Two new champions were crowned at the Alro Steel – Michigan Junior Masters Associations tournament at Salt River Lanes in New Baltimore, Michigan. First year participant Aleksandra Hudak (Taylor, MI) and long-time member Eric Bracken (Brighton, MI) scored their first tournament wins by outscoring the field in what proved to be one of the higher scoring events of the season.

Hudak qualified 4th after the match play on Sunday and faced off against Samantha Hesley (West Palm Beach, FL) in the first step-ladder match. The match went back and forth but Hudak put the game away with a late four-bagger to move on to the semi-finals with a 211-191 win. Kara Richard (Tecumseh, MI) was waiting as the number two qualifier and this match went down to the tenth frame. Richard left an unfortunate Greek church on her first ball in the tenth and when spared and filled with a 9 count in her tenth, she advanced to her very first final, 193-190.

Two time champion this season Tori Ferris (Kalamazoo, MI) had led the girls’ field throughout the weekend but when Ferris opened the match with back-to-back open frames, it gave Hudak the lead early. Hudak then proceeded to throw a three bagger and a separate four bagger in the game while Ferris could not get ten to fall. In the end it was Hudak winning her first title 214-168 over Ferris.

On the guy’s side Jalen White (Lansing, MI) and Paul Benedict (Wyandotte, MI) faced off in the first step-ladder match. While White threw a clean game it was Benedict who advanced with five late strikes to close out the match 231-215. Benedict would next face Bracken and Bracken turned the tables on Benedict as he threw 10 strikes, including nine in a row, to easily advance to the semi-finals 273-211. Bobby Bures (Mentor, OH) was next in line and this match went back and forth but a split in the 6th frame and a really stubborn 9 pin in the ninth ended the weekend for Bures as Bracken pulled out a clean game victory 224-205.

The finals featured two bowlers who had not won a title in the Alro Steel – MJMA. Cory Hines (Jackson, MI) had bowled famously on Sunday, including a 300 game, and held a huge 200+ pin advantage over the field going into the step ladder finals. As the match began both Hines and Bracken had 5 strikes in the first 6 frames but Hines hit a Greek Church split in the 7th frame and a 4-6-7 split in the 8th frame to end his hopes of winning his first title. Bracken continued to strike in the match and win his first Alro Steel – MJMA title 258-216.

We also awarded three more Junior Gold spots at this event as Aleksandra Hudak, Brandon Blanchard (Warren, MI) and Jalen White all received their spots for the national event in Indianapolis, Indiana this coming July.

With the help of our presenting sponsor Alro Steel, we awarded another $3,000.00 to the match play participants on Sunday. This brings our yearly total to over $36,000.00 for our nine events so far. The Glick family and Alro Steel have been involved with the Michigan Junior Masters Association for many years now and their contributions to the scholarship funds go a long way to helping us award the money we do in scholarships each and every event. We thank them greatly and look forward to many more years of sponsorship.

The next Alro Steel – MJMA event is the 3rd Annual Alro Steel Taylor Open at Taylor Lanes in Taylor, Michigan. The Dobbin family has been great hosts over the past two years and this event has quickly become our most popular event. We have averaged 145 participants the first two years and with the high school season coming to a close the first weekend in March, we again expect a very large field for the March 28-29 event.

The event will also be the second of our three double point events. This means that those bowlers near the lead for Bowler-of-the-Year and Rookie-of-the-Year will need to be sure they participate and bowl well to continue to help their chances at these coveted awards.

Get those entries in early because we do expect a large field and you do not want to take the chance to be closed out of the event. Entries can be found HERE. If you need further information please contact Jerry Tarabek.