Laughlin will meet Cassidy in Women's Match Play final

   Riverton Country Club’s Ann Laughlin, bidding for a record-tying 12^th title, reached the final of the Women’s Match Play Championship Thursday at the Union League Golf Club of Torresdale.

   As I dug up on a Google search Wednesday, Laughlin was the AIAW individual champion at the University of Miami in 1972 and owns 11 Philadelphia Amateur titles. She’ll try to win the Women’s Golf Association of Philadelphia’s biggest event Friday in a scheduled 36-hole final.

   In Thursday’s semifinals, Laughlin claimed a 2-up victory over Spring-Ford Country Club’s Maddie Sager, a runnerup in the PIAA Class AAA Tournament for Owen J. Roberts last fall.

   A win in Friday’s final would enable Laughlin to match late Philadelphia Country Club great Helen Sigel Wilson’s record of 12 Philadelphia Amateur crowns.

   Laughlin will take on Commonwealth National Golf Club’s Ashley Cassidy, a former Central Bucks East standout and a senior at the University of Cincinnati in the title match. Cassidy claimed a 3 and 2 victory over Merion Golf Club’s Catherine Elliott, who starred at the Academy of Notre Dame and the University of Pennsylvania.

   The First Flight final will pit Karen Siegel of Commonwealth National and AK Frazier of Gulph Mills Golf Club.

   Siegel cruised to an 8 and 6 victory over Ruth Averback of Old York Road Country Club in one semifinal match while Frazier edged Merion’s Liz Haines, 2 and 1, in a matchup of two battle-tested veterans in the other semifinal.