The 22nd Alro Steel – Michigan Junior Masters Association season ended this past Sunday with the step ladder finals of the Daniel C. Ottman Memorial Championships at Monroe Sport Center. The Held family once again proved to be a very gracious host and the scoring pace was what we have come to expect at this event. After 18 games of qualifying and two rounds of match play for both the girls and the guys, nine bowlers awaited their opportunity to claim this year’s title and their “Eagle”.

The ladies side saw three title holders in Valerie Calberry (Brampton, Ont), the defending ladies champion from last year, Sarah Jaeger (Highland, MI) and Felicia Goll (St Clair Shores, MI) in the final four along with Kara Richard (Tecumseh, MI), our tournament leader, who was looking for her first MJMA title. In the first match Calberry and Goll were back and forth the whole way but Calberry caught a strike string to close out the match late and advance with a 171-169 win. Jaeger was next to face off against Calberry in the semi-final match. Jaeger started strong but had a couple opens to keep the match close but Calberry would not be able to pull off a late come-back in this match as Jaeger advanced to the finals with a 190-160 win. In the finals, Richard, who was bowling in very first Alro Steel – MJMA championship, seemed to struggle early and Jaeger took full advantage. Jaeger continued to bowl steady and throw the strikes she needed to win this year’s event 212-161.

The guy’s had just as much excitement, starting with the very first match. Jon Schiller (Milford, MI) was facing Cory Hines (Jackson, MI) and this match was very tight. Schiller needed a strike on his fill ball in the tenth to win the match but only got 6 to give Hines a 215-211 win. Hines next faced Adam Jablonski (Sterling Heights, MI) and in another very close match it was Jablonski edging out Hines 180-176 to move to the semi-finals. Jablonski would next face Tim Pfeifer (Cranberry Twp., PA) and this got ugly quick. Both bowlers really struggled on the changing lane conditions and when the smoke cleared they were even at 169 each after ten frames. In our format of one-ball sudden death both threw a 9 count in the first frame but it was Pfeifer throwing a strike in the second sudden death frame to win the match and advance to the finals. John Kaashoek (Jenison, MI) was awaiting Pfeifer in the finals which were to be both of their final Alro Steel – MJMA games. Kaashoek threw a great first shot but then things started to unravel as at the same time Pfeifer seemed to find his line. Pfeifer never let up and continue to throw strike after strike to win the event with a 227-154 victory.

Scholarship money was awarded to all the bowlers who made it to the match-play portion of the tournament and the step-ladder finalists earned their share of the scholarships. For her win, Jaeger received $1,520.00, Richard $820.00 for second, Calberry $620.00 for third and Goll took home $520.00 for fourth. On the guys side Pfeifer earned $2,770.00 while Kaashoek took $1770.00, Jablonski $1520.00, Hines $1270.00 and Schiller $1,020.00 for their second through fifth place finishes.

Along with the Championship tournament scholarships there were a number of year end awards also given out. The Ottman Memorial Scholarship Award was presented to Michael Kiel (Livonia, MI) and Sarah Jaeger who each received a $1,000.00 scholarship. Adam Jablonski and Bethan McGeary each earned $400.00 scholarships for being named the Bowler of the Year, sponsored by Pro-Am Bowling and Trophy. The Morrell Inc. Rookie of the Year honors went to Adam Jablonski and Jenniffer Guertin who each took home a $300.00 scholarship. The Brunswick High Average award and the $200.00 scholarships went to Tim Pfeifer, for the second consecutive year and Bethan McGeary.

One award that the bowlers themselves vote on is the Ottman Sportsmanship award. This year 21 guys and 10 girls received votes and this years winners of the $100.00 scholarships were Bethan McGeary (New Kensington, PA) and Josh Jablonski (Sterling Heights, MI).

In all, we awarded over $24,000.00 over the weekend which took our season awards over $72,000.00 for the very first time in our history. Over the course of our 22 seasons, we have now awarded over $700,000.00 in scholarship money to our members. This would not be possible without the dedication of our presenting sponsor Alro Steel. The Glick family has continued to support the organization all these years and we look forward to their support for years to come so we can continue to offer these kinds of scholarship dollars to our youth bowlers.

One award that has no scholarships attached to it is the Cass Sicilia Memorial Service Award. This is given to a person / persons who have gone above and beyond to help the organization continue to proper. This year’s recipients were Bill and Michelle Dedoe who support the organization through hard work both inside and outside of the tournaments. Bill has been on the Board of Directors for the past two years and they both continue to be at events even though their child may not be there.

With each ending comes a new beginning and we are looking forward to our 23rd season as we will kick off at Lodge Lanes on August 2nd. Information packets will be mailed out to the membership soon.