The Pepsi PWBA Lincoln Open

This past week, I travelled to Sun Valley Lanes in Lincoln, Nebraska for the Pepsi PWBA Lincoln Open.

This week, we competed on a demanding 36' pattern. There were 78 bowlers at this event with a max of 80. 

Even though we were bowling on a short pattern, the extreme outside part of the lane was out of bounds/unplayable. That's what also added to the difficulty of this pattern, as that is usually the part of the lane you should be playing on such short patterns. 

I decided to play it safer, keeping the ball controlled and used my Black Hammer Urethane with 500 grit playing straight up 9 board to start and shot games of 200, 245 and 168. I then began lofting my Urethane ball to get it cleaner through the heads and shot 223 and 197 before switching to my Columbia 300 Eruption Pro Orange for 184. This put me at +17 overall and in 13th position, only missing one makeable spare  (a washout.)

After a short break, we came back to bowl the 2nd block of qualifying. I again started with my Urethane ball shooting 202. Unfortunately, many played the lanes further inside to start, making the pattern change faster and get ugly pretty quick. I really struggled the remainder of the block shooting 159, 184, 199, 178 and 170 for -91 total. This squeaked me into the Casher's Round ending up in 29th place. It took - 114 to make the cut to the top 32.

Needing a big block in the Casher's Round, I decided to go with a different strategy. I used my New Hammer Diesel and opened up my angles quite a bit, getting the ball quickly to the right, allowing the ball to roll off the dry. I must admit this is definitely not my A game, as I prefer a straighter angle to the pocket. 

The strategy seemed to work as I shot 206 and 232 to start. However, the lanes transitioned and I couldn't quite figure them out after that. I ended up shooting 171, 193, 145 and 192 for -152 overall, which kept me in 29th position for the tournament. 

Although I definitely would have liked to bowl better, I am still happy with cashing considering I haven't cashed at this event the prior 2 years. 

Thank you to the 2017 BPAA Proprietor of the Year John Losito and the entire staff of Sun Valley Lanes for the gracious hospitality! It has been a pleasure bowling here the first 3 seasons. 

Congratulations to Li Jane Sin from Malaysia, Thashaina Seraus from Aruba and Kelly Kulick and Liz Johnson for making the TV show.

Be sure to tune in to CBS Sports Network on Tuesday nights at 8 pm EST to watch the stepladder finals of this season's events.

Time for a quick trip home before heading to our next PWBA Tour Stop in Detroit, Michigan. And....last but not least...

Here's a little secret that I can finally let all of you in on....Baby Parkin will be arriving in December 2017. Drew and I are ecstatic! And YES, I will be bowling the entire 2017 PWBA Tour Season.