A field of 116 bowlers converged on Sunnybrook Lanes in Sterling Heights, MI this past weekend to take on the Sport Challenge event in our schedule. Bowlers from seven states and Canada tested their skills as some of the finest junior bowlers in the country attended this annual challenge. Matthew O’Grady, the reigning Junior Gold Championship winner from New Jersey, was testing his skills in MJMA for the first time in his career, along with bowlers from Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Wisconsin and Maryland, not to mention a very talented representation from Canada.

The guys stole the show the first day as once the initial oil patterns were burned away, the scoring levels jumped dramatically. Kevin Dedoe (North Street, MI) had the high game of the day, and the tournament, shooting 286 while Ben Galloway (Moon Twp., PA – 279) and O’Grady (275) were hot on his heels. O’Grady led the boys through qualifying and was still the leader after match play on Sunday but there were four other bowlers ready to take the title from him in the step ladder finals.

In the first match, Jared Ball (Jackson, MI) faced off against Junior Team USA member Tim Pfeifer (Cranberry Twp., PA). Both had a hard time getting the reaction they were looking for but when Pfeifer threw a 7-10 split in the tenth, Ball emerged with a 194-189 victory and moved up to face a newcomer Michael Kiel (Livonia, MI) who was making his first ever MJMA appearance. Ball showed he had figured out the lane pattern as he coasted to a 247-168 win and put himself into the semi-finals against Seby Silvestri (Louisville, KY) who was our number two qualifier.

In a match that went back and forth most of the way, it was Ball overcoming three splits to win the match 198-192 to set up the finals against O’Grady. In what proved to be an entertaining final, Ball took advantage of a miscue by O’Grady, who had a split in between a couple of doubles, and closed out the match to win his first Alro Steel / MJMA title 234-201. Ball took home a $1,000.00 scholarship while O’Grady ($800.00), Silvestri ($600.00), Kiel ($500.00) and Pfeifer ($400.00) also had nice scholarship pay-days.

The girls proved they could handle the conditions as well as they put on the big show for the crowd on Sunday in match play. Jennifer Churchill (Windsor, Ont.) rolled a couple of 278 games and Christina Huttinger (Zelienople, PA) shot a couple of 250+ games to give the crowd a real show to watch. Emily Witt (Grand Rapids, MI), who bowls for Pikeville College, led the qualifying for the girls and was in the hunt all day trying to maintain that top spot after match play. Churchill, however, rolled the big games and won six of her eight matches to take the number one seed going into the step ladder finals. Witt ended up in the number three spot with Christine Bator (Warren, MI) and Huttinger finishing second and fourth to round out the step ladders.

In the first match, Witt bowled a clean game and it was enough as she defeated Huttinger 202-169 to advance to the semi-finals against Bator. Witt, started strong but Bator’s experience at winning titles helped her come from behind to defeat Witt 207-188 to move into the finals against Churchill. These two ladies had a combined eight Alro Steel / MJMA titles between them, Bator having five, so they are very used to bowling each other. However, Churchill’s hot hand from earlier in match play continued into the finals as she rolled a wonder 256 game to close out the championship against Bator’s 167.

The ladies also had a nice scholarship pay-off as Churchill took home $500.00, Bator $350.00, Witt $325.00 and Huttinger $200.00. Also all the bowlers, guys and girls, who made it to match play all earned scholarship money as well thanks to the large turnout, the generosity of the parents and guests with the 50/50 and bowling ball raffle and a fantastic fund raiser turnout with the cookie dough and popcorn.

The guys placing sixth through tenth all earned $100.00 each and those in eleventh through twenty-fourth all earned $50.00 each. The ladies finishers in fifth and sixth took home $100.00 each with seventh and eighth place earning $50.00 each as well.

The next event is the Adult – Junior tournament held at Royal Scot Lanes in Lansing, Michigan on January 7th and 8th. This event is a lot of fun and normally fills up quickly so it is advised to get entries in as soon as you can so you don’t get closed out. Youth bowlers looking for adult partners should contact Jerry Tarabek to see who might be available, especially for the ladies who need adult partners.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all, we look forward to seeing you in Lansing!