SPM Billiards Magazine Issue 33

from SPM Billiards Magazine Issue 33

SPM Billiards Magazine Issue 33

September Adventure

By Savannah “The Roadrunner” Easton

September was a very eventful month for me. The most traveling I have done since I started competing. From the far west coast state of California to the Southwest state of Texas to the Midwest state of Michigan.

At the beginning of the month, I traveled to Austin, TX, for the Texas Open Women’s 9 Ball. I have always loved the state of Texas, especially its barbecue; I’m pretty sure we had barbecue every day during the time we were there! Yum!

Now about the tournament, I ended up going 4 and out there, placing 13-16 out of 32 players. Not my best performance, to say the least. But I had a chance to witness the best bank pool and 1pkt players compete. The experience itself was worth it. And to add to that, I was able to play a few games with Sky Woodward!!! He certainly brightened up my week there!

The next stop was Hard Times Billiard of Sacramento for the CA state Women’s 9 Ball Championship. A little background between Oscar Dominguez and myself, Oscar met my parents last year during a junior event that he hosted, and ever since then, Oscar is one of the best sponsors I have had. I played some solid matches the first day and won all three of my matches with a 6-1, 6-3, and 6-2 final score. When I returned on the 2nd day, I had to face Melissa Helland, the highest-ranked player in the tournament. I played my heart out and couldn’t fade the loss. She got me losing to an 8-4 score and knocked me to the one-loss side with a guaranteed 5/6th finish. My next match was with Yu Anran. I was told she’s an outstanding female player from Singapore; she was on vacation and decided to stop by to play in the tournament. We went back and forth, and I ended with a tight 6-5 victory to move forward. At this point, I was guaranteed 4th place, and my next opponent was a frequent tournament player from California, Gigi Callejas. I managed to squeak a 6-3 win against Gigi and move on to the semi-finals to face Melissa Helland once again. Melissa was playing lights out and had me at 0-6 right away! I wasn’t giving up just yet; I fought my way and won the next four racks to make it 4-6. I made a mistake on the 11th rack to put Melissa on the hill and eventually lost to her with a 4-8 final score. Melissa went on and double-dipped M. Shahbazi in the finals to claim the title. I finished 3rd place.

My final stop of the month was Battle Creek, Michigan, for the Predator Pro Billiard Series Women’s Michigan Open. This event marked my 5th WPBA-sanctioned tournament this year.

**Jasmin Ouschan & Savannah Easton Photo by Tiffany Easton**

**Savannah Easton with Sky Woodward**
Photo by Tiffany Easton

Before we arrived at Battle Creek, my dad had told me he had a feeling my first draw would be Jasmin Ouschan. We laughed about it and didn’t put any thought into it.

The night of the player’s meeting and draw, we looked at cuescore.com. Here I am. My name matched up with Jasmin. I had mixed emotions about this draw! I felt a little defeated to play her, but at the same time, I was also excited to have a chance to play against one of my idols at this stage of my pool journey! All I could ask for was to try my best to play my best game and hope for the best. I made a post on my social media about our match.

“I was able to put my air rush to use throughout the match!” I am not joking when I am telling you this, in 6 out of 7 shots; I was jumping out of her safeties. And when I played safety, she was able to get out to re-safe. I tried to capitalize when she missed (three times), and I was able to run out twice to score two games on her to avoid a complete shutout. This is what world-class looks like. I am very honored that Jasmin did not handle our match lightly. Now, if you haven’t met Jasmin in person, she has a serious game face, some say intimidating, but as soon as the match was over, she is a really approachable, genuinely nice person.

No shame in going to the one-loss side after the match against Jasmin Ouschan, but I knew I needed to fight now. My next opponent was Tonya Wise, scheduled on the TV stream table with the shot clock and John Leyman as the referee, just like the Predator Canada Open! I felt very relaxed this time, but it still took me two games to get in the stroke. I had a funny incident happen. At one point, I forgot I used my extension for the rack, and I asked for one for a jump shot. As I was taking my time to chalk my jump cue, I heard, ‘you know you’re out of extensions, ma’am’ Without thinking twice, I ran to the table and one stroked the jump shot. I made it! And got shaped on the next ball to close the rack. That was definitely the highlight of the match. My final score was a 4-0, 4-0 win to move on to stage 2 in the loser bracket.

Savannah Easton in Michigan Photo provided by Tiffany Easton

Next up, I had to face Ashley Burrows. I met Ashley at the first WPBA event in MN. She is a really strong player and is currently ranked #6 in WPBA. I lost our first set with a 4-1 score, and in set number 2, I picked up my pace and game to end it with a 4-2 win. In this format, when both players are tied 1:1 in 2 sets, we move on to the shootout round. As I’ve mentioned in my previous article, I practice my spot shots religiously just for this. Since Ashley won the lag, she chose to shoot first. We both made the first shot and missed the 2nd shot. She then missed the 3rd when I made mine; fortunate for me, she missed the 4th, and I claimed the victory to move on to stage 3.

Stage 3 in one loss side was against long-time WPBA touring player Teruko Cuccinelli (currently ranked #12 in WPBA). I had never had the opportunity to meet Teruko prior to our match. I just walked in with confidence and told myself to play my best game. I won the first set 4-0, and right when I was making the final ten ball at 3-1 up in set number 2, the ten-ball bobbled and sat right by the pocket. I couldn’t believe I made such a mistake at that time. In a short race to 4, anything could happen. As my prediction, Teruko caught up on me, and we went hill-hill 3-3 before I sunk the final ten ball to make it a 4-3 victory in the 2nd set to win the match without going into a shootout round. Definitely, a lesson learned; even when I knew it was an easy straight in 10-ball, I need to stay focused until the last ball sinks in!

Savannah Easton with Allison Fisher in Michigan Photo by Tiffany Easton

**Allison Fisher with Savannah Easton**
Photo by Tiffany Easton

**Savannah Easton and Tonya Wise**
Photo by Tiffany Easton

Stage 4 loser bracket started immediately, the match to get into the final 16. The goal that I set for myself! I was excited that I had made it this far! My opponent was Aleksandra Guleikova from Russia. With no prior knowledge of her game, I did not know what to expect. That was a brutal match. Anything that could go wrong went wrong. Aleksandra is a very strong player and shot maker, and she made some amazing hard shots to claim victory with a 4-3, 4-0 final score.

Like my coach/dad told me, no one to blame but myself for making the mistakes. I was disappointed that I was so close to reaching my goal, and I didn’t make it. The good news is I placed 17-24th out of 64 world-class pro players and cashed in a WPBA event for the first time! It’s the progress that counts, right?

In the next couple of months, I will be traveling to Atlantic City for the US Open/SVB Junior, then to Bristol, TN for WPBA Sledgehammer, and Puerto Rico for Predator Pro Billiard, Puerto Rico Open, and World Junior. I will continue to practice hard and hope to achieve more goals of mine in the near future. As always, my sponsors are a big part of my journey, as well as my parents and my supporters.

A special shout-out to Predator Cues, Jam Up Apparel, Kamui Brand, Golden State Billiard Supply, Salotto, Iwan Simonis Ride The 9 Tour, CaromSports.com, Griff’s Bar & Billiard, Bangin’ Ballz Billiard, and my newest sponsor, DigitalPool.