Category: Youth

Posts about honor scores thrown by youth bowlers, or about youth leagues and tournaments

Kyle Egan wins JBSC at Westgate

A post in the Junior Bowling Sport Challenge Facebook group reported that Westgate youth bowler Kyle Egan was the U20 boys winner in their event yesterday at Westgate Lanes, defeating fellow Westgate youth bowler Stephen Major, 211-165, in the final match. I did get the scores for the stepladders in the four divisions, and the results are below:

U20 Boys

Match 1: Ryan Stolakis def. Andrew McGovern 201-192
Match 2: Stolakis def. Ryan Stanard 204-164
Match 3: Kyle Egan def. Stolakis 182-158
Semifinal: Egan def. Andrew Hall 255-234
Final: Egan def. Stephen Major 211-165

U20/U15 Girls

Match 1: Kaitlynn Crawford def. Madison Gentes 193-170
Match 2: Crawford def. Danielle McKerracher 224-202
Semifinal: Crawford def. Rachel Bamford 199-169
Final: Kasey Kosier def. Crawford 204-203

U15 Boys

Match 1: Xavier Bamford def. Randal Dunbar 203-175
Match 2: Bamford def. Jason Simmons 243-224
Semifinal: Bamford def. Nate Purches 189-162
Final: Bamford def. Bradley Baybutt 204-176

U12 Boys/Girls

Semifinal: Jaden Gagner def. Dennis Goulart 162-158
Final: Andrew Robitaille def. Gagner 149-130

Additionally, Bradley Baybutt, a bowler out of Yankee Lanes in Keene, NH, bowled a 290 game in qualifying, which Sharon Evans reported was the highest game bowled in the JBSC since the tournament went to all sport oil conditions five years ago. The JBSC reported that 54 bowlers, a record for them, came out for the event, including a record eight in the U12 division.

Congrats to all. I’ll update the post when I find out what the lane condition was.

Update: Sharon Evans conducted some research on past game scores in the JBSC and found that Andrew Hall had a 299 on a sport lane condition their first year. Also that year, Allen Halacy had a 300 game, but that was on a modified house shot (as not every lane machine could put out a sport condition at the time).

Update: Per Kevin Thibeault, the lane condition was the 2007 Weber Cup Day 2 pattern (40′).

2017 USA Bowling New England qualifier results

The USBC held the New England qualifier for USA Bowling last weekend at Westgate Lanes, and the result sheets (PDF format) are linked below:

U15 division
U12 division

In the U15 division, New England Strikers went 7-1 with 1,810 total pins for the victory, and KTP All Stars went 7-1 with 1,309 total pins in the U12 division. USA Bowling games are Baker format, with four bowlers out of a maximum roster of six bowling. Both teams mentioned have qualified for the national tournament, to be held during Junior Gold week this July in Cleveland.

Update: There was also a double-elimination match play component to the competition on Sunday, and a source told me BuddiesProShop.com All-Stars prevailed in the U12 division and will be the actual New England representative in Cleveland. I’ll endeavor to determine the U15 winner.

Update: New England Strikers also prevailed in match play on Sunday and will be representing New England in the U15 division. Photos of both winning teams were posted on Instagram.

Westgate team wins Southeastern Mass. junior travel league

As reported on the final standing sheet, the Westgate Lanes team of Billy Null, Ethan Reyes, Shane Litchfield, and Kyle Egan (with sub Stephen Major) are officially the winners of the Southeastern Mass. Junior Scratch Travel League for this season after Sunday’s position round at Westgate Lanes. The league also travels to North Bowl Lanes, Wonder Bowl, and Holiday Lanes (Westport), with each of the four centers fielding multiple teams.

2017 Mass. state tournament information

With my new expanded New England bowling coverage on Facebook, I’ve been posting state tournament information for the other New England states on the Facebook page, but I will always devote an actual blog post to the Massachusetts state tournaments, and I should have the information for this year’s tournaments now:

  • The state open tournament will be held at Gardner Ten Pin weekends from Apr. 15-May 7 and May 13 (not May 14, which is Mother’s Day), with the entry form available on the Greater Gardner association website (but I suggest saving and printing out the images, as the entry form appears to be a set of JPEG images). In a first for the state tournament, the Greater Gardner association is accepting online payment of entry fees; look for button on the website link above. Mail-in entries close Apr. 1, but walk-in entries are accepted cash-only on the basis of lane availability.
  • The women’s tournament will be held weekends from May 6-21 at Westgate Lanes. Entry forms are available in the state’s bowling centers, and I’ve made a PDF copy available here. Entries for the tournament also close Apr. 1.
  • The youth tournament will take place Apr. 29-30 and May 6-7 at Wonder Bowl in New Bedford, with the entry form available on the youth association website (PDF format) and closing Feb. 27. Note: Westgate Lanes is already scheduled to bowl on the first weekend.

Rob Young bowls 300 in Patriots league

Brockton Bowling Association Hall of Famer Rob Young posted another 300 game last night in the Patriots league, and I’ve been told Rob’s average in that league is now around 245. This bears watching, as there has never been a 240 average for a full season in the association, with Nate Abdow’s 238 in Taunton in 2009-10 being the association’s record. It’s also worth noting that a youth bowler, Stephen Major, also has a 240+ average at Westgate at last check.

