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Sakai Triumphant in Hunter Classic WPBA Qualifier By Tori Hilty, InsidePOOL staff  The spacious Legend's Billiards in League City, TX, hosted a $2,000-added event for the Hunter Classic Tour and welcomed the 38 ladies who came out to play on June 5-6, 2004. This was slightly smaller than usual because of the coinciding APA event.
Many tough players came out for the event not only for their portion of a purse totaling nearly $3,000 but also to try to nab the top spot and the paid entry to the WPBA Florida Classic. Japan native Miyuki Sakai blazed through her competitors to take home the top spot undefeated and claimed the WPBA spot as her own. Determination of the money spots began when Orietta Strickland faced off against Leslie Anne Rogers, the tour's champion for three consecutive years. Strickland jumped out to a quick lead, leaving Rogers down 5-0 at one point. Rogers staged a comeback but scratched on the 8 ball, and this was all Strickland needed to take the score to 7-5 to secure the win. In the meantime, Sakai was defending her winning streak against Tara McCracken. This was the first time McCracken had ever played in a hot seat match on this tour, and she held her own. The match was neck-and-neck most of the way, with Sakai getting a small 5-4 lead. McCracken was allowed to get only one more game under her belt before Sakai sent her to the west side of the chart with a final decision of 7-5. It was there that McCracken faced off against Strickland to see who would advance to the finals. Strickland held the lead the entire match, but with McCracken uncomfortably close on her heels. McCracken could just not pull in front of Strickland to move on to face Sakai and accepted third place. The finals were a race-to-7, double-elimination format, meaning that Strickland would have to best Sakai twice if she were to take first place. It looked grim for Strickland when Sakai reached the hill while Strickland was on the board with 2. Strickland came back after sinking some crucial balls, executing jump shots on several of them, and closed the gap 6-5, but it was not enough to secure the first set. Sakai took the match with a 7-5 decision, winning this WPBA qualifying event. Results: 1st Miyuki Sakai $750 + Qual 2nd Orietta Strickland $550 3rd Tara McCracken $380 4th Leslie Anne Rogers $250 Visit InsidePOOL for the latest news in the sport of billiards and pool.
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