Rasmussen Prevails at Park Place in Clearwater
Tour regular Niki Rasmussen took her first win of the Tiger Bay Area Amateur Tour (BAAT) 2010 season on April 17th. She ran undefeated through the 25-player field at Park Place Billiards in Clearwater, Florida, bringing her total number of wins on the tour to three, all since September of last year! The BAAT tour again welcomed several newcomers to the $500-added event.New members this month included Mary Lou Mendez and Marcie Whitaker, who joined Vicki Clark and Melissa Durkin in a 9th place, one-out-of-the-money tie. They each received prize bags of gifts that were generously provided by our sponsors.
Congratulations go out to Lisa McElroy, formerly Lisa Parsons, who tied the knot with Jason McElroy on April 9th. She wound up tied for 7th (her best finish so far this year) and receiving $50 along with Keva Hevener, who cashed again after taking 2nd place last month in her first BAAT tournament.
Welcome back and nice going to Shannon Jones who, after several months hiatus, had her best finish ever. As she has never played on the Flamingo Billiards Tour, her 5th-place finish qualified her for free entry into an event later this year. Rachel Delaney tied with Jones and both players received $75 for their efforts. You may remember Delaney who took the BAAT tour by storm, joining in January and winning the first BAAT tournament she played!
The quarter-final match featured tour director Stephanie Mitchell, and Kelly Cavanaugh, who lost the first match of the tournament and was battling her way through the one-loss side. Cavanaugh needed to win 4 games before Mitchell won 6 in the handicapped-format event, which she did, winning 4-3 and sending Mitchell home with 4th place and $100.
Cavanaugh advanced to the semi-finals facing Sabra MacArthur Beahn, who had made it to money rounds after several months of out-of-the-money finishes. Cavanaugh was looking to defeat Beahn for the first time and she did so in a big way, winning the match 4-1, and sending Beahn packing with 3rd place and $150.
This set up the final round between Cavanaugh and Rasmussen. This must have felt like déjà vu to the players who had met in the finals of the Flamingo Billiards Tour event just one week ago! The BAAT format features a combination of 8-ball and 9-ball, and true double-elimination. The race was 5-4, with Rasmussen needing 5 for the win.
The opponents started the match playing 8-ball, with Cavanaugh striking first blood and winning the first game. But Rasmussen's feathers weren't ruffled. She dominated with a 4-game streak, taking the other two games of 8-ball and two games of 9-ball, reaching the hill first. Cavanaugh didn't fold and she lashed back, winning the next two games of 9-ball, bringing the match to double-hill. She now needed to win the last game to force the second set, but it wasn't to be as Rasmussen calmly finished off the last game for the 5-3 win.
Rasmussen took the top prize money of $350 for her first place finish, while Cavanaugh's second place finish earned her $250. Cavanaugh has the distinction of being the first top 4 repeat finisher this year, having taken 2nd place in January. All other top 4 finishers this year have been different, spreading the wealth among many, and providing players of different skill levels the opportunity to excel!
Thanks go out to Bobby, owner of Park Place Billiards, and his staff members, for providing a great location for the tournament. Thanks also to our sponsors, including: Tiger Products, Lucasi Hybrid, Sterling Gaming, Ozone Billiards, Ray Martin, Nick Varner, Strokeitwear.com, Robertson Billiard Supplies, Tweeten Fiber, Billiard Scoop, and Sports Rock, for making it possible for BAAT to give gifts to players, fans, and room owners.
Caso Conquers BAATlefield
Twenty-eight women competed in the 3rd stop of the TiGER Bay Area Amateur Tour held on March 20 at newly redecorated The Corner Pocket in Largo, FL. The $500-added tournament was hosted by new room owner (and BAAT tour director) Stephanie Mitchell.