Viejas Casino – Alpine, CA

Kelly Fisher, three times defending Champion at this event, came here to seek out the four-peat, but was ultimately stopped by WPBA Pros, Anna Kostanian and Gerda Hofstatter. In the end, it was Allison Fisher who captured the first WPBA title in 2008, reaching the finals undefeated and in dominating fashion.

The event kicked off Wednesday, April 9th with a Charity Pro-Am benefiting the Alpine Girls Softball Association, which raised over $3,000! Competition began Thursday at 10:00am and saw several upsets. Jeanette Lee, fresh from playing in the WPA Amway Women’s 9 Ball Championships in Taipei, Taiwan, showed her fatigue and went two and out versus Norway’s Line Kjorsvik and qualifier My-Hanh Lac. Top Pro Miyuki Sakai also faced tough opponents, losing to Susan Williams of the Arizona Women’s Billiard Tour in their first round matchup before falling short of the final 16 via the one-loss side when ACUI Champion Eleanor Callado defeated her in a tough hill-hill match.

The Sweet Sixteen brought four fresh faces to the forefront; Cathy Metzinger, My-Hanh Lac, Eleanor Callado and Caroline Pao all had excellent showings which included wins over such Top Pro’s as Jeanette Lee, Jasmin Ouschan, Miyuki Sakai, Julie Kelly and Sarah Rousey to name a few. Sarah Ellerby, Kelly Fisher, Vivian Villarreal, Anna Kostanian, Helena Thornfeldt, Melissa Herndon, Xiaoting Pan and Monica Webb all made it to the Sweet Sixteen, but ultimately it was Karen Corr, Allison Fisher, Gerda Hofstatter and Ga Young Kim who fought their way to the top of the chart and continued on to the taping day, Sunday.

Gerda faced off against Ga Young Kim and Karen Corr met up with familiar foe, Allison Fisher in the Quarterfinals to see who would make it to the Finals of this event.

The match up between Allison Fisher and Karen Corr will be remembered for two key points in the match. The first coming in game 11 when Allison, up 6-4 and looking at the choice between a safety and a 5/9 combination, chose the more aggressive combo shot and missed, leaving Karen to run out. Then, Tied at hill-hill, the race to 7 came to a head when, after Allison broke and made the 4 ball, she ran to the 5 ball, missed it in the corner and instead made it in the side and the cue ball snuggled up on the 6. Allison attempted an unsuccessful safety, and Karen bank/safetied the cue and 6 ball to opposite ends of the table. Allison made what was, in my opinion (and we all know about opinion’s right?)

a bad choice, and instead of playing a safe, she went for a long bank shot which missed wide, leaving Karen a fairly straightforward run-out. But, amazingly, she left herself almost straight in on the 8, and instead of taking the harder shot on the 9, tried the force-follow and the 8 ball rattled in and out of the pocket. Karen sold out and Allison easily finished off the 8/9 to advance to the finals. Karen finishes tied for3rd and earns $5,400. Allison waits the winner between Gerda Hofstatter and Ga Young Kim.

Ga Young Kim looked to have her match under control when she took a commanding 5-2 lead over Gerda Hofstatter. She looked comfortable and was playing strong. But at crucial times, Ga Young made some fatal errors and Gerda’s tenacious play helped her climb back into the match at 6-4. After a great jump shot to sink the three ball in the side pocket, but overcut the four to allow Gerda to win the 11th game. In game 12, Gerda made two balls on the break and scratched, but Ga Young missed the 7 ball, overcutting it to the left, allowing Gerda to tie the match up, 6-6. Ga Young broke, made the 1 ball, and attempted a bank on the 3 due to bad position play off the two. Gerda calmed her nerves and one by one sank the 3 through 9 for an incredible comeback victory and now looks to the finals against Allison Fisher. Congratulations to Ga Young Kim, finishing tied for 3rd place and earning $5,400.

The Final Match

Gerda Hofstatter’s valiant effort to come back from a 4-1 deficit was for naught, as Allison Fisher held steady to win the WPBA’s season opener at the Viejas Casino.

It was a capacity crowd in the Dreamcatcher Theater; the lights were bright, the cameras were rolling, and both competitors were ready to give the crowd a great match. Allison won the lag, and in true form, broke and ran the first rack. Gerda broke in game 2 and made two balls on the break, answering back with her own break and run. Both players seemed comfortable and in control.

Game three saw Allison scratch on the break and Gerda with ball in hand, had an open table. Amazingly, she scratched the cue ball in the side pocket on the 3 ball after making it in the corner. Allison took advantage of the error and took the 2-1 lead. Gerda seemed shaken, and for the next few games, just couldn’t gain control of her emotions, missing a key 5 ball that would have tied the score and watching as Allison broke and ran in the 5th rack.

Down 4-1, Gerda and Allison tangled with a monster safety battle on the 2 ball in the 6th game. Allison blinked first after 7 tries at the stubborn two ball, and Gerda ran out. Allison came up dry on the subsequent break, allowing Gerda to run out and the score was a much closer 4-3, Allison’s lead.

To everyone’s horror, Gerda scratched off the 2 ball after she’d drawn the cue ball back dead into the lower corner pocket, attempting shape on the 3, and Allison easily ran out and her lead once again grew to 2 games.

Game 10 saw a key point in this match. Gerda broke, made a ball, ran out to the 3 but missed a tough cut. Allison was left with a long cut shot and missed, leaving Gerda to make a great shot on it and allowing her to run to the 8 ball. Gerda had left herself a long cut down the side rail and her nerves got the better of her. She missed it and sold that game out to Allison. The two game swing definitely put the pressure squarely on Gerda’s shoulders to stay tough and focused.

Game 11 began and would prove to be the coup-de-grace in this match. Allison broke but came up empty. Gerda’s 1 ball shot wasn’t easy and she missed it.

Allison ran out to the 7 and promptly missed it, although she didn’t leave Gerda an open pocket. Gerda and Allison once again matched wits in a safety battle, with both locking up the 7 several times behind the 8 ball. Gerda blinked first, allowing Allison an open shot, running out to thunderous applause and taking the title of the first WPBA Event of the season.

On a fun side note: A set of balls, autographed by the top 8 winners bracket players and used for the draw in the Sweet Sixteen, was auctioned off and the lucky winner paid $1,000 for the one-of-a-kind collector’s item. 5 Cuetec Cue sticks were raffled off to lucky fans.

Many thanks to the following people and organizations!

Our partners at the Viejas Casino – the maintenance, banquets, food, production, sound & stage staffs, all under the direction of Concert Event Manager, Sandra Barrett-Pfitzenreuter and her assistant Dawn Henderson who were an amazing group of people and we couldn’t have pulled it off with you!

To Billiards & Barstools – San Marcos & Valencia stores – Che & Terry and your crew set up the tables perfectly for our players and we thank you.

To our production company and our site logistics team, Winnercomm and TSI Events, all of you rock!

To our Sponsors: The American Poolplayers Association, Brunswick Billiards, Iwan Simonis, Inc, Cuetec Cues, Mueller Recreational Products, Aramith and PoolDawg, thank you for your continued support of the sport of the WPBA.

We had many great volunteers from the APA who came and gave of their time and energy. Many thanks to all of them and we look forward to working with you in the future for the rest of the season!

And finally; to all our players and to our fans. Your energy gives us the momentum to propel our organization onward in pursuit of excellence. See you at the next tournament!

(By: Anne Craig – WPBA)