Last week, I competed in the 2012 U.S. Women's Open at the National Bowling Stadium in Reno, Nevada and qualified for the unforgettable night of women's bowling.
It all started with the qualifying portion of the tournament. We bowled 6 games a day for 3 straight days and then the field was cut to the top 25% of the 202 participating women bowlers. I must also add that I LOVED the time schedule for the tournament all week. The earliest we bowled was 3pm, so for those of you that know me and know I'm NOT a morning person, I loved getting to sleep in every day! In fact, when I saw the schedule for the tournament a few weeks ago, I joked to my mom that I was going to win this tournament simply because I didn't have to get up early.
Day 1, I started out a little slow but then finished hot with games of 211, 197, 268, 246, 248 and 249 for +219, using my new 900 Global Sure Thing and The Nuts solid, which put me in 8th place.
Day 1, I started out a little slow but then finished hot with games of 211, 197, 268, 246, 248 and 249 for +219, using my new 900 Global Sure Thing and The Nuts solid, which put me in 8th place.
The following day I bowled on the burn squad where the lanes were not re-oiled. I used my 900 Global Nuts and Black Mamba to shoot games of 243, 235, 223, 229, 228 and 180 for +138 for the day and +357 overall, which moved me into 6th place. The final day of qualifying, I used my Black Mamba to shoot games of 216, 204, 278, 213, 267 and 243 for +221 and +578 overall, moving me up into 3rd place overall.
The next day we bowled 6 more games of semifinals and then we cut to the top 16 players. During semis, I struggled a bit and shot games of 190, 196, 256, 224, 223 and 218 for +107 and +685 overall, remaining in 2nd place going into the 16 games of round robin matchplay. We bowled the first 8 games of matchplay that same night. With 30 bonus pins per game on the line, anything could happen, so I knew I needed to bowl really well and WIN matches! The fun part about that night was that Bowl Expo had the welcome reception downstairs at the National Bowling Stadium, so everyone naturally came upstairs to watch us bowl. The grand stands were packed almost completely full, people were cheering and the atmosphere was intense. That night, with games of 244, 203, 278, 259, 203, 202, 258 and 225, using my AMF Black Mamba and 900 Global Black Eagle, I won 6 out of 8 matches and was securely in 2nd place.
The next day, I knew I still had to bowl 8 great games to guarantee making the TV show and hopefully move up in positioning. Well, the day did NOT start out as I had hoped. I lost my first 4 matches and (being one that doesn't watch the scores) didn't know that at one point I had moved down to 4th place. I then shot a big 278 game and 234, winning both matches, but then shot a disappointing 7th game of 189 to drop to 3rd place.
The 8th and final position round game of the tournament was crucial! I was in 3rd place, only 33 pins ahead of Stefanie Nation in 4th place and was exactly 100 pins behind Shannon O'Keefe for 2nd place. (Kelly was uncatchable, leading the tournament by some 300 odd pins.) So I just told myself, you are not going to miss your mark this entire game and I did just that, stringing the first 5 strikes and then leaving a stubborn 10 pin to then string strikes again until the 10th frame. When I got up in the 10th frame, I had already won my match against Stefanie, but Shannon O'Keefe had already finished her match, shooting 204 and losing to Kelly. So I needed to go up and double in the 10th frame (and get count) to move from 3rd into 2nd position for the TV show. Again there were a lot of people watching, and the crowd was pumped. With lots of cheers and myself intensely focused, I struck out, shooting 279 to claim the number two seed for the TV show, a game which proved to be HUGE for what we all faced on the TV show the next night.
Stay Tuned for Part II...
The next day, I knew I still had to bowl 8 great games to guarantee making the TV show and hopefully move up in positioning. Well, the day did NOT start out as I had hoped. I lost my first 4 matches and (being one that doesn't watch the scores) didn't know that at one point I had moved down to 4th place. I then shot a big 278 game and 234, winning both matches, but then shot a disappointing 7th game of 189 to drop to 3rd place.
The 8th and final position round game of the tournament was crucial! I was in 3rd place, only 33 pins ahead of Stefanie Nation in 4th place and was exactly 100 pins behind Shannon O'Keefe for 2nd place. (Kelly was uncatchable, leading the tournament by some 300 odd pins.) So I just told myself, you are not going to miss your mark this entire game and I did just that, stringing the first 5 strikes and then leaving a stubborn 10 pin to then string strikes again until the 10th frame. When I got up in the 10th frame, I had already won my match against Stefanie, but Shannon O'Keefe had already finished her match, shooting 204 and losing to Kelly. So I needed to go up and double in the 10th frame (and get count) to move from 3rd into 2nd position for the TV show. Again there were a lot of people watching, and the crowd was pumped. With lots of cheers and myself intensely focused, I struck out, shooting 279 to claim the number two seed for the TV show, a game which proved to be HUGE for what we all faced on the TV show the next night.
Stay Tuned for Part II...
No comments:
Post a Comment