The third RIBSA ladies snooker ranking events were held in Newbridge CYMS on Sunday and the events were a big success. Katie French won the Intermediate event while Michelle Sherwin won the Senior event.
Intermediates:
The intermediates welcomed newcomer Nicolletti Flynn. A very talented youngster, she settled in well and pushed all of her frames right to the final few balls. She has a fantastic eye for the game, and for sure will be a player to be reckoned with in the future. After a round-robin phase the top 2 players were Katie French and Ronda Sheldreck. These had tied 1-1 in the round robin phase so there was no obvious winner. Katie won the 1st frame with an incredible long pink to the corner pocket. Ronda got into gear in the second frame, and won it easily with Katie conceding needing 4 snookers. Katie took an early lead in the final frame; and she held it throughout, winning the frame and match to win her 1st title. A big congratulations goes to Katie, who along with todays win also claimed the number 1 spot in the intermediate ranking series.
Seniors:
The choice of finalists went right down to the last 2 games in the seniors. Michelle French claimed the 1st spot in the final by beating Claire Mill 2-0 in the last round-robin match and Michelle Sherwin joined her with a 2-0 win over Cathy Hunt.
Sherwin began the match very well, comfortably winning the first 2 frames. She held a 14 point lead in the 3rd with 1 red left, when she inadvertently snookered herself on the red after potting the brown off a previous red. It was a very difficult snooker, with the red lying beside the black on the side cushion near the pocket. Everyone watched in disbelief as Sherwin hit the black 6 times, finding the minute gap between the balls to do so. French had no option but to get the ball replaced and Sherwin ended up 41 points behind. French went on to win the frame. This geared French up and played on sherwins mind. French was very solid in the 4th frame and Sherwin made some unforgivable errors. Sherwin needed a snooker on the pink and she put French in a good snooker, French made a fantastic escape after which Sherwin went in off to the centre and conceded the frame to tie the match at 2-2. French took an early lead in the final frame; but Sherwin came back at her and started to edge away, playing very tight safety as well. Sherwin had a 29 point lead coming to the colours, she then took the yellow to brown to win the frame and match. It was a brilliantly contested final which either player could have won.
Most Improved Player
Claire Mill presented Ronda Sheldreck with a medal and certificate for being the most improved player. Well done Ronda. The ladies would all like to wish Catherine Fitzsimons a speedy recovery after her recent hospital stay. We would also like to thank Leo and Jim for their help and the use of the fabulous club at CYMS Newbridge.
