The 22nd season of the Alro Steel – Michigan Junior Masters Association kicked off in traditional form at Lodge Lanes in Belleville, Michigan. Bob Goike, ABC Hall of Famer, and the staff at Lodge Lanes gave us everything we needed to start our season in style, including the oil machine and you know what that usually means. You guessed it, lower scores.

A total of 121 bowlers entered the event and after the eight-game qualifying block only three were in the plus category and all three were left-handed. Jared Klug (Grand Rapids, MI) led the way with a 1661 score with Joel Klaas (North Street, MI) and Josh Jablonski (Sterling Heights, MI) in second and third place respectively. These three along with 13 other male bowlers advanced to the PBA style match play portion of the day and that is when all the fun started.

In the first round of match play, a best 3 of 5 elimination round, only three of the top eight seeds advanced to the second round. Our high qualifier Klug was ousted by Andy Toole (Lawton, MI) who shot a fantastic four-game total of 957 to win 3 games to 1. Joel Klaas, the second seed, advanced in the only five-game block of the round as he defeated Steven Altobello, a hometown Belleville fan favorite, 3 to 2.

Round two saw only one of the lower seeds making it through as #14 seed Doug Mazurco (Brownstown, MI) continued his string by upending last years Rookie of the Year Chris Creeks (Zelienople, PA) 2-0. Also getting to the semi-finals were Klaas, #5 seed Adam Jablonski (Sterling Heights, MI), whose older brother Josh was eliminated in the first round and #8 seed Kenny Wichmann (Macomb, MI). Wichmann had qualified 8th but was definitely on a roll as he was averaging 208 in match play on toughening conditions.

In the semi-finals, a one game elimination round, it was Wichmann knocking out Jablonski 204-171 while Klaas, with his older brother and sister watching, bowled a fine 243 to take out Mazurco who shot 200. That set up an all leftie final for the first time in a long while in MJMA. Neither Wichmann nor Klaas had won a title previously and the pressure and nerves really showed in the final match. Both bowlers struggled most of the game but when Klaas threw a Greek Church in the tenth, it opened the door for Wichmann. Wichmann took eight on the first ball but when he missed his spare he thought he had lost the match until the scoreboard showed that he had indeed won his first title by beating Klaas 153-147.

The girls’ side had a lot of back and forth action as well as seven veteran players and one first time bowler headed to the match play round. The favorites did not fair any better on the girls’ side either as only the #2 seed, Christine Bator (Warren, MI) made it out of the best of five first round. Bator topped the only rookie in the field, Megan Seavey (Fenton, MI), in four games. Top seeded Jennifer Churchill (Windsor, Ont) was knocked out in four games by 5-time champion Kristy Kerr (Saginaw, MI) in a match that was decided by a total of 23 pins over the four games.

In the semi-finals it was Bator making a spare in the tenth and then getting the pin count she needed on the fill ball to defeat Sarah Jaeger (Highland, MI) 173-171. In the other semi-final #5 seed Valerie Calberry (Brampton, Ont) who won her first title at the most recent Ottman Memorial Championships, took out Kerr with a 156-149 win. In the final match, Calberry and Bator went back and forth but an untimely open frame gave Calberry all the room she needed as she filled in the tenth frame to close out Bator 183-168 for her second MJMA title.

Scholarships were awarded to all the bowlers who made it to the match play portion of the one-day event as $4,000.00 were passed out to our 24 bowlers. The great support we are receiving from the parents and guests at these events in the 50-50 and bowling ball raffles has really helped add to the scholarships being awarded. We collected over $700.00 in the two raffles; with the bowling ball supplied by our new bowling ball sponsor Brunswick, bringing in over $500.00 of that total. The kids also contributed to the scholarship fund, although many of them don’t know it yet, as the fines we will be collecting at the next event, for scoring errors and other missing information on their score cards, could add a large amount to the next tournament. Guess with summer here many people forgot how to add.

Speaking of our next event, we will be were it all began 22 years ago, in Clarkston, Michigan and Cherry Hill Lanes North. Greg Gumtow and the crew will be ready not only for the current membership but we will also be holding our Alumni event again this year following the MJMA qualifying round on Saturday. Mailers have been sent out to over 100 alumni members to see if they still have what it takes to match up against other former members for prize money and a chance to earn an MJMA banner as Nathan Adams did last year.

Start time for the junior qualifying is 11 AM with the Alumni portion to start about 3:30 PM. We are looking forward to another good turnout as we already have 47 entries for the junior event. We are hoping to fill the house with 108 of our current members so get those entries in early so you won’t be shut out.

If you need more information regarding either event, please contact Jerry Tarabek at jtar2830@yahoo.com or you may call (616) 780-2095.