INDIANAPOLIS – The top two seeds after morning qualifying continued their strong performances in Friday night’s match play to earn the opportunity to bowl for the title in the Under  12 division of the USA Bowling National Championships.

The title match of the inaugural USA Bowling National Championships will take place Saturday at 11:30 a.m. Eastern at Western Bowl. The best three-out-of-five Baker games final will be taped for broadcast, and will be televised on CBS Sports Network in August.  

Team Georgia, the Coastal South regional winners, went 14-1 in qualifying to earn the top seed for the double-elimination match-play bracket. In the two-game matches using the Baker format, Team Georgia continued to roll in its half of the bracket, only to run into Ohio Valley champion Team Ohio to determine the finalist.

Team Ohio, needing to win twice to reach the title game, took the first match but Team Georgia took a 2-0 victory in the deciding match.

“It is unreal, it is unimaginable,” Team Georgia coach Jeffrey Collins said. “I’m so proud of these boys, that they have achieved so much this year.”

The Team Georgia members all bowl on the Georgia youth Bowlers Tour, the Junior Gold qualifier for the state.

“I’m excited and glad we did so well,” said team member Jacob Ballenger. “It was fun.”

On the other side of the bracket, No. 2 seed Indiana U12 All-Stars, the Lower Great Lakes regional winner, would meet No. 3 seed Smyrna (Tennessee) Elite Gold, the South champion, for the  chance to bowl for a title. After rolling to a big victory in Game 1, the Indiana U12 All-Stars took a 191-186 victory to reach Saturday’s title match.

“It’s been an outstanding tournament,” Indiana U12 All-Stars coach Chris Toyias said. “This has got to be the biggest tournament of all these kids’ lives. All four of these kids are bowlers through and through, so for them to qualify for this and to be on TV is very special to them.”

Team member Kyle Toyias said the tournament was fun and his team “had a pretty good day.”

“I’ve always wanted to be on TV,” Kyle Toyias said. “It’s pretty awesome. There are not too many kids that get this opportunity, and it’s just really cool to be able to do it.”

USA Bowling is a product of the Youth Education Services (YES) Fund, a joint initiative of the Bowling Proprietors’ Association of America and United States Bowling Congress supported by top bowling brands including Bowling.com, Brunswick, Columbia 300, Ebonite, Hammer, QubicaAMF, Roto Grip, Storm and Track.

Go to BOWL.com/USABowling for more information about the USA Bowling program and the USA Bowling National Championships.

  

Indiana U12 All-Stars: Hayden Smith, Reece Dunbar, Shayla Gwynn, Kyle Toyias, coach Chris Toyias.


Team Georgia: Assistant coach Christopher Griffith, Joshua Collins, Jacob Ballenger, Braden Sorrentino, Bryant  Griffith, coach Jeffrey Collins.