Keep it going, Rob! 🙂

Nov. 12 Adult/Junior doubles results

The Adult/Junior doubles today had seven entries, so it was run as just one division. Stephen Major & Sean Richard won with a 1,428 (tournament is handicapped, but they were likely bowling scratch) and Dylan & Tim Major were second with 1,384. The bowler that struck me in the tournament today, however, was Cameron Kaestner, who had a rare conversion of the 2-8-10 split, one that, in some ways, is more difficult than the 7-10.

Good bowling everyone! 🙂

Kyle Egan bowls first 300 in youth league

Sarah Gill recently bowled her first 300 game at Westgate Lanes in the travel league, and Kyle Egan joined her as youth bowlers with their first 300 game at Westgate this year, as he had one today in the Saturday Seniors. We did get video of Kyle’s last strike on Facebook, which is shared below:

Congrats Kyle, and I hope this is the first of many for you. 🙂

2016 Mass. youth fall singles results

The Mass. USBC Youth Association has posted unofficial results of the annual fall singles tournament, which was held at Westgate Lanes Sunday, in the PDF file linked here. I’ll list the presumptive champions below, with their houses and final round scores (houses were found in a post in the Junior Bowling Sport Challenge’s Facebook group; scores are with handicap except for scratch division):

100 & below: Alexis Hubert (North Bowl) 746
101-120: Dennis Goulart (Kingston Ten Pin) 799
121-140: Gabriel Wilson (Hanscom Lanes) 756
141-160: Itihaas Kommanavancha (AMF Town & Country) 805
161-180: Lexia Stolakis (AMF Auburn Lanes) 735
181 & over: Nate Clarke (North Bowl) 750
Scratch: Shane Litchfield (Westgate Lanes) 712

Congrats to all of the winners, and thank you to the Mass. youth association board and the Westgate coaches (the latter for volunteering their time for the tournament).

Oct. 30 JBSC results

Sharon Evans of the Junior Bowling Sport Challenge provided me with the stepladder results of their event yesterday at Westgate Lanes, which I scanned and provide the PDF of here. In the U20 division (combined boys & girls), Tom Hankey Jr. won the final match over Hunter Kempton 215-183, and Randal Dunbar won the U15 (also combined boys & girls) division over Bradley Batbutt 175-154. Stephen Major of Westgate Lanes also finished 4th in U20 and also earned his Junior Gold spot, so his youth bowling career will end in Cleveland, OH next summer. The tournament was contested on the 2016 Junior Gold U20 girls long pattern (which was not announced before the tournament).

As an aside, this was not the only time during the weekend that Tom Hankey Jr. and Hunter Kempton tangled in a title match, as they were both in the title match in the Capital District Youth Scholarship Tour event Saturday at Broadway Lanes in Ft. Edward, NY. It was Hunter winning, and I’ve shared the match video on the Facebook page.

2016 Youth Open national award follow-up

I hadn’t checked it since just after they bowled it, but the national leaderboards for both game and series in youth 17-20 doubles show that Stephen & Aaron Major have the high scores from their performance in the Youth Open. Where the national deadline for reporting team scores for the season was Sept. 1, it should be all but official that they will win the national high score awards for those categories.

Congrats again guys! 🙂

2016-17 Westgate league meeting schedule set

The fall league meeting schedule at Westgate Lanes has been set; for the first time to my memory, Facebook events for the individual league meetings have been set up, and the Westgate Lanes event list can be found here. For any prospective new league members, you may wish to consult the league schedule to find out when the leagues bowl (first day and time). If you’re on Facebook and interested in bowling a league, please indicate that you are “Going” on the event for the league(s) you wish to bowl in.

Of course, pre-registration is also on for the youth leagues during the month of August, with a fee of $15 and first week of bowling free if pre-registered. The Facebook event list linked in the above paragraph also has the meeting for the junior and senior age divisions, at which teams will be formed.

Official: Stephen & Aaron Major national boys doubles champions

I got word today from Sharon Evans of the Junior Bowling Sport Challenge that Stephen & Aaron Major are now officially the national U20 boys doubles champions, but there was something else that happened involving Stephen in Indianapolis: According to the posted final standings (PDF), he placed 7th with his grandfather, Ray Fischer, in the 12 & over boys division of the Adult/Youth Baker doubles side event.

Congrats again! 🙂

Stephen Major makes first cut at 2016 Junior Gold

Congratulations to Stephen Major, as the USBC has reported that he ended his Junior Gold tournament tied for 147th place, his best Junior Gold finish to date. He ended qualifying tied for 159th with a 190+ average for 16 games, then bowled -97 (five games) today to finish with a 188+ average.

If any New England bowlers reach the match play portion of Junior Gold, there will be post(s) to come.

EDIT: The advancers round standings linked has an apparent error in average calculation. I corrected the average in this post.

Aaron Major bowls 300 in Youth Open doubles

Junior Gold week has started off well for Stephen & Aaron Major, as, according to the current standings, they are leading U20 scratch doubles with a 1,439 score at the Bowling.com Youth Open, which runs for the next three weekends at Expo Bowl in Indianapolis, IN, the Junior Gold host city. In the last game of the event, Aaron had a 300 game (Tim Major’s video of the last strike of the game is below) and Stephen added a 279.

There’s still a lot of bowling left, but most of the best youth bowlers in the nation are in Indy for Junior Gold this week, so we have some hope that the Majors’ score holds if they can get through this weekend.