Area bowling: Cowboys & Indians league sees 3 300s, 299 on same night
It was both a spectacular and strange night in the Cowboys & Indians league this past week at Port Huron Lanes. There was plenty of celebration with three 300 games, all during the second game, and a little disappointment as well.
Dylan Jacobs started the parade of perfect games, scoring his 11th 300. As Jacobs accepted his congratulations on lanes 15 and 16, word began to spread that three others were also approaching the 10th frame with all strikes.
From lanes 1 and 2 Cliff Crawford was next to successfully go off the sheet, marking his sixth 300 of the season and his association-leading 35th overall. With a couple months remaining, Crawford is making a serious challenge to Jose Ganhs’ all-time single-season PHBA record of seven perfect games set during the 2017-18 season.
When Ed Crampton on lanes 5 and 6 finished the third perfect game within several minutes, pretty much the whole center was buzzing. Crampton would end up with the week’s high series at 771 and his 300-game count has quickly grown to a dozen.
While the prior three bowlers were able to finish their perfectos with relatively localized spectators, a larger crowd was gathering on lanes 19 and 20 to see if there could possibly be an unprecedented fourth. Kris Brunelle, seemingly distracted, nevertheless easily crushed the first two strikes in the 10th. However, a slight miscalculation left him with a 9-count on the final ball and an outstanding but frustrating 299 game. Brunelle would end with a 715 series.
While one might think the “shot” (oil pattern) may have been super easy that night, that really wasn’t the case as only one of the perfect game shooters would go on to finish above 700 and only eight bowlers throughout the league reached 700, not an extraordinary number for that league. Only one bowler reached the 270s in each of games one and three as Tyler Fields continued his mastery of the 3D Offset Attack bowling ball with a 279 in game one and Scott Badley also used a Hammer bowling ball to breeze through the first 10 strikes of game 3 before settling for a 289 game. Badley and Fields would finish second and third in series with 748 and 728, respectively.
Two of the top three women’s series also came from Cowboys & Indians as Jaclyn Meldrum and Lillie Miller were excellent and nearly mirroring each other. Meldrum finished with a 693 series with high games of 247 and 233 while Miller shot 689 with games of 244 and 236. Continuing the theme of celebration and disappointment, two other outstanding and accomplished female bowlers that you’d expect to join the fun that night, Jill Friis and Shawna Lentner, were doing some average management.
Rosann Brachel owned the high series of the week with a 699 in the 3-B4-1 league at Port Huron Lanes. She fired games of 258 and 247. Laurynn Ball led the Wednesday Women league at Strikers Entertainment Center with a 652 series. Terry Crampton had a pair of strong series at St. Clair River Lanes as she threw a 634 series in the Monday Big 12 league and a 630 in Blue Water Men that included a 247 game. Stephanie Freeman paced the Inter City Ladies league at Port Huron Lanes with a 608 series.
Two others over 600 were Kristie Lashbrook 603 and Marilyn Kargula 601. They were followed by Mel Churchill 596, Jen Ojczyk 584, Chelsea Wanczyk 584, Kelly Larsen 582, Jessica Bannasch 580, Alyssa Crampton 574 and Kate Beck 572.
Jim Creasor and Steve Beery were league leaders at Port Huron Lanes as Creasor rolled a 740 series in PHL Early 4 Man and Beery was at 739 in Friday Wanna Bees. Creasor also recorded a 715 in Blue Water Men. Other strong series were Jose Ganhs 733, Jim Hamilton 729, Mike Rock 727, Colton Burns 726, Don Purdy 725, Rob Blandino 724, Chuck Ouellette 724, John Essenmacher 723, Anthony LaGruth 715, Don Cooper III 714, Carson Mills 712, Dave Conger 711 and Jon Ojczyk 710.
Don Cooper III fired a 289 game in Friday Wanna Bees. Others with standout games were Gary Vanantwerp 278, Mike Bennett 278, Nick Medley 277, Josh Bombard 277 and Herb Wong 276.
