Missy Comes in 6th place at the 2012 USBC Queens

After a long grueling week and near shot at defending her title, Missy Parkin came up a little short, finishing in 6th place at the 2012 USBC Queens tournament at AMF Euless Lanes in Dallas, Texas.

Missy was the closest woman in over 10 years to defending her USBC Queens title. The Queens title hadn't been successfully defended since Katsuko Sugimoto won back-to-back titles in 1981-82.


I qualified in the 5th position going into the match play portion of the tournament, shooting +301 and averaging 220.07 for my 15 games of qualifying. Finishing amongst the top 16 players in qualifying, I earned a first round bye with the new format change.

In my first match, I faced Sandra Andersson from Sweden and defeated her 642-613 in a close match in which I came back from being down 14 pins going into the last game. Next, I then faced Hall of Famer Anne Marie Duggan and defeated her 623-536. In a crucial next match on Monday morning, I faced Olivia Sandham from Wichita, KS. I came out victorious winning 666 to 601.

Then, I went on to face Carolyn Dorin Ballard in the match that determined who would make the TV show and a chance at 1st or 2nd seed. I struggled on that pair, not finding a good line and having carry issues and lost 662-572, sending me into the new shootout match in the contenders bracket.

Myself and Diandra Asbaty along with Liz Johnson and newcomer Josie Earnest, bowled a 3-game total pins match on the same pair of lanes with the top 3 scores advancing to the TV finals and the low score being eliminated.

Again, I struggled to find a good line, playing all over the lane and using 5 different bowling balls throughout the entire match and ended up being eliminated from the tournament with the lowest score, thus finishing in 6th place.

Here's your lineup for the TV show: Carolyn Dorin Ballard is the number one seed, Stefanie Nation is seeded second, Diandra Asbaty is third, Liz Johnson is fourth and Josie Earnest is fifth.

Tune in to see the new 2012 Queens champion crowned tonight, April 24th LIVE on ESPN 2 at 7pm EST (4pm West coast time).