Ohio bowlers set pace at 2017 Women's Championships
April 26, 2017
BATON ROUGE, La. - A pair of bowlers from Ohio helped shake up the standings Wednesday at the 2017 United States Bowling Congress Women's Championships as Tashia Blue of Hamilton, Ohio, and Tara Long of Kenton, Ohio, left their marks in the Ruby and Sapphire Divisions, respectively.
Blue started her final game of singles at the Raising Cane's River Center with seven consecutive strikes on her way to a 249 finish and 653 series to set the bar in Ruby Singles, and Long used three consistent sets to take the lead in Sapphire Doubles, Sapphire Singles and Sapphire All-Events.
Blue was fighting an injury throughout her third USBC Women's Championships appearance, but she fought through the pain and started her singles set with games of 220 and 184.
"I'm fighting plantar fasciitis, and there was a lot of pain the past two days," said Blue, who bowls at Game of Fairfield Lanes in Fairfield, Ohio. "I really had to focus on the next shot and just get through it."
As the strikes began to add up in Game 3, so did the nerves for Blue, who left a 2-5 combination in the eighth frame to end her quest to become the 26th bowler in Women's Championships history to roll a perfect game.
She now will look forward to seeing if her score is enough to stay at the top of the standings.
"The nerves were pretty bad, and I was a little too excited in the eighth frame," said Blue, who added sets of 503 in doubles and 448 in team for a 1,604 all-events total. "This really means a lot, especially after bowling so bad during the team event. To know that I can bowl this well makes me feel really good, and it would be great to show everybody back home that I'm able to do it, if it holds on."
Ruby Singles features bowlers with entering averages of 175-189.
The Women's Championships serves as a family vacation each year for Long, who bowls alongside her mother, Brenda, and sister, Nikki Manns.
After starting her team event with a 536 series Tuesday, Long first paired with Manns to move into the Sapphire Doubles lead with a 976 total. Long led the way with a 524 set, while Manns added 452.
The consistent effort continued in singles as Long finished with 556 for a 1,616 series and a spot at the top of the standings in three events.
"I was a little surprised, since this is the first time this has ever happened," said Long, who made her seventh tournament appearance. "Each year, my sister and I take a vacation with our mom, so she's the reason why we bowl these events. I ended up in 15th place in all-events last year, so I must be getting a little better. It would be awesome to win."
Sapphire Doubles includes pairs with combined entering averages of 290-319, and Sapphire Singles and All-Events features bowlers with entering averages of 145-159.
Visit us on Facebook at the official USBC Women's Championships page.
Blue started her final game of singles at the Raising Cane's River Center with seven consecutive strikes on her way to a 249 finish and 653 series to set the bar in Ruby Singles, and Long used three consistent sets to take the lead in Sapphire Doubles, Sapphire Singles and Sapphire All-Events.
Blue was fighting an injury throughout her third USBC Women's Championships appearance, but she fought through the pain and started her singles set with games of 220 and 184.
"I'm fighting plantar fasciitis, and there was a lot of pain the past two days," said Blue, who bowls at Game of Fairfield Lanes in Fairfield, Ohio. "I really had to focus on the next shot and just get through it."
As the strikes began to add up in Game 3, so did the nerves for Blue, who left a 2-5 combination in the eighth frame to end her quest to become the 26th bowler in Women's Championships history to roll a perfect game.
She now will look forward to seeing if her score is enough to stay at the top of the standings.
"The nerves were pretty bad, and I was a little too excited in the eighth frame," said Blue, who added sets of 503 in doubles and 448 in team for a 1,604 all-events total. "This really means a lot, especially after bowling so bad during the team event. To know that I can bowl this well makes me feel really good, and it would be great to show everybody back home that I'm able to do it, if it holds on."
Ruby Singles features bowlers with entering averages of 175-189.
The Women's Championships serves as a family vacation each year for Long, who bowls alongside her mother, Brenda, and sister, Nikki Manns.After starting her team event with a 536 series Tuesday, Long first paired with Manns to move into the Sapphire Doubles lead with a 976 total. Long led the way with a 524 set, while Manns added 452.
The consistent effort continued in singles as Long finished with 556 for a 1,616 series and a spot at the top of the standings in three events.
"I was a little surprised, since this is the first time this has ever happened," said Long, who made her seventh tournament appearance. "Each year, my sister and I take a vacation with our mom, so she's the reason why we bowl these events. I ended up in 15th place in all-events last year, so I must be getting a little better. It would be awesome to win."
Sapphire Doubles includes pairs with combined entering averages of 290-319, and Sapphire Singles and All-Events features bowlers with entering averages of 145-159.
Visit us on Facebook at the official USBC Women's Championships page.