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Youth bowlers dominate
State Competition
Blake Doolin crowned inaugural Indiana Bowling Prince
Megan Friars was runner-up as Indiana Bowling
The Inaugural Indiana Prince and Princess bowling championship took place in Merrillville, IN, on June 15th. The field consisted of the top 16 girls and the top 16 boys from associations across the state who qualified earlier this year. Out of the 32 finalists, 10 were from our local association, Greater Greencastle USBC, who bowl on Saturday mornings at Alex Alleys. They came together on the 15th to bowl 6 games with the top 5 moving on to a step-ladder format to decide the championship.
Five local boys swept the Prince finals. Blake Doolin was the top qualifier followed by Stone Hyten, Reggie Alex, Michael Rumley and Anthony Cosner. The first match of the
step-ladder format pitted Rumley against Cosner. Rumley got off to a slow start, and Cosner took advantage of it keeping the pressure on. Cosner rolled by Rumley to win the match. That paired up stepbrothers in the next match. Alex spotted Cosner 58 pins handicap, and with the match under way Alex began his climb. Cosner and Alex were neck and neck until the end. Cosner rolled 40-plus pins over his average, but Alex slid by him to win by a sheer 2 pins. That pushed Alex into another family battle with his cousin, Stone Hyten. Alex began this match spotting Hyten 48 pins. The battle was on - both cousins came out swinging. Hyten bowled an actual score of 158, some 50 pins over his average, but Alex proved too much shooting a 209 actual. That set the final showdown - Blake Doolin vs. Reggie Alex. Both boys flew out of the gate striking and sparing, the match went back and forth several times. The 10th frame was the deciding factor. Alex had a slim lead over Doolin, and shot first in the 10th frame. His first ball left two pins standing. On his spare attempt he chopped the 6 pin off the 10 pin to leave the frame open. He finished with a score of 180. This still left pressure on Doolin who had to spare and get a 9 count to win the match. Doolin, also, knocked 8 pins down on his first ball, but then confidently converted the spare. Doolin stepped up for the last ball, and the crowd fell silent. He released the ball, and it headed for the pins. The ball came in a tad heavy, but with a good kick knocked all the pins down. This gave Blake Doolin the Prince Championship Title. Doolin received a $300 scholarship, Alex $150, Hyten $100, Cosner $75, Rumley $50. Tyler Nield and Austin Alspaugh - though not in the top five - also finished within the top ten. They both earned $25 scholarships.
The boys were not the only ones to do an outstanding job. Our association had 3 girls, Brittany Friars, Britany Doolin, and Megan Friars, competing for the Princess championship. Megan finished as the top seed after the qualifying games; therefore, she had to sit, wait, and watch 3 step-ladder matches bowled before she got her chance on the lanes for the final match. Megan is nine years old and ended up bowling against a high school age bowler. The Princess championship game went down to the wire just like the Prince championship game. Megan finished in second place by a mere 10 pins. She received a
$150 scholarship for second place and another $25 scholarship for winning high series of 1218. Brittany Friars and Britany Doolin both bowled great and just missed the top five as they came in 6th and 7th. They were each awarded $25 scholarships.
Alex Alleys is a SMOKE FREE 14 lane facility with easy automatic scoring for family, friends, and league bowling. Automatic bumpers are available for ages 8 & under! Join a league, have a party, or just bowl for fun.
At Alex Alleys everybody has a GREAT time!
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