Two weeks ago, my bestie Scott Norton and I travelled to Houston, Texas to defend our title at the Luci Bonneau Striking Against Breast Cancer Mixed Doubles event. This tournament is by far one of my favorite events of the year. The lanes were very challenging and we were fortunate enough to bowl the last squad of qualifying, so we were able to watch the other squads beforehand.
Unfortunately, things did not go well, as we couldn't stay out of trouble and caught a lot of bad breaks. Despite a big last game, we ended up shooting -74 overall for the 8 games of qualifying and missed cashing by 12 pins. BIG thank you to Donna Connors who always runs an amazing tournament! Congratulations to Shannon O'Keefe and Bill O'Neill for winning and capturing the PBA/PWBA Title.
In between the Luci and the PWBA Topeka Open, I travelled back to Austin, Texas with my roommates Clara Guerrero, Maria Jose Rodriguez and Sandra Gongora. Clara and I hosted out 1st of many bowling clinics throughout the summer at Mel's Lone Star Lanes. The event was a success!
Besides practice and a sports massage, we also made time to have a little fun in Austin. We rented a boat and cruised around the gorgeous Lake Travis. We then headed 10 hours to Topeka, Kansas for the next PWBA Stop.
We bowled on a 35' short pattern and after the practice session, I drilled 3 new balls - an Ebonite Code of Honor and Game Breaker 2 and a Classic U2 urethane ball. In the first 6 games of qualifying, I shot +17 using the Ebonite Code of Honor and Game Breaker 2 and also a Columbia 300 Eruption Pro Orange. I was roughly 40 pins behind the cut number and knew I needed a good final block.
I started out the next block struggling a bit, shooting 170, but then brought it back with a 216, 224, 191 and 210 for +28 going into the last game. I needed a big game to possibly make the cut and a decent game to get a check. We hit a really bad pair and I ended up using 3 different balls and shot 154 to miss cashing by 17 pins. I was pretty upset with my finish, but all I can do is learn from it and move on.
The next day, I cheered on my roommate Clara Guerrero, who qualified for the top 16 match play finals. She won 10 out of 16 matches to move from 13th to 4th and qualify for the stepladder finals. The position round was intense with 3rd to 8th place all able to make the stepladder. So winning that match and shooting a decent game was critical.
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| Stepladder Finalists for the PWBA Topeka Open - Danielle McEwan, Liz Johnson, Liz Kuhlkin and Clara Guerrero |
On Sunday, Clara and I had our second clinic and hosted it at the same bowling center we competed in all week long. We then left Topeka and travelled immediately to Kansas City to bowl in the Bowlers Show Charity Doubles tournament.
We bowled 3 games of qualifying. I shot 765 and Clara shot 710 and we were the top qualifiers. The field was then cut to the top 4 for a baker stepladder finals. Clara and I together shot 225 and won the tournament. We both used our Columbia 300 Urge the entire day. The tournament raised more than $1200 for the Willie Pollard scholarship fund.
We spent another day in Kansas City before heading to Lincoln, Nebraska for the next PWBA Tour stop. We practiced every day this week and managed to have a little fun before the start of the next PWBA event.
Stay tuned for the next tournament - the PWBA Lincoln Open Aug. 13-15. Watch all of the action LIVE on XtraFrame.tv
Until next time...
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