Last month I competed in the BPAA Ladies All Star event in
Rockford, Illinois. This tournament took the place of the U.S. Open this year
and I am so grateful that BPAA with the help of John Sommers provided another
tournament for us to compete in.
The Ladies All Star was also run in conjunction with the
Senior U.S. Open. Down the street another BPAA tournament was held – The
National Family tournament.
Prior to the start of competition, I bowled one of the pro-am
squads that teamed us with the National Family tournament. It was so much fun
meeting the parent, grandparent or family friend and the child they were
competing with. It was a great event and I know the parents and kids were
excited to have us there.
After practice session and pro-ams, The Ladies All Star tournament held a banquet that celebrated the history of women's bowling. Many Hall of Famers were present and shared stories of the old LPBT and PWBA tours. It was a fun night and gave great insight to the history of women's bowling.
The BPAA Ladies All Star was comprised of three 6-game
qualifying blocks. I started off the tournament well, shooting games of 248,
218, 224, 172, 198 and 258 for +118 overall. I used my new Columbia 300 N’Sane
Antics and Track LX 16 during this block.
The next day, we bowled on the burn squad, meaning they did
not re-oil the lanes in between squads. I didn’t fair as well and just grinded
out the day shooting games of 182, 208, 224, 206, 178 and 212 for +128 overall
and +10 on the day using my Track LX16.
The final day of qualifying, the lanes were brutal. I could
not figure out a great way to stay out of trouble when I missed and getting to
the pocket was very difficult. I again struggled in the middle during the
transition, shooting games of 233, 184, 171, 169, 214 and 191 for +90 overall
using my pin down Columbia300 N’Sane Antics and pin up Ebonite Pivot. Luckily I
had enough pins to qualify for the top 16 round robin match play finals.
Starting the day in 10th place, my first 8 games
of match play went very poorly. I believe I somehow forgot how to bowl
overnight. I went 2-6 and had dropped very far from the top 5 stepladder
finals. However, after a nice break and some lunch, I regained consciousness
and remembered how to bowl, going 6-2 in match play and climbing my way back to
10th place. During the block I had moved up to 6th place
with only 20ish pins out of the top 5 stepladder finals.
All in all, I was pleased with my performance for the week.
The pattern was extremely difficult, as a U.S. Open type tournament pattern
should be. Execution had to be perfect and finding a ball that didn’t leave you
pretty designs when you missed was a must. Unfortunately, I couldn’t quite
match up well enough to find that magic reaction very often. However, despite
that, my execution was top notch; I never missed a single pin spare in all 34
games and that’s all I can really ask for.
Congratulations to Shannon Pluhowsky for winning the BPAA
Ladies All Star and Paula Vidad for winning the Senior U.S. Open! Great bowling
ladies!
Til next time…
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