The Ladies Pro Series started its second season at Park Place Lanes in Windham, NH on September 29th. The event grabbed the same number of bowlers as the prior year, seeing some new faces and missing some too. This was the first time we held it on a Saturday in an attempt to mix it up a bit to get more bowlers involved. Of the 24 bowlers, 16 qualified for the elimination round. That number happened to be 539, and who threw that? “Yup, little ‘ole me,” and I pretty much struggled to get that. Leading the pack was Lynne Thomsen with a 678. She was on fire. I know this because I bowled with her for the qualifying round. She took three high singles by herself and shared one as well. I will also add that she threw the 678 with a 96 game (yes, Lynne with no marks, I know). In the qualifying round there were some powerhouses of the Ladies Candlepin world and some newbies too!
In the first round, Mary Evans came out of the gate with a 134 followed closely behind with Hall of Famer Peg Tosi with a 128. Amanda Carroll (new member) threw a 126 while Kim Kangas scored 122. Maria Mazzarella, Amy Dube, Lynne Thomsen and Sheryl Divoll also made it to the next round. Brooke Anton, Kristy Lipke, Glennis McKinley, Iris Libertini and I (Kim Pelletier) were eliminated in the first round.
In the next round Sheryl Divoll finished with a 124, Amy Dube (122), Peg Tosi (121) and Amanda Carroll squeaking in by one pin with a 110. (Reminder: every pin counts!). That round eliminated Maria Mazzarella (109), Kim Kangas (101), Mary Evans (100) and Lynne Thomsen (97).
In the Semi-Finals, Amanda fired a 121 and Amy Dube a 113 to overtake Peg Tosi (106) and Sheryl Divoll (88).
Coming into the finals, Amanda and Amy had been bowling awesome all day. We knew this was going to be a great two string match. It was New Hampshire vs. Maine! Amanda had qualified 2nd for the elimination round with a 624 and Amy 8th with a 587. The first string gave Amanda an 8 pin lead throwing a 128 to Amy’s 120. The second game went back and forth and if you’ve ever seen either of these two bowlers, you know they put everything they have into it; very animated and lots of body English. I can tell you I enjoyed watching them completely. They didn’t even take a break from bowling all day! So anyway back to the match. Box for box, coming down to the very end Amy prevailed with an awesome 136 to Amanda’s 121.
Congratulations to Amy Dube throwing a 256 to Amanda Carroll’s 249!
I’m looking forward to the next Ladies Pro Series on October 21st at 10:00 AM at Lucky Strike in Lynn, MA (Home of the Barbers). This event is sure to bring lots of excitement. The skins games always does! Come join us! Whether you’re bowling or not, it’s sure to show off some of the finest women bowlers in the area!!! As always, the tournaments are open to members and non-members. The cost of the tournament is $60.00.
Article submitted by Kim Pelletier, Ladies Pro Series Correspondent to everythingcandlepin.com