Amanda Lampert Scores An Awesome Win in Arlington

The OB Cues Ladies Tour first stop of any year is always a “can’t wait” event. The players, supporters, and fans came out in full force to start off the tour year with one of its largest attendances! Sixty-three players were ready and raring to go and by day’s end on Saturday, there were 16 left standing in the Main Event.

First, before we get into the details of the tournament, special thanks to our host site Rusty’s in Arlington, Texas. Jeff, Josh, “Rash”, and all the wonderful staff at Rusty’s were the best ever and we thank them for all their hospitality and warm welcome. Also special thanks to our main supporter OB Cues. Don and Anita Owen, the O of OB Cues, were on hand Sunday to watch the hotly contested matches and were treated to some healthy and friendly competition from everyone. Thank you OB Cues for all you do!

Many champions were in-house including the 2008 OB Cues Regional Tour Champion, Lisa Marr who lost her first match of the day to 2008 Most Improved Player & Board Member, Melinda Bailey 7-3. Melinda had an awesome tournament on Saturday as she continued to be undefeated and a contender on the winner’s side on Sunday. As the tournament continued on Sunday, there were 8 women undefeated and 8 with one-loss. On the winner’s side, it was Melinda Bailey vs. Bonnie Plowman; Heather Pulford vs. Michelle Abernathy; Orietta Strickland vs. Terry Petrosino and Amanda Lampert vs. Tori Jones, who is not only a teammate of Amanda but this was Tori’s first OB Cues Ladies Tour event----not bad for a first-timer. On the one loss side, it was Lisa Henderson-Major (having an awesome tournament weekend) vs. Alicia Teskey; Tara Williams (formerly McCracken) vs. Michelle Cortez; Board Member Julie Stephenson vs. Shayla Neris; and Lisa Marr vs. Nancy French. Excellent job, Nancy!

After the winner’s side battling was all over, the hot seat match came down to Amanda vs. Heather with Amanda rising as the victor 7-6 and waiting patiently for her finals opponent.

Although Orietta had not played on the tour since 2006, her game never went away and she was on a quest to win the WPBA San Diego Classic Event Qualifier and win it she did. After Orietta’s 4-7 loss to Terry, she continued to score wins over Lisa Marr and Melinda Bailey before her final tournament loss against Heather. Orietta had a nice 3^rd place finish plus the qualifier spot so she had a very eventful weekend for sure. Congrats and Welcome Back, Orietta.

The finals match between Amanda and Heather was going to be a superb match as everyone expected. These two champions and friends are always top seeds wherever they go and awesome and flawless offensive and defensive playmaking gave the crowd their money’s worth for sure. In true double elimination format, Heather would need to score two wins over Amanda, but this did not happen. Amanda was not going down easy and with her look of determination and confidence, she scored her first win of this tour year with a 7-4 victory. Awesome work, Heather and Amanda!

Click here for tournament payouts (I don’t have all the info on players placement and monies)

$2,000 added Main Event:

1^st - Amanda Lampert - $750

2^{nd -} Heather Pulford - $600

3^rd – Orietta Strickland - $420 + qualifier

4^th – Bonnie Plowman - $305

5^th-6^th – Melinda Bailey and Terry Petrosino $170

7^th- 8^th – Michelle Abernathy and Lisa Henderson-Major - $120

9^th-12^th –Tori Jones, Julie Stephenson, Michelle Cortez, and Lisa Marr - $80

13^th-16^th- Alicia Teskey, Nancy French, Shayla Neris, Tara Williams - $50

17^th-24^th – Kim Pierce, Ashley Nandrasy, Camille Madison, Robyn Petrosino, Natalie Mans, Kathy Knuth, Ophelia Charleston, Cristina De La Garza - $30

25^th-32^nd – Christy Powell, Tracie Voelkering, Patricia Wenninger, Rebecca Goodnight, Jillian Martinez, Amy Hall, Tina Lehrmann, Jennifer Pavlovick - $20

A Second Chance tournament was held on Sunday with 24 players and $100 monies added:

1^st place – Deanna Henson - $125

2^nd place – Connie Gallego - $80

3^rd place – Kim Pierce - $60

4^th place – Robbie Daugherty - $30

5^th– 6^th place – Monica Anderson & Tina Lehrmann - $20

Numerous Winners of Giveaways from Fans, Supporters and Vendors:

Rusty’s T-Shirt – Diana Cardona

$30 Free Tournament Entry – Kathy Knuth

Tiger Products Cue Bridge – Christy Herzog

$25 Starbucks gift card (2) – Tracie Voelkering & Patricia Wenninger

Strok-n-Style Glove – Shirley Fields