Sofia Mast and Brianna Miller
“Note to self,” wrote Briana Miller, commenting on a Sofia Mast post in Facebook on Sunday, Aug. 30. “Don’t challenge you in a race to 2.”
The comment came after the two had battled their way, both of them undefeated, to the final of the Lucasi Florida Tour’s $1,000-added Stop #5, which had drawn 24 entrants to the Village Cue Club in North Palm Beach, FL this past weekend (Sat., Aug. 29). Originally divided into a two-stage affair, the original competitors played through a double-elimination bracket until there were but four left, two from each side of the bracket. The four competitors squared off in an opening-round pair of Stage 2 matches, out of which emerged Mast and Miller to compete in the event finals. At 12:30 a.m., on Sunday morning, “after a long day at the pool hall,” Mast would write later, “Briana and I split the finals, but we still played a race to 2 for bragging rights and the trophy.”
Mast never brags, so those ‘rights’ were wasted on her, but she did collect the trophy after downing Miller 2-0. On a break from her first semester of higher education, pursuing a career in culinary arts, Mast will continue to compete as much as her schedule will allow, which has created the need for the time-management necessary to juggle an existing career and the education she seeks.
“College has seriously cut into my time on the table,” she noted in her FB post. “Not having my table at home whenever I want it, reminded me that staying sharp doesn’t just happen on its own.”
“There were moments (in this tournament) when I felt like I really played well,” she added, “and other moments that reminded me I still need the regular practice.”
Those ‘other moments’ of realizing the need for regular practice must have occurred when, after a bye, in her Stage 1 opening match, Vanessa Seaver chalked up four against her in the event’s race-to-7 format. She backed that up with a shutout over Roe Guarnero and qualified for Stage 2 with a 7-3 win Shanelle Lorraine.
Miller, in the meantime, without a bye, opened against Vanessa Seaver’s formidable sister, Jeannie, who came within a game of double hill against her, before Miller prevailed (7-5). She advanced to defeat tour director Mimi McAndrews 7-2 and then got in to a full, double-hill battle with Kaylee McIntosh Driskell. She survived that challenge and shut out Lisa Anderson to qualify for Stage 2.
The two competitors who advanced to Stage 2 from the loss side of the double-elimination bracket had both lost their opening-round match and won five on the loss side to qualify for Stage 2. Jeannie Seaver followed her opening-round loss to Briana Miller by winning her loss-side five by an aggregate score of 25-8, which began when she shut out her sister, Vanessa. She advanced to eliminate Sandy Cheng (1), Stephanie Mitchell (3), Kaylee McIntosh Driskell (2) and Shanelle Loraine (2).
Jessica Barnes had lost to Angel Harper-Schack 7-3 in her first-round match and won five, giving up just a single rack more (9) than Seaver had given up on her trip through the loss side. She, too, opened with a shutout, versus Robin Verner, and backed that up with victories over Penny Sullivan-Amador (1), Roe Guarnero (3), Miranda Blaisdell (1) and had to battle double-hill to defeat Lisa Anderson and qualify for Stage 2.
The Stage 2 opening matches pitted Briana Miller and Jeannie Seaver in a rematch, while Sofia Mast and Jessica Barnes squared off in the other semifinal. Both matches ended in 6-1 scores; Miller, downing Seaver a second time and Mast, eliminating Barnes. As noted at the outset, Miller and Mast opted out of a full final and settled on a ‘race to 2’ for bragging rights and the trophy.
Tour director Mimi McAndrews thanked the ownership and staff at the Village Cue Club for their hospitality and title sponsor Lucasi Cues. The next stop on the Lucasi Tour, scheduled for the weekend of October 17-18, will be its Annual Cues for the Cure breast cancer fundraiser, to be hosted by The Corner Pocket in Largo, FL.
This dispatch was curated from AZBilliards.
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