By Craig Teal.
October 5, 2024
Tournament Chart:
Family, friends, and the billiard community came together to celebrate Serena Studley in a fun filled day sharing in one of activities that Serena was most passionate about - playing pool. 52 players registered for the first annual Studley Showdown, a female-only 8-Ball Memorial event, held at Dooly’s Burnside.
Serena had heart complications, and succumbed to a heart attack late in 2023. The Studley Showdown was created to remember her infectious personality, and to remember how enjoyable she made competitions.
The format was round robin for Stage 1, featuring 4 groups of 13 ladies, playing one game against each of their fellow group opponents. The top 4 women from each bracket would advance to Stage 2 single knockout phase, with winners being decided by best 2 out of 3 games in Stage 2 matches.
Single game matchups in phase one turned over at quick pace, but the chance to compete against so many fresh adversaries made the format unique and exciting.
At the completion of the round robin phase, Jackie Tucker, Tracey Goodyear, and Lisette Valotaire all won their respective groups with a 10-2 record. The best record in the remaining group was shared at 9-3 by Lynne Palmer, Saline Penney, and Brenna Sylliboy. Sylliboy was the official bracket winner by virtue of head to head victories over Palmer and Penney.
In Stage two, Tracey Goodyear advanced to the final with a semi-final win over Lisette Valotaire. In the other semi-final Julie Gibson advanced past Ashley Denny to reach the final. The conclusion had the ladies splitting the first two games, meaning one more game was needed to decide the tournament winner.
Goodyear was first poised to complete the out, dissecting her final balls among her opponent’s clutter. However, an up-table-and-back path off her last ball to the 8 resulted in a scratch of the cue ball. Gibson used ball in hand to clear her balls down to the last two, but without good position, she executed a delicate safety to allow Goodyear no more than a fraction of the 8-ball to be contacted. Goodyear made the hit and managed to leave Gibson tough, but Gibson stepped up to drill a clutch cross-side bank, then proceeded to drain her last ball and the 8 to win.
Congratulations to Julie, and to Tracey, on a finely played event!
Gibson won $285 for first. Goodyear took home $215 for second. Semi finalists Valotaire and Denny won $150 each. $90 went to all 5th-8th place finishers, Lynne Palmer, Brenna Sylliboy, Desiree Marshall, and Jackie Tucker. $45 went to the 9th-16th place finishers Jen Reid, Katt Evans, Kelly Brimicombe, Connie Reid, Sue Dupuis, Barb Mullins, Alicia Doucette, and Saline Penney.
It was an honor to have members of Serena’s family on hand for the day. Serena’s daughter Shannon even competed, which was her first time playing in a pool competition.
There were silent auctions, raffles, and 50/50’s. There will be a more detailed breakdown in the comments about who took home what.
40 pounds of delicious chili made by Ashley Theriault, and fresh sandwiches were on hand for sale. A very nice touch!
All and all, what a great event put together by superb group of ladies. Much gratitude to those that have been planning and prepping for this day - Tracey Goodyear, Jen Reid, Kim Hobbs, Jess Grant, and to Janet Ritcey and Melissa Eisenhauer who could not be there, but put in considerable effort to make the day a reality. Apologies if anyone on the organizing squad was left off by name.
Thank you to Jess Grant and the staff of Doolys Burnside.
Many thanks to Christa Yeo, Jen Rowden, Jen Reid, and Tracey Goodyear for helping to call matches and keeping the flow going.
Thanks to Sean Hunter for helping to set-up and his efforts in the kitchen (and coffee runs to keep the ladies caffeinated and happy).
Thanks to Angie Kilbride and Kim Hobbs for their ticket sale abilities.
And speaking of Kim Hobbs, was there ever a moment you stood still? It seemed like you were always doing something. It would be easier to list the things you didn’t do.
Thank you to those players that travelled from away to be involved. There were players from the Valley, Truro, Cape Breton, Saint John, and even PEI.
There were also several players who were relatively new to competition. The aim is you felt welcomed and will choose to compete again.
Hope everyone enjoyed their day. It was a learning experience in some ways. Future Studley Showdown’s will be that much better for it. See you there!
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