Ohio's Hull becomes first female to roll 300 at Open Championships since 2014
June 28, 2022
LAS VEGAS - Miranda Hull of Reynoldsburg, Ohio, bowled her first United States Bowling Congress Open Championships in 2017 in order to join the group led by her father, and she's bowled the tournament every year since.
Unfortunately, her father couldn't make the trip to Las Vegas for this year's tournament after suffering a recent stroke. With the group leader unable to attend, it was up to someone else to step up and make this year's tournament memorable.
Hull did so in spectacular fashion when she bowled 300 during her second game of singles Monday at the South Point Bowling Plaza, making her the first female to shoot 300 at the USBC Open Championships since Shannon Pluhowsky of Dayton, Ohio, achieved the feat at the 2014 tournament at the National Bowling Stadium in Reno, Nevada.
In 2001, Kristine Kropf of Antioch, California, became the first female to roll 300 at the Open Championships, and Hull now is the 11th female in tournament history to record a perfect performance.
"It means a lot to bowl 300 in a tournament with this much history," Hull said. "I felt like I had some really big shoes to fill with my dad not being able to be here, so this is just amazing. This was kind of for him."
While the 300 certainly was the crowning achievement of Hull's 2022 Open Championships experience, the 27-year-old right-hander notched several achievements her father can be proud of.
She started the 2022 event with a 248 game to propel herself to 664 during team, which nearly matched her personal best at the Open Championships from the team event in 2021 (668).
Things cooled down a bit during doubles (542) and the first game of singles (172), but things changed during Game 2 as Hull got dialed in and began striking.
"I was just trying to make shots and keep the ball in front of me," Hull said. "It was around the ninth frame that it all started to hit me. When I stepped up to throw the 10th, I was freaking out a little bit."
Despite the intense emotions she was feeling on the inside, Hull appeared calm and collected on the outside as she stepped up to bowl her final frame.
She delivered high-flush strikes on the 10th and 11th shots, leaving her just one strike away from claiming her own piece of Open Championships history. Hull's 12th ball came in a bit lighter than the previous two, resulting in a light mixer, but all 10 pins managed to fall just as they had on the previous 11 shots, giving Hull 300.
"I haven't watched the video yet, but I felt like the three shots I threw in the 10th frame were the worst balls I threw all game," Hull said. "But when that 7 pin finally fell, it felt great."
Hull's 300 was the 39th rolled at the 2022 Open Championships. There have been six 800s rolled on the championship lanes this year as well.
Hull followed up the 300 with 187, giving her 659 in Regular Singles and 1,865 in Regular All-Events.
The Regular Division features bowlers with entering averages of 176 and above.
Hull has interest in possibly giving some Professional Women's Bowling Association Tour events a try at some point in the future, but her full-time job as a third-grade teacher and her responsibilities as a high school bowling coach make it difficult to carve out the time needed to bowl professionally.
However, even if Hull never gets to throw a single shot on the PWBA Tour, her 300 at the Open Championships will stand as a remarkable accomplishment that she'll get to talk about and share with her players and students, past, present and future.
"It will really be awesome to get to share what happened today with my players and students, but this is still about my dad," Hull said. "I couldn't have done it without him."
Visit us on Facebook at the official USBC Open Championships page.
Unfortunately, her father couldn't make the trip to Las Vegas for this year's tournament after suffering a recent stroke. With the group leader unable to attend, it was up to someone else to step up and make this year's tournament memorable.
Hull did so in spectacular fashion when she bowled 300 during her second game of singles Monday at the South Point Bowling Plaza, making her the first female to shoot 300 at the USBC Open Championships since Shannon Pluhowsky of Dayton, Ohio, achieved the feat at the 2014 tournament at the National Bowling Stadium in Reno, Nevada.
In 2001, Kristine Kropf of Antioch, California, became the first female to roll 300 at the Open Championships, and Hull now is the 11th female in tournament history to record a perfect performance.
"It means a lot to bowl 300 in a tournament with this much history," Hull said. "I felt like I had some really big shoes to fill with my dad not being able to be here, so this is just amazing. This was kind of for him."
While the 300 certainly was the crowning achievement of Hull's 2022 Open Championships experience, the 27-year-old right-hander notched several achievements her father can be proud of.
She started the 2022 event with a 248 game to propel herself to 664 during team, which nearly matched her personal best at the Open Championships from the team event in 2021 (668).
Things cooled down a bit during doubles (542) and the first game of singles (172), but things changed during Game 2 as Hull got dialed in and began striking.
"I was just trying to make shots and keep the ball in front of me," Hull said. "It was around the ninth frame that it all started to hit me. When I stepped up to throw the 10th, I was freaking out a little bit."
Despite the intense emotions she was feeling on the inside, Hull appeared calm and collected on the outside as she stepped up to bowl her final frame.
She delivered high-flush strikes on the 10th and 11th shots, leaving her just one strike away from claiming her own piece of Open Championships history. Hull's 12th ball came in a bit lighter than the previous two, resulting in a light mixer, but all 10 pins managed to fall just as they had on the previous 11 shots, giving Hull 300.
"I haven't watched the video yet, but I felt like the three shots I threw in the 10th frame were the worst balls I threw all game," Hull said. "But when that 7 pin finally fell, it felt great."
Hull's 300 was the 39th rolled at the 2022 Open Championships. There have been six 800s rolled on the championship lanes this year as well.
Hull followed up the 300 with 187, giving her 659 in Regular Singles and 1,865 in Regular All-Events.
The Regular Division features bowlers with entering averages of 176 and above.
Hull has interest in possibly giving some Professional Women's Bowling Association Tour events a try at some point in the future, but her full-time job as a third-grade teacher and her responsibilities as a high school bowling coach make it difficult to carve out the time needed to bowl professionally.
However, even if Hull never gets to throw a single shot on the PWBA Tour, her 300 at the Open Championships will stand as a remarkable accomplishment that she'll get to talk about and share with her players and students, past, present and future.
"It will really be awesome to get to share what happened today with my players and students, but this is still about my dad," Hull said. "I couldn't have done it without him."
Visit us on Facebook at the official USBC Open Championships page.