This month, Scott Norton and I ventured to Houston, Texas to
compete in the Luci Bonneau Mixed Doubles tournament. This event is the biggest
mixed doubles tournament in the Country, if not the world. Every August, Houston basically turns into a
Men’s and Women’s National Pro Tour stop with the amount of talent in the
field. The event sells out in the matter of days and it’s one of the events
that I always look forward to competing in.
Scott and I bowled last year in the Luci Mixed Doubles for
the first time together, and unfortunately it did not go too well. We did not
make the cut and ended up spending our day off, visiting the Houston Space
Center, which was a decent alternative (although we would have much rather been
bowling.)
This year, we were determined to not have that happen again.
Flying in on Thursday afternoon, we were able to get in some quality relaxation
time with our friends Debbie and Ziggy that recently moved to Houston. They
have a gorgeous house, pool and spa and graciously let us stay with them for
the weekend. We were able to spend a relaxing evening visiting and also got a
show, watching a crazy lightening storm off in the distance.
Friday was practice and pro-am day. Practice session went
well and then we had the pro-am shortly afterwards. The pro-am at this event is always full and
so much fun as Donna Connors puts on an amazing event with grandiose prizes and
auction items, plus the entire tournament serves as a charity for breast cancer
awareness and donations to research etc.
We bowled B squad on Saturday. In between squads, Donna has
raffle items for the pros and the prizes are insane! Every entrant receives a
free ticket and she gives away two of every item – one for the women and one
for the men. Well the very first prize she gave away this year happened to be
the grand prize – a 55 inch flat screen TV. Scott happened to be walking by the
table right as they were going to start the drawing so they asked him to pull
the first ticket. I was holding both of our tickets (blue for the guys and red
for the women.) Low and behold they started reading off the numbers and Scott
drew his own ticket, unbeknownst to him since I was holding them. So before we
even threw a ball, Scott had won a 55 inch TV! Not a bad way to start the
day.
We then bowled our 8 games of qualifying. The oil pattern at
the Luci is always difficult so it puts a premium on shot making and picking up
spares. I shot games of 214, 215, 233,
198, 258, 226, 236 and 242 for +222 and was high amongst all of the women. I
used my Columbia 300 Blur Hybrid and Track LX 16 for the entire day. Scott shot
games of 224, 177, 214, 243, 231, 190, 219 and 235 for +133 using his Columbia
300 N’Sane Antics for most of the day. Total we were at +355, which put us in 2nd
place overall.
The next day, we bowled 4 games of semifinals and then the
field was cut to the top 8 teams for round robin match play. I think I forgot
how to bowl in the morning or just flat out wasn’t awake yet, as I struggled
shooting games of 169, 191, 181 and 213. Luckily Scott held me up shooting 234,
247, 220 and 230. We had dropped down to 3rd place going into match
play.
We then bowled 8 games of round robin match play with 50
bonus pins awarded to the team winning the team total each match. Scott and I
both LOVE match play and it was evident as we went 6.5-.5 and had made up
enough ground to move into 1st place going into the position round.
However, we were only ahead of Tom Daugherty and his partner Kristina Wendell
by 9 pins. So whoever won the match, was going to win the title.
Luckily I had a good look on the pair and starting stringing
strikes early. Tom had a couple of early opens, but Scott also didn't have a
great look on the pair, so the match was pretty close. Going in to the 10th
frame we were ahead but needed to finish strong. I left a stubborn 10 pin,
which forced Scott to have to get a mark on his bad lane. He went up and threw
it perfect for a strike and we won the title 420-393!
Not only is winning any tournament a great feeling, but
winning this prestigious event with your best friend just puts icing on the
cake! The tournament also counts as a PBA Regional title, so I am now the only
woman to have 3 PBA Regional Titles and Scott now has lucky number 7.
Til next time…
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