Slow week for scoring

League scores were at an all time low this week but giving credit where credit is due, congratulations to Michael Gillian who shot 643 with a 246 closer to lead league play for high series.

Gillian’s set was from the Roudy Bunch at Thunderbird Lanes, as was the next highest series of 634, bowled by Jimmy Bomboy, who after a 140 start, he had 246 and 248 to make up the series.

And Rick Olson rounded out the week’s top three with a 631 from the Entertainers senior league where he had games of 216, 182 and 233.

Teri Jester was the ladies high scorer with a 561 set, also a score from the Entertainers at Thunder-bird Lanes.

Youth Bowling

Peyton Smith led youth bowlers last week with a 659 series from the Saturday morning youth league at Thunderbird Lanes.

Peyton is continuing to hone his bowling skills and came up with games of 212, 257 and 190 to make up this week’s top scores.

Amanda Price Wins Po-Boy Title No. 5

Number five is in the books and we have our first female to win a Po-Boy Crown as Amanda Price stepped up to the plate and hit a grand slam.

Well, maybe not a grand slam, but she certainly had her fair share of strikes as she knocked down the competition, one round at a time.

Amanda was the fifth qualifier after her first two games of 212 and 210 which just so happened to be her lowest games of the night.

The former Lawton-Fort Sill youth bowler and now mother of two, went on to bowl a 223 in the first round of the elimination bracket to advance to the round of eight where she rolled a 213 and moved on to the semis.

Amanda put up a 219 to advance to the finals where she rolled her big game of the night of 257 to get the win.

That’s the story in a nutshell but to get to that point there were a lot of bowlers looking to put their name on the board as forty-eight were in attendance for the July 3rd edition.

Top seed after two games of qualifying was Craig Foster with 501 followed by a couple of new bowlers, Ashlye Workman and Kadeem Smith, who tied for the number two spot with 486.

(Little Miss) Symphony Smith was fourth with 483 and, as you already know, Amanda Price was fifth with 479.

The remaining qualifiers were as follows.

Barry Morris, 474, Robert Meredith, 471, Charles Macias, 470, TY Smith (y), 468, John Fortner, 461, Kyle Morris, 460, Matt Ray, 459, Shawn Thomas, 458, Robert Morin, 455 and Willie Strong, 453.

Qualifying high scratch game winners were Nate Baggett, 224 and Shawn Thomas, 223 for game one and Jimmy Bomboy, 234 and Anthony Sneed, 222 for game two.

Advancing to the round of eight (with handicap), Strong beat Foster, 247-186, T. Smith beat Macias, 240-205, Price beat K. Morris, 251-237, S. Smith beat Ray, 228-181, K. Smith beat Thomas, 287-186, McKinney beat B. Morris, 200-181, Fortner beat Meredith, 259-247 and Morin beat Workman, 200-179.

Making this round was an “in the money” guarantee as first through eighth place cashed.

Advancement to the semi final round showed Strong with a win against T. Smith, 236-217, Price getting the win over S. Smith, 241-212, K. Smith moving by McKinney, 262-173 and Fortner winning against Morin, 266-229.

The semis was the closest matchups of the night as spectators saw head to head battles between Strong vs. Price and K. Smith vs. Fortner.

In the end and advancing to the finals, Price won against Strong, 247-239 and Fortner won over K. Smith, 244-236.

In both cases, the victors were at a disadvantage going in and really had to put forth their best effort to overcome the handicap differences.

Price was spotting eighteen pins and Fortner was forty-four down at the start but they knew the score going in and good shots prevailed.

The finals paired Amanda Price against John Fortner in an even match (Fortner with plus three) as far as averages go, but Price had her game face on and reeled off a big 257 scratch game to beat Fort-ner 285-218 for the title.

The Po-Boy event is held every Monday night starting at 7:00 PM. Bowlers must have a verifiable average to participate or will be entered at 220 scratch.

Officials ask that bowlers sign up and pay by 6:30pm and as always the entry fee is only $25 per person.

No-Tap News

The Tuesday Night Tapless league was out celebrating the 4th of July last week so that just leaves the Socialites No-Tap and the Colorama for no-tap news this week.

It was an unusually low scoring day for the Socialites league as the report showed Ernie McAllister with the high set of the day of 731 and Tom Rine with the high game of 277.

Bowlers made up for it in the Senior 9-Pin No-Tap Colorama with a 300 by Barry Morris, a 290 by Malden Smith and a 298 by Peggy Towne.

Morris ended up with first place thanks to that no-tap 300 game in game three that gave him the high series for the guys of 934.

Smith’s 290, also a game three entry, left him with 882 for a second place finish and Ken Knoff, with 879, took third.

Towne also put her best game at the end of the day, posting the 298 that allowed for an 888 for series and first place for the ladies.

Sue Avis, back off the IR list after a wrist injury, grabbed second place for an 869.

Scratch series winners were Malden Smith, 780, Teri Jester, 772, and Sue Avis, 716.

Mystery Doubles went as follows.

Gm. 1, 1st – Margit Augustine/Teri Jester, 574

Gm. 1, 2nd – Peggy Towne/Ken Knoff, 573

Gm. 2, 1st – Barry Morris/Shirley Hanley, 624

Gm. 2, 2nd – Bob Henderson/Malden Smith, 571

Gm. 3, 1st – Peggy Towne/Ken Knoff, 658

Gm. 3, 2nd – Bob Henderson/Malden Smith, 574

Strike pot ticket winners included James Halstead, Shirley Hanley, Peggy Towne, Malden Smith and Barry Morris and there were no winners in the special challenge shots.

This event is held every Friday afternoon at Thunderbird Lanes; starting at 1 p.m. Bowlers must be at least 50 years old with a verifiable average to participate.

Tournament News

We have a couple of tournaments coming up the next few weekends starting with the Jerry Hill Men’s and the Jean Yamarik Women’s top average invitational events.

Bowlers who qualified for either of these elite tournaments have been notified and will show-up at Thunderbird Lanes Saturday starting at 11 a.m. check in.

Thunderbird Lanes will also host the 2023 Lil Johnson Senior Singles Tournament Sunday which will kick off at 11:30 a.m., check in at 11 a.m.

This event is open to all senior bowlers ages 50 and above with an average based on a minimum of 54 games.

There will be two divisions, 161 and above and 160 and below.

Entry fee is $40 per person, paying 1 place for every 5 entries. Entries for this event close this coming Friday.

And coming on Sunday, July 23, another fun-fundraiser, this one is for the Children’s Miracle Network, sponsored by Wal-Mart #269 (Quannah Parker Trail Way).

This is a scratch event open to anyone 18 or older. Sign up and reserve your lanes at Thunderbird.

Entry fee is $25 per person and due by Thursday, July 20.

Sponsors have already been donating some terrific door prizes that will be given away and you can plan on a 50/50 drawing as well as a silent auction for some premium gifts.

Call Thunderbird Lanes at 353-3937 for details.