PWBA Lexington Open

Immediately following Bowl Expo in Las Vegas, we flew straight to the next PWBA Tour stop at Collins Bowling Center- Eastland in Lexington, KY.

I was excited for this stop because my mom's entire family is from Louisville, which is only a little over an hour away. Because of my crazy bowling schedule, I haven't been able to visit them for a very long time.

This week we bowled on a 38' pattern using 25.8mL on volume.

Most bowlers found success playing inside the track to start and then migrating left and opening up their angles. I, on the other hand, found a shot playing outside around 1st arrow, throwing it hard and straight. 

For those that follow along on Xtra Frame, you may have noticed that I was wearing a small wrist brace this week. This brace is actually more of a training tool that I use to practice, but it came in handy this week and it allows me to stay more behind the ball. 

The scores this week were very low, which put a premium on shot making and spare shooting. I shot games of 201, 254, 160, 221, 167 and 200 for +3 overall. I used my New Track Heat X-treme for most of the block.

I will say it was very easy to shoot low games this week. With bowling on twister pins, all it took was a bad pair, coupled with a few bad breaks to shoot a low game. 

The second block of qualifying, I had a cheering section as my Uncle Kevin and his wife Dana came to watch me bowl. I started out strong and used my New Heat X-treme the entire block, shooting games of 260, 234, 164, 279, 203 and 192 for +135, which put me in 5th place going into the casher's round.

I drilled a pin up Heat X-treme for the next day to help when the lanes started to dry up. This allowed me to stay near the same part of the lane, but help the ball get through the heads better when the lanes started to dry up.

In the casher's round, the lanes were brutal. I shot games of 214, 211, 215, 191, 186 and 166 (with my only open being a pocket 4,9 in the 10th frame.) That dropped me down to 10th place going into Matchplay. 

After regrouping, fixing surfaces and mentally recharging, I was determined to bowl well in match play. I went 2-4 in Matchplay, although my scores were pretty solid for the low scoring pace. I shot 228, 209, 210, 179, 214 and 189 using both of my Track Heat X-tremes and a Paradox. This put me in 4th position for the stepladder finals in my bracket.

In the opening match, I faced Diana Z. I used my pin up Heat X-treme and won shooting 223 to her 181. I then faced Shannon O'Keefe. The winner of this match would join Kelly Kulick and Bryanna Cote on the TV show. I bowled a very good game, never missing the pocket but left a stubborn 8 pin in the middle of strikes to shot 214 and lost to her 239. 

It was another good week, but again just short of making the TV finals. 

Congratulations to Shannon O'Keefe and Shannon Pluhowsky for joining Bryanna and Kelly for the TV show stepladder finals. 

The next day, I was able to visit with some of my family for lunch before flying out to Team USA training camp. It was so great to catch up with everyone!

Until next time...