Welcome back, Ladies! Congratulations to “She Devils” and “Tipsy Q’s” for qualifying for the 2014 APA Ladies National Championships in Las Vegas. Both teams play out of the Hungry Stick. Each team won their City Championship bracket and will receive hotel, travel assistance and entry fee paid into the National Championships in August at the Riviera Hotel and Casino. “She Devils” are Captain Brandy Pamintuan, Linda Schaffer, Bonnie Johnson, Robin Smith and Stephanie Lombardo. Robin and Stephanie couldn’t attend the Nationals, so Corie Sonnenberg and Kimberly Crouse will be replacing them on the roster at Nationals. “Tipsy Q’s” are Debra Lopez, Marakai Fellows, Laura Fennell, Jackie Lisle and Lynn Goodner. Congratulations to all of the Ladies. They will be the first San Diego Ladies teams competing in the new National 3 player format and the new 8 Ball scoring system.
Here is a reprint of the basic rule information for our Ladies league:
Rosters can have up to 5 players on a team. 3 play each week. The handicap limit of the 3 players cannot exceed 13. These divisions will feature the same handicap races you are all familiar with, but we will be using the new 3 point system for team points. It’s 3-0 if you shut out your opponent. It’s 2-0 if you beat your opponent and they won at least one game, but didn’t make it to the hill. It’s 2-1 if the opponent made it to the hill. There is a legend on the score sheet for quick reference.
League fees are $24.00 per team each week. End of session prize money will be based on the amount of teams we have playing each week, and how much we can save up to send teams to Nationals. For every 10 teams playing, we receive 1 slot for Nationals. Because it is still basically a bi-weekly league, we don’t generate nearly as much prize money we would if play were weekly. Playoffs will also be $24 per team.
Byes in these divisions will be worth 5 points. Bonus points will be worth 2 points. Forfeits will be worth 2 points for each match in regular session and 3 points for each match during playoffs and higher level tournament play. Playoffs will use the same point system to determine the winners. In the event of a tie, the team that won 2 out of the 3 matches wins.
MVP will still be broken into tiers of 2-4 and 5-7, but the MVP will now be awarded to the player with the highest percentage of points available within their tier. The new MVP program is explained in detail on the home page of our web site.
This change to the Ladies division mirrors exactly what the APA Ladies National Team Championship will be doing. They have 3 to 5 player rosters with 3 that play to 13 handicap limit and the 3 point scoring system. The National event will be limited to 128 teams this first year and APA’s goal will be to fill all 128 slots to create a very nice payout for the teams that qualify and advance. With that in mind, slots may be given out to Ladies teams that just pay an entry fee into the event without actually competing in divisions year round. Leagues that give out slots this way are not given any priority for slots, and areas that actually run Ladies divisions get the most priority for extra slots if they are available. Basically, we are guaranteed slots based on team counts playing. After that, slots will be assigned based on participation. Either way, this is good news for our ladies teams since we live so close to Nationals. Extra slots (if we receive them) will be assigned based on drawings among the top finishing teams at our City Championships. This year with a full field of 128 teams, 1st place will pay out $8000.00, which is a great payout for a 5 person team. Also, if the tournament goes over well and is full, it opens the possibility to extending the field to 256 next year and more San Diego teams getting a chance to participate. Good luck to everyone, especially the new teams playing in the new division forming in Vista!