Paula Vidad Defeats Defending Champion Char Hammel to Claim USBC Senior Queens Title

Paula Vidad lost to Char Hammel at a crucial point in match play in last year's USBC Senior Queens Championship. Hammel proceeded to win the title. This year, Vidad defeated Hammel 649-542 enroute to a perfect 6-0 match play record and then faced her in the final match for the championship that was live-streamed on Bowl.com/Ustream.

Since the senior tournament employed a true double-elimination format, Hammel, who had already lost once, needed to beat Vidad twice to claim the title. Undefeated Vidad needed to beat Hamel just once. Vidad was only ten pins ahead of Hammel going into the final game, but she finished with a 269 to Hammel's 202 to pull away to a record setting final 715 series to Hammel's 638 set and take the title, tiara, and $5,000 first place prize.

After the match, the 51-year-old Vidad had this to say about her victory:

"This is the most prestigious event there is for us, and I'm so excited right now. I've always wanted to win a USBC title in my career, and this is amazing. You can win at the city and state level, but to do it on a national level is what you dream of doing."

You can read the USBC press release about the 2011 Senior Queens Championship here, and below is, from top to bottom, video of Vidad's entire championship match with Hammel and of her interview after winning the title.