Missy Parkin Bounces Back to Win 2011 USBC Queens Championship

Last year, Missy Bellinder needed only a mark in the tenth frame of her match with Kelly Kulick to advance to the third match of the USBC Queens Championship. She got up, threw what looked like a great shot, and left a pocket 7-10 split for a 212 to 220 loss. Kulick went on to win the next two matches and add the Queens title to her miraculous year of accomplishments.

Since then, Missy got married, worked hard on her game, and came back this year more determined than ever to win. Now Missy Parkin, she decisively beat two time U.S. Open champion and former Queens champion Kim Terrell-Kearney 235-172 and then defeated top seeded Elysia Current 214-189 to earn the championship, the tiara, and the $20,000 first prize.

The hard throwing right-hander had this to say about her victory in a USBC press relase posted on Bowl.com:

"After last year's show, I was pretty devastated, and for a while after that, every time I left the 7-10, I got angrier and angrier. But today, I definitely had a different mindset. I told myself I needed to throw 10 good shots every game, and that's all I could do. That was my plan all week, and it worked out well."

Congratulations to Missy Parkin on her 2011 Queens title. I have the feeling she's going to be a force to be reckoned with at the U.S. Open in Texas in June.

For all the results of this year's and last year's Queens tournament, click on here. Below is video of a brief interview with Parkin about her victory. And when video of the televised finals becomes available, I'll be posting it to this blog, so be sure to check back for it.

Preview of Tonight's USBC Queens Televised Finals

"I'm just taking everything in as it happens and trying to enjoy being out here and competing. When I'm not in a bowling center, I try not to think about bowling or talk about bowling. Tonight, I'm going to relax and enjoy the moment and just wait for the lights to go on tomorrow."

--Elysia Current

Tonight, ESPN2 will televise the match play finals of the USBC Queens Championship live from the Oncenter Convention Center in Syracuse, NY at 7 PM EDT. Former college bowling standout Elysia Current, who knocked Sacramento favorite and past Queens champion Leanne Barrette-Hulsenberg out of the competition, went undefeated yesterday in double-elimination match play and will be the top seed in tonight's stepladder finals, needing to win only one match to claim the coveted Queens tiara and a $20,000 check.

I watched Bowl.com's live streaming of the competition most of yesterday and the day before, and I have to say that Elysia looks like she has an excellent chance of winning tonight. She has a sound, cleanly efficient style and throws a powerful ball that seems tailor-made for the lane conditions in the Convention Center.

The first match of the star-studded finals pits Cathy Dorin-Lizzi, who handed her sister Carolyn Dorin-Ballard her first defeat yesterday, against three-time Queens titlist Wendy Macpherson. The winner will take on Kim Terrell-Kearney. The winner of that match will go up against Missy (Bellinder) Parkin. And the winner of that match will advance to take on Elysia Current for the championship.

Last year's champion, Kelly Kulick, got knocked out relatively early in yesterday's match play competition.

You can click here to see how the bowlers who made it to match play fared in the brackets, here to read Bowl.com's preview story on the finals tonight, and here to watch match play action from Monday and Tuesday in the Bowl.com/Ustream archives. Finally, below is a video preview of tonight's finalists and matches.

Bowling Bytes--5/5/10

Tammy Boomershine, a new leader at the USBC Open, Walter Ray Williams in his first PBA Senior event, Tony Lakawicz, the world's largest bowling center, cheating in bowling, bowling shoes, and successful team play are among the subjects of today's Bowling Bytes.

~ Boomershine looks to repeat as U.S. Women's Open Champion -- Tammy Boomershine has dealt with injuries and adversity her entire bowling career, but for a short time last August she was able to put all of that out of her mind and bask in her victory at the U.S. Women's Open, a United States Bowling Congress event. Boomershine of North Ogden, Utah, will look to regain that feeling again when she takes on a field of the top women bowlers from around the world at the 2010 U.S. Women's Open, which begins Friday, May 7 at Cityview Lanes in Fort Worth, Texas..."

~ Nebraska bowler takes Classified All-Events lead at USBC Open Championships -- "Harry Arnold of Falls City, Neb., knew he bowled well at the 2010 USBC Open Championships, but once he left the lanes at the National Bowling Stadium, he was focused on getting his family packed up and back on the road..."

~ Texas bowler rolls fourth 800 of 2010 U.S. Open Championships -- "Eric Traylor of Cypress, Texas, celebrated his birthday a day early by rolling the fourth 800 series of the 2010 USBC Open Championships on Monday. With his 26th birthday just hours away, Traylor put together games of 279, 288 and 244 for an 811 series and moved into second place in Regular Singles. Terrence Syring of Bay City, Mich., leads with 833..."

~ Harry Sullins leads after second round in Miller PBA Senior Miller High Life Classic -- "With a 240.6 16-game overall average, 2009 Professional Bowlers Association Senior World Championship winner Harry Sullins (pictured left) moved into the lead after the second round Tuesday in the PBA Senior Miller High Life Classic at George Pappas Victory Lanes...Hall of Famer Walter Ray Williams Jr. (left), who earned his record seventh PBA Player of the Year honor at the conclusion of the 2009-10 PBA Tour season in April, remained in 11th with a 3,703 pinfall..."

~ Long Time PBA East Region Leader Lakawicz Dies -- "Tony Lakawicz of Elmwood Park, N.J., who spent nearly 35 years as tournament director and organizational leader in the PBA East Region, died on April 28 at the age of 92. Lakawicz was a shop manager for Servo Tek in Hawthorne, N.J., for more than 40 years before retiring and spending another 10 years working the control counter at Parkway Lanes in Elmwood Park. The long-time Elmwood Park Elks Lodge member and Elmwood Park fire department chaplain was an avid bowler as well, once being a member of a five-man team that held the team game and series world records..."

~ Inazawa Grand Bowl installs QuBicaAMF automatic scoring -- "QubicaAMF Worldwide, a leading manufacturer of bowling and amusement products, has announced that its Bowler Entertainment System (BES) has been installed in the largest bowling center in the world, according to Guinness World Records..."

~ Bowling and Cheating -- "Recently, I read a blurb in a recent issue of Golf Magazine talking about how often and why golfers cheat. The statistic, which I don't have in front of me right now, is something like 95% of amateur golfers cheat...This got me thinking about cheating and bowling. It's a lot harder to cheat in bowling, since you're throwing a ball at 10 pins. You either knock them down or the ball goes in the gutter. There's no denying what happened. Furthermore, with almost every house now using automated scoring, the number of pins you knock down is the number of pins that goes up on the board. However, there are a couple common instances I notice in which bowlers can cheat: fouls and illegal pinfall..."

~ Coaching Tip of the Week: Bowling shoes for all Levels of Bowlers -- "You can get away with wearing one pair of shoes to jog, play basketball or wear with a nice pair of jeans, but you have to wear special shoes just to go bowling? The answer is yes, you do, and there are some very good reasons why. In this week's tips, USBC Coaching Specialist Kim Terrell-Kearney will explain why bowling shoes are important and what types of shoes bowlers of different skill levels should be wearing..."

~ Teams that play together well win: The seven principles of team and doubles play (Dean Hinitz: The Mind Game: Bowling This Month, May 2010, pgs. 55-58) -- "They say there is no 'I' in team. And it is common sports lore that talent alone does not win championships, or at least not repeatedly...Whether you are bowling USBC Nationals, tournament doubles, or league, playing as a team can take you to the top..."