 18-19 for the $3,000-added J. Pechauer NorthEast Women’s Tour’s New Jersey State Championship, a WPBA 2010 Women’s US Open-qualifier event held at Primetime Sports Bar & Billiards in South Amboy, NJ.
Corr made her way steadily through the field, brushing aside Connie Andonian 7-1, Sharon O’Hanlon 7-2, Morgan Steinman 7-0, and Ashea Erdahl 7-2 before arriving in the winners’ side final four, where she gave up only one game, sending Julie Kelly to the left side of the bracket. Meanwhile, Fisher was making her way through tour director Linda Shea 7-3, Stacie Borbeau 7-3, Megan Smith 7-2, and last stop’s winner Pam Cimarelli 7-5 before meeting up with Corr for the first time. Corr, who’d allowed her opponents six games total in five matches, gave up all seven to Fisher in a hill-hill match.
On the one-loss side, My-Hanh Lac went through Steinman 7-3 and Smith 7-5 before falling 7-6 to Kelly, while Iris Ranola, who’d suffered an early loss to Kelly, went through Emily Duddy 7-1, Erdahl 7-3, Ji-Hyun Park-Thompson 7-1, and Cimarelli 7-2 before coming upon Kelly once again in the one-loss quarterfinals. Unfortunately for Ranola, the result was the same, and she landed in fourth with a score of 7-4.
It was time then for Kelly to try to avenge her earlier loss to Corr, and while she managed to mark up more games this time around, 5 wasn’t enough, and Corr moved on to the finals.
In the modified finals format, Fisher, who held the hot seat, would win if she reached 7 first, while if Corr reached it first, the race would be extended to 9. When Fisher jumped out to a 5-2 lead, it seemed that the race would end at 7, but Corr, who took her break at that point, returned with something different in mind. She quickly tied it at 5 each, then made it 7-6 in her favor. Fisher tied it at 7, but her miscue on the 6 ball in the next rack left Corr out and on the hill. Corr could’ve allowed Fisher one more game, but she closed the win out in the next rack, taking first in her second tournament in as many weeks.
Karen “The Irish Invader” Corr, who won the WPBA’s inaugural Satellite Tour event on July 12, is on a winning streak, and no one, not even Kelly “Kwikfire” Fisher, seems able to bring her down.
Results:
1st Karen Corr $1,200
2nd Kelly Fisher $800
3rd Julie Kelly $560
4th Iris Ranola $400
5th My-Hanh Lac $280
Pam Cimarelli + qualifier spot
7th Megan Smith $160
Ji-Hyun Park-Thompson
9th Morgan Steinman $85
Candi Rego
Borana Andoni
Ashea Erdahl
13th Liz Ford $50
Erin McManus
Stacie Borbeau
Emily Duddy