Orange County Tournament

Last weekend, I competed in Orange County Tournament. Although the event is all handicap now (and I usually steer clear of non-scratch events, I still find this tournament a fun source of competitive practice. I've bowled with the same group of ladies since I turned adult at age 18. I call them "My Moms" (seeing as they all have kids around my age) and I think they all have adopted me as their daughter. Although our team changed a bit this year, we still had a lot of fun and bowled really well! Original team member, Virginia Norton and I paired with new members Rachel Hickenbottom and Samantha Jimenez, who just turned adult this season.

We decided to bowl all three events - singles, doubles and team - all on the same day. Each event consists of three games and the tournament runs over a few weekends. At the end, total pins in each event wins.

We bowled doubles and singles first at Valley View Lanes. Oh the memories at this bowling center... This center brought me into the world of adult bowling, as it used to host a big ladies scratch league, which I bowled every year after turning adult. However, sadly to say, the league folded around 2004.

We bowled doubles event first, and I was paired with Virginia Norton. I shot games of 259, 255 (with the front 7 both games) and then 222 the last game for a 736 series. Virginia shot games of 216, 212 and 187 for a 615 series. Combined we shot 1351 and were unofficially in 1st place.

Singles was my lowest set (as it usually is for some reason), as we switched pairs and I shot games of 225, 203 and 244 for a 672 series. Both sets, I used my Bounty Hunter and was able to open up the lanes, moving inside of everyone and hooking it out to the dry, allowing me to create some area.

Then in the afternoon, we bowled at Irvine Lanes for team event. I had never bowled at this center before, except to practice once or twice. Well we started with a BANG, shooting 997 the first game for our four person team. I shot 268 (with the front 8 using my Bounty Hunter Pearl), Virginia shot 205, Rachel shot 224 and our rookie Samantha shot a perfect 300! Our second game we shot 887, as I shot 238. And our last game, we ended with a 874, as I shot 257. So in total, we shot 2758 for our team of four ladies. I shot 763 in team event, which put me at 2171 for all events.

Unofficially, we are in 1st place for team event. Virginia and I are in 1st place for doubles event and I am in 1st place for all events.

Not bad for a team of scratch bowlers who just wanted to have some fun...