For a brief period during the finals of the
Connelly Players Championship, it appeared that
Gerda Hofstatter would actually shut the door on
Allison Fisher, but Hofstatter could not finish
the job as Fisher captured the second title of the
WPBA season, 11-9.
Though Fisher had cruised through the opponents
leading up to the title match (including a 9-2
drubbing of Hofstatter in the winner's bracket
final, misreported earlier), Hofstatter was
putting the screws to Fisher early. After four
games, Fisher trailed 3-1, yet managed to tie the
match and even take the lead. Yet Hofstatter won
five of the next seven games, and it appeared that
Fisher may have met her match.
Yet after taking the lead 8-5 with a 9 ball on the
break, Hofstatter tried playing safe in the 16th
game on the 1 and put it next to the 9. Fisher
Played a billiard off the 1 and pushed the 9 into
the corner to pull within 2. Fisher ran out the
next game, yet the two players fell into a safety
match in game 16. Fisher almost tied the match
when she caused Hofstatter to foul twice, but
Gerda was able to escape the third foul with an
impressive kickout on the 2 ball. Eventually,
Hofstatter broke up the pack and forced Fisher to
take bad shot on the 6. After missing, Hofstatter
ran out to lead 9-7 (the finals were a race to
11). Although this would have given her the win in
any other match of the tournament, she now had to
put two games away before Fisher could take 4.
At 9-7, Hofstatter and Fisher traded safeties
until Hofstatter appeared to have a 2-3
combination into the corner. "I thought I could
sneak it past the 3 but I tried to make the
combination," said Hofstatter. "I think that was
the turning point of the match."
Fisher agreed. "I really thought that Gerda was
win this," said Fisher, "but when she missed that
shot, things started going my way."
After that, Fisher took the next three games,
giving her the break and just one game to win. She
made a ball on the break but made a poor safety,
which Hofstatter could have used to hook Fisher
out of play and maybe giving Hofstatter some lost
momentum. Unfortunately, Hofstatter left the
object ball wide open, giving Fisher an easy
run-out and the title.
Despite her loss, Hofstatter kept her spirits up.
During the post-game speeches in front of the
capacity crowd, Hofstatter started, "Allison..."
and finished with, "...I'll get you next time."
Her next chance is at Boston Billiard Club in
Boston, April 23-26 for the third stop of the WPBA
Classic Tour. Fisher has won the first two Classic
Tour events of 1998, including the Ultimate
Challenge and Shootout, making her 4-for-4 for the year.
