August 2015 -
7
World Deaf Bowling Championship
Good Luck April Brown In Italy!
I am pleased to announce
I have been selected for the
3rd World Deaf Bowling
Championship in Bologna,
Italy on August 20-30, 2015
for the very first time. Being
selected for the World Deaf
Bowling Championship is
truly an honor and a major
achievement for my team
and myself. I will bowl Inter-
nationally along with six (6)
female bowlers from differ-
ent states. I am the only female bowler from California going to the Champi-
onship.
April is from Hayward
.
Good Luck
Robert Ellison, San Diego, CA
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USA Deaf Bowling
SERVING THE BOWLING INDUSTRY SINCE 1967
Team USA Picks Up Two Medals at
Pan Am Games
By Terry Bigham
TORONTO – The United States picked
up two medals in the doubles bowling
competition at the Pan American Games
on Thursday as the Team USA women
claimed the silver medal, while the
men’s team needed a mark in their final
frame to earn the bronze.
Team USA’s Liz Johnson of Cheekto-
waga, New York, and Shannon Plu-
howsky of Dayton, Ohio, could not catch
the steady Colombian team of Clara
Guerrero and Rocio Restrepo, who
combined for a pinfall total of 5,074 for the 12 games. Johnson and Pluhowsky
finished 149 pins back with a 4,925 total, while Venezuela shot 4,819.
―It had its ups and downs again,‖ Pluhowsky said of the team’s day. ―We played
the wrong part of the lane too long. The one game where we both shot 180, we
were searching.‖ Colombia, meanwhile, was steadily increasing its lead.
―They’re great bowlers and they just bowled phenomenal today,‖ Johnson said.
―We started out well … I got caught up staying a little further right than I wanted to
and second-guessing myself. Once we moved in, it was a better reaction but we
had a lot of holes today.‖
Canada sprinted away from the men’s field, posting a 5,607 total to top second-
place Colombia by 318 pins. Dan MacLelland shot 815 in the first three games,
and Francois Lavoie had the first 300 game in Pan American Games history to
lead Canada.
The U.S. duo of Devin Bidwell of Wichita, Kansas, and Tommy Jones of Simp-
sonville, South Carolina, who had dropped to fifth after nine games, pulled within
three pins of third-place Mexico heading into the final game.
Bidwell rolled a 245 game, but Jones still needed to mark in the final frame, on a
pair where he had thrown five splits in the first eight frames. Jones stepped up and
buried the first two shots to push Team USA into third with a 5,203 total, 22 pins
ahead of Mexico.
―Thanks goodness he bowled 245 last game, because I was bowling 150 going
into the 10th,‖ said Jones, who finished with a 164. ―I actually asked coach on the
fill shot if I could try something different just for my own sanity. This game is very
frustrating, and that’s one thing that makes it great.‖
Bidwell said winning bronze in his first international competition with Team USA
was ―oddly satisfying.‖
―We didn’t come here for bronze, but that last pair ... I’m glad we got on the po-
dium,‖ Bidwell said.
For the U.S. women, Johnson had a record-tying 299 game, leaving a 10 pin on
her last shot. She tied the mark set by Tennelle Milligan, the Team USA High Per-
formance Manager, at the 2007 Pan American Games.
―I didn’t think it was a bad shot,‖ Johnson said of her final roll. ―I got a little bit in,
but that shot I probably got it in the most of the 12 shots. It went kind of flat.‖
All four players now turn their attention to singles competition, which starts Friday
with 12 games of qualifying. After 12 games, the field will be cut to the top eight
bowlers in each division for match play on Saturday. Bowlers will take their pinfall
totals into match play, which will consist of one-game matches with the winner
receiving 20 bonus pins.
―We’ve seen all the pairs and we’ll just go into tomorrow like it’s a new day just
like we always do,‖ Pluhowsky said. ―We have educated guesses now; we didn’t
have those before.‖
Continued on page 10