Marilyn Kargula heads up the rest of the women high game leaderboard with her 233 in Wednesday Women. Terry Crampton also had games of 230 and 228. Others were Kristie Lashbrook 224 & 221, Laurynn Ball 223, Dani Taylor 222, Jen Ojczyk 222, Kelly Larsen 222, Kristen Winkler 222, Stephanie Freeman 221 and Jami Lane 221.
Unofficial results, pending average verifications, from the Port Huron Bowling Association Tournament over the past two weekends show the Singles Event champion as Shawn Thomas with an outstanding 859 score. Vaida Bing was second with 804, followed by Ted Dalia 792, Chad Rich 784 and Anthony LaGruth 780.
Vaida Bing and Ed Crampton took the Doubles Event title with a 1514 total. They were followed by Matt Pawlak/Scott Badley 1481 and Jeff Dettloff/Brad Ashton 1479.
Team Event champions were Nick Medley, Alyssa Crampton, Randy Medley, and Ted Dalia with a combined score of 2,884. Runners-up were the squad of Joddy Swoffer, Jessica Heilig, Dara Sinclair, and Jill Friis with a total of 2,824. Third place went to Chris Sills, Rosann Brachel, Dale Camphausen, and Henry Sullivan at 2,788.
Vaida Bing captured the All Events crown with a 2,388. She was followed by Ted Dalia 2,310 and Henry Sullivan 2,254. Full standings for every portion of the tournament are viewable at phba.net.
Top individual scratch series from the tournament included Brad Ashton 782 & 736, Anthony LaGruth 759 & 723, Mike Church 759, Chad Rich 751 & 718, Louis Hinojosa 748, Scott Badley 742 & 731, Dom Cocco 741 & 734, Caremy Snellenberger 740, Cliff Crawford 740 & 721 and Jerry Hendrick 739.
Kristie Lashbrook led the women with a scratch 700 series that included games of 230, 238, and 232. Other top scratch series were Jill Friis 689 & 680 & 673, Alyssa Crampton 638 & 633, Joddy Swoffer 635, Stephanie Freeman 629, Jessica Badley 624, Rosann Brachel 622 & 603, Kelly Larsen 620, Dara Sinclair 619, Ashley Smith 616, Brenda Bruehan 612 and Jessica Heilig 607.
Anthony LaGruth was phenomenal during the doubles/singles at Port Huron Lanes as he fired two scratch 299 games. Other top scratch games included Kylar Marinez 290, Henry Sullivan 289 & 285, Brad Ashton 289 & 279 & 279, David Downing 280, Jed Johnston 279 & 277, Dave Conger 279, Richard Mierendorff 279, Mark Welsh 279, Jim Creasor 279, Mike Bennett 278, Louis Hinojosa 278, Kenny Tyson 278, Mike Church 278, Dom Cocco 278, Kylar Marinez 277, Cliff Crawford 277, Chad Rich 276, Anthony Thomason 276, and John Durcan 275.
Jill Friis had an outstanding 276 scratch game and also tossed games of 247, 246, 238 & 226. The rest of the top scratch scores were Alyssa Crampton 254 & 228, Jessica Heilig 253, Jessica Badley 247, Ashley Smith 231 & 225, Stephanie Freeman 229, Kristin Winkler 226, Kelly Larsen 225, Samantha Creasor 225 & 221, Carrie LaDuke 224, Dara Sinclair 223 & 223, Joddy Swoffer 223, Olivia Brown 222, Vaida Bing 222, and Anita Hubbard 220.
Splits: Rare 7-8-9: Alicia Heisler; 8-10: Tyler Fields; 2-8-10: Lee Halifax; 4-7-10: Shirley Stevens, Karen Watzek; 5-10: Don Millem; 3-9-10: Mike Buchheister; 2-7: Pat McDonald, Bill Sendzik; 3-10: Barb Brown, Karen Watzek; 3-7: Tamra Kulin, Donna Toutant; 6-7-10: Jen Collier, Chad Rich; 3-4-7-10: Korrey Renno; 5-7: Donna Toutant, Diane Hodgins; 4-10: Cyndy Hodgins
This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: Area bowling: Cowboys & Indians league sees 3 300s, 299 on same night
