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Midwest report
May 23 , 2008

Jeff Crowley

Recap of the Year 2007-08

This is my last column for the season. With the help of Terry Daily, Association Manager for the GEUSBCBA, I have put together a recap of the year. There are too many awards to mention everyone, so I picked out a sampling of the honors. These scores do not include high school scores, and some youth and women bowlers may be left out, due to having an average too high to qualify for an award.

Of all the great achievements this year, the Book Brokers 2439, three man, team series was the greatest. They bowled the 2nd highest, 3 man team series in the history of bowling, ever! They were 4 pins shy of the highest all time score. Brian Eger led the way with an 847, Dick Dube 832 and Chad Buttry 760.

300 games were up this year by 1, to 74, bowled by 57 bowlers. Dick Dube led the way with 6 perfectos at 3 centers, ARC, Franklin (2), and River City (3), Bryan Sartore had 3, all at Franklin, Michael Vandiver had 4, all at Franklin, and Scott Warrender had 4 ARC, Franklin (2), and River City and Darrly Fogle who may only have had 1 – 300 game, but it was at CJ’s and Willow Bowling Center during the City Tournament. Darryl’s 300 game earned him $5,000!

Sandi Sullivam was the only woman to bowl a 300 game in Evansville this year. The women’s high series was bowled by Erica Hunt 728, Sammie Dean 723, and Ruby Reible 710.

800 series were up this year by 2 to 32, bowled by 21 bowlers. Brian Eger had the city’s high series 847, plus an 822, and 817, Dube 837, 834, and 832, Michael Grimm 811 & 806, Sartore 802 & 801, and Rodney Underwood 803, 803, 802, 802, & 801.

There were 3 youth boys 300 games this year. Andrew Mayes had 2 – 300’s and Kendall Crabtree had a 300 game. Two youth boys rolled an 800 series, Jonathon Grosheart 816 and Crabtree 812. Other youth boys with a high series, Alex White 735, Luke Ringham 728, Kyle Collins 716, Michael Shelton 713, Max Yunker 710, and Alex Wallwork 701.

Christina Oschman, of Castle HS, won the girls state singles title. Christina qualified with a 707 series and a 300 game. She won her roll off match 207 to 184. A great way to end a great high school career! Luke Ringham, of Harrison HS, finished 9th in the boys state tournament and the Harrison HS boys team finished 4th in the team event.

High games for the youth girls are, Andrea London 277, Lesley Underwood 268, Rachel Rosenthal 265, and LeAnna Gibbs 255. Seven girls earned a 600 award, Sara Westphal 662, Kimberly Butts 633, London 633, Gibbs 620, Katie Jones 610, Melissa Hart 605, and Underwood 605. Lindsey Nixon was the only girl to earn a 140 pins over average award with a 500 seies.

Only 4 bowlers bowled a “Dutch 200,” Jim Batton, Randy Davis, Terry Doughty, and Marvin Oschman. Two bowlers converted the “Big Four” split, Steven Herbert and Scott Warrender. Dave Beswick was the only bowler to make the 7-10 split.

I interviewed Chris Seyffarth, via e-mail, regarding his senior year of bowling, at Purdue University. Chris said, “I will be graduating in the fall of 2008 with a degree in Sports Medicine. I plan to attend Graduate School and focus on Health Administration, in which I will be working with health and business policies within the hospital/corporate industries.”

“Personally, I practice 5-6 hours on top of team practice. When I practice on my own, I work on lane play, spare drills, hand positions, and I work on my mental game. With this I try to imagine that I am always throwing the last shot to win the National Championships. It definitely puts me in the mind frame to excel and put everything I have into all of my shots.”

“Most people don’t realize how much of bowling is mental. If someone has a poor mental attitude, their success rate is going to be low. Because of all the experience I have had and the great competition that I have participated in, I feel that I have a strong mental game.”

“I have had a "good" year. I finished off the season averaging over 200. Some people may think that is not very good, however the tough conditions on which we bowl, that is an impressive average.”

“The high light of my year came in the Midwest Hammer Classic, I shot 300 on the sport shot and then continued to have the first 9 in the next game. I was definitely in the “Tiger Zone” during the 21 strikes in a row.”

While Chris was finishing his college bowling career, Vanessa Caldwell’s college career was just starting. Vanessa anchored the Southern University bowling team at the Southwestern Athletic Conference finals. Southern was bowling last year’s champs, Alabama A&M.
Southern University defeated Alabama A&M 4-3 in the best of seven, baker style finals. Southern jumped out to a win in game one, 193-187. Alabama A&M won the next two games (170-156 and 181-144) to take a 2-1 lead in the match. The Jaguars won games four and five (176-171 & 215-196) to go up 3-2, and the Bulldogs won game six (190-178) to tie the match at 3 games each.
In the deciding game seven, both teams started slowly, and after 9 frames, Southern was down 9 pins. After an open fram by Alabama A&M’s anchor bowler, Vanessa Caldwell stepped up in the 10th frame and filled19 pins. Vanessa’s heroics earn the Jaguars a 159 to 158 win of game 7 and a conference championship.
Until next season, may the high scores be yours!

Jeff Crowley covers bowling for the Evansville (IN) Courier Press. He has graciously allowed AlabamaBowling.Com to republish his articles. Jeff can be reached by e-mail at CrowleyJA@thegleaner.com

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