Rachel Delaney
The first BAAT tournament of the year took place on January 23rd at Hammer Heads Billiards in Holiday. Several new players joined last season's veterans to form a field of 25 women.
Only one player from last year's top ten finalists even made it to the money rounds. Jamie Toennies finished 6th in the points at the end of last year and finished 5th-6th at the end of this tournament, receiving $75. The only other player from last season to make it into the money was TeamBAAT member Stephanie McFarlin. She took down Teonnies for a 4th place finish and $125 in prize money. Tying with Toennies was Jessica Barnes who lost to the fierce competitor, Margie Soash 5-1. Margie quickly took a bite out of the Mac (McFarlin, who had sent her to the loser's bracket earlier) with another 5-1 score before heading on to face Kelly Cavanaugh. Kelly got up early in the match 3-1 before Margie passed her up 4-3. But with Kelly only needing to get to 4, the hill-hill game went her way and she went on to face Rachel Delaney who had been waiting patiently in the hotseat. Margie left with a 3rd place finish and $200.
Rachel had already beaten Kelly once on this day and she planned on doing it twice. After some fan involvement, both players looked distracted and it appeared as if Cavanaugh was going to win the first set with a 4-3 score in her favor. She missed the game winning shot to let the score go hill-hill. The next game went Delaney's way as well and she took first in her first BAAT tournament getting $350 for her accomplishment! Kelly's 2nd place finish netted her $275. Keep an eye on BAATtour.com for highlight videos of this match and several others from this tournament.
Our FANTASTIC sponsors help us to give gifts to the room owners as well as those that come in last and one out of the money. Those receiving prizes for their almost fantastic finishes were Connie Mago, Melissa Durkin and Dar Pedrick. Thanks to Sterling-Gaming, Tiger Products, Ozone Billiards, Ray Martin, Strokeitwear.com and Robertson Billiards for helping us have the opportunity to make others smile.
