Tim Pfeifer (Cranberry Twp., PA) and Valerie Calberry (Brampton, Ont) added another title to the trophy shelf at the 17th annual Greater Grand Blanc Open at Galaxy Lanes this past weekend. Both Pfeifer and Calberry dominated the field throughout the weekend and carried that into the step-ladder finals for their 6th and 7th MJMA titles respectively.

The tournament itself was another great field as 114 bowlers competed for their chance at the titles. A number of first time bowlers added to the excitement as interest seems to have grown since the end of the high school season for many who want to see what the next level of competition is all about.

Bowling on the challenging Open Championship pattern added to the excitement as did the “Beat the Otter” competition. Dan Ottman always picked one event each year where he would bowl against the kids for their chance to beat the high score he posted for bragging rights for a year and a t-shirt. This year, tournament director Jerry Tarabek put on his shoes and put his humility on the line and bowled as the Otter. After rolling a high game for his four game set of 211, it was up to the kids to beat that score and beat it they did. Seventy-four bowlers bested the 211 score and will be needling Tarabek for the next year and of course waiving their t-shirt as well.

As top the tournament, the girls posted some very nice scores on this shot with Mary Wells (Westerville, OH) earning the top game of the weekend with a nice 252 game in Match play on Sunday. However, that one gane was not enough to get her into the step-ladders to bowl for the title.That was reserved for out top four qualifiers of Calberry, Bethan McGeary (New Kensington, PA), Jessica Baker (Springfield, OH) and Sarah Jaeger (Highland, MI).

In the first match it was Jaeger finding the strikes she needed, when she needed them, to defeat Baker 213-170.In the semi-finals McGeary found the consistancy she needed as Jeager struggled to carry the pocket and McGeary advanced to the finals 190-178. Calberry was waiting for McGearyand in a very tough and close match Calberry pulled out her 7th MJMA title with a 206-191 win.

On the guys side, Pfeifer outdistanced the field and was waiting for who he was to bowl in the finals. The rest of the field was eager for their chance to knock Pfeifer off the top spot though and things got very interesting along the way. Brian McMahon (Saginaw, MI) dominated the first match as he defeated Abed Daher (Brownstown, MI) 246-178 but ran into some problems in the next match against Jon Schiller (Milford, MI) as Schiller advanced to the semi-finals with a 192-162 win.

Schiller than faced Adam Jablonski (Sterling Hts., MI) who is the points leader for the season on MJMA. Jablonski was hitting the pocket but not carrying all ten as he had hoped and Schiller caught a couple of breaks on carry to get through to the finals with a 202-177 win. Pfeifer though proved to be too strong in the finals as he took the match over on the 6th frame and struck out to win his 6th title and second in a row 230-186.

The next tournament si the Grand Rapids Open at Spectrum Lanes on May 10th. This is a one-day event with the top 16 guys and 8 girls advancing to the PBA style match play. This event will be the final event of our season and we conclude the year with the Dan Ottman Memorial Championship at the Monroe Sport Center in Monroe, MI on June 13, 14 & 15th.

There are a number of members who need to bowl this event to qualify for the championship in Monroe. As part of the qualifying for Monroe, our members must bowl 5 events as a member, make one match play and bowl two of the last three events or bowl all 12 events during the season. At this point we have 54 already qualified for Monroe with an additional 49 who could qualify, based on performanc ein Grand Rapids.

Please remember the Dan Ottman Memorial Scholarship applications are also due on May 10th. Two $1,000.00 scholarships will be awarded to our members who best meet the qualifying requirements and the ideals set forth by Dan Ottman. Our panel will judge each application and send their votes to the board and we will announce the winners at the championship event in Monroe during the opening ceremonies on Friday evening.

For more information on the upcoming events or the Ottmen Memorial Scholarship, please contact Jerry Tarabek.