Royal Scot Lanes once again played host to the Alro Steel – MMA Adult – Junior Doubles tournament. Ninety-seven team showed up to test their metal against each other to win bragging rights and a share of the $5,000.00 plus in scholarships to be awarded.

The girl’s side saw the defending champions, Christine and Jennifer Bator, eliminated before the match play competition even began but there were six teams looking to take over the reigns as title holders. The team of Kristy Kerr (Essexville, MI) and Jennifer Churchill (Windsor, Ont) led the way as top qualifiers after the first six games but there were five other teams looking for the top prize over the weekend.

As match play progressed Kerr and Churchill continued to lead the way but Sarah Jaeger (Highland, MI) and Kristy Kerr (Utica, MI) pressed the issue and were in second place gong into the step-ladder finals. Joining them in the finals were the teams of Felicia Goll (St Clair Shores, MI) and Michelle Ewald (Warren, MI) and Josie Bashara (Livonia, MI) and Sarah Jablonski(Sterling Hts., MI). Ewald is the second most winning title holder in MJMA history with 21 titles as a junior and had won the adult junior event twice in the past, once as a junior and once as an adult.

In the first match Goll / Ewald took advantage of opens in the 8th and 9th frames by Bashara and Jablonski to advance to the semi-finals with a 211-183 win. Goll / Ewald continued their winning ways against Jaeger / King as their opponents opened in the 8th and 10th frames while striking 5 out of six frames in the middle of the match to win 203-173 to advance to the finals. In the finals, Kerr and Churchill did not leave a lot of room for error as they started with the first eight strikes and cleaned things up after that to win the match and the title with a 264 – 227 victory and earn the title as Adult – Junior champion for the 2007-08 season.

The guy’s side saw last year champions, Brian McMahon and Steve Novak (Saginaw, MI) make the step ladder finals by qualifying fifth but had to run their way up the ladder in an attempt to repeat last season. They started their quest against Nathan Block and Bill Blanchard (Bay City, MI) and hey started out fast with a 279-190 win. Next up was the team of Bobby and Bob Bures (Mentor, OH) and after opens in the 5th and 6th frames they closed wot the last six strike to upend the Mentor challenge with a 211-205 win

In the semi-finals, the team of Andy Toole (Lawton, MI) and Brandon Gibson (Kalamazoo, MI) pushed things to the limit and with 5 strikes in a row from the 5th frame on and a crucial spare in the tenth frame; Toole and Gibson upended the defending champions with a 245- 235 win. The finals proved to be very interesting as Scott Honeysett and Dave Spohn (Lansing, MI) who lead things most of the day were waiting for the challenge. The match was close all the way giving many of the spectators a lot to cheer about as both junior bowlers were going for their first MJMA titles. But in the end Honeysett and Spohn held on to win this years title with a 191-175 win.

We were able to hand out over $5,000.00 in scholarships this year as Alro Steel and Brunswick helped sponsor this event. The bad part was that we were informed that due to the Royal Scot getting the Men’s state tournament next season, we will be looking to either relocate the event or change the date for next season. Over the next few weeks we will be reviewing the schedule to determine what course of action we will need to take for next season.

The next event will be the Junior Doubles event at Candlelite Bowl in Bridgeport, MI. This event is limited to the first 48 teams and at this point we have 25 teams already entered in the tournament so anyone wanting to bowl will need to get their entries in as soon as possible. We look forward to seeing everyone in Bridgeport at the end of the month and we look forward to the challenge that the doubles tournament brings.

If there are any junior bowlers looking for a spot in the next tournament please get in touch with Jerry Tarabek because there are a few bowlers looking for partners for this event.