The 23rd season of the Alro Steel – Michigan Junior Masters Association kicked off at Lodge Lanes in Belleville, MI on August 2nd. Josh Brown (Monroe, MI) picked up where he left off last season as he won the one-day event for his second tournament title while Kara Richard (Tecumseh, MI) shook off her loss in the Championship event in Monroe with her first title on the ladies side as well.

Brown won the final regular season event in Grand Rapids last season, also a one-day event, and had a good showing in the Championship event in June but showed he was for real as he bested last season’s Bowler and Rookie-of-the-Year Adam Jablonski (Sterling Heights, MI) in the semi-finals 198-178 to advance to the finals event. Brown then faced Nicolas Sutherland (Grand Blanc, MI) who was bowling in his very first finals match after Sutherland had defeated Abed Daher (Brownstown, MI) in the semi-finals 204 – 169.Brown and Sutherland both struggled in the finals match as the lane conditions continued to deteriate and spare making became the difference as Brown finished strong with a 162-151 win in the finals match.

Richard, who was the runner-up in the Championship event in Monroe, had to work hard in the first round and took 5 games to take out the number two seed Addileen Pointer 3 games to 2. Sarah Lokker (New Baltimore, MI) who is a two-time title winner won her semi-finals match 3-0 against Brianne Schmansky (Westland, MI) but had to sit and wait until Richard advanced to the finals. That wait proved to be a big favor to Richard as Lokker struggled to find the proper line during the match but Richard picked up right where she left off in the semi-finals to defeat Lokker 215-169.

Scholarships were paid to all the bowlers who made it to the PBA style match play portion of the tournament which meant that we started the year off awarding nearly $3,000.00 in our first event. This is made possible by the sponsor ship from Alro Steel as once again this season the Glick family has continued their support as our presenting sponsor. We thank them for their continued support and we are looking forward to another great season of competition with bowlers from at least 4 states and Canada once again competing for the titles and scholarship money.

Our next event is the Alumni Tournament in Clarkston at Cherry Hill North. The junior bowlers will be bowling early in the day on Saturday and our alumni will bowl right after that on the same conditions the junior bowlers compete on for the chance at the Alumni Banner and bragging rights for the next year. Entries are limited for both events so we are encouraging everyone to get their entries and money in as soon as possible. We look forward to seeing everyone on August 23rd in Clarkston.