June/July 2016 -
9
Bowler Fights Emotions, Advances At Go Bowling PWBA
Players Championship
By Terry Bigham
GREEN BAY, Wis. –
After 12 qualifying games of the Go Bowling Professional
Women’s Bowling Association Players Championship on Friday, Kelly Kulick of
Union, New Jersey, has the lead. But a much different accomplishment happened
a few spots down the leaderboard.
Gabby Mayfield of Lake Isabella, California, fought through an emotional day to
earn the 16th and final spot for Saturday’s match-play rounds at The Ashwaube-
non Bowling Alley in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The top 16 players will bowl two eight-
game match-play sessions with the four players with the highest pinfall after the 28
total games advancing to Sunday’s stepladder finals of this season’s second ma-
jor.
Mayfield made match play while dealing with the loss of her home back in Lake
Isabella, part of the destruction caused by a massive wildfire in California. While
she was in the top five early in the day, after 12 games she was waiting with fin-
gers crossed to see if she made the cut.
“Basically, the first block, I was numb,” Mayfield said. “I didn’t feel anything be-
cause I finally talked to my mom and she told me the house had burned down,
everything was gone. They were able to save my grandma’s house but nothing in
my house. We lost two cats, so when I came in I probably cried eight times in the
first 15 minutes when I saw all my friends.”
Mayfield and her fiancé, Brian Valenta, made the move to California in April, just
before the tour season started. She said the support of her fellow competitors
helped her, and the thought of her family helped push her toward the end.
She said her family fought the fire near her grandmother’s house, about a mile
from her house, from 5 p.m. Thursday until early Friday morning, saying the win-
dows were blown out but the house was saved.
“Honestly, I was numb and then I started thinking about it and I was like, I just
want to do this for my town, for my parents,” Mayfield said. “Everybody has been
so supportive. Brian was behind me every shot and I don’t think I could have kept
it together if he wasn’t there.”
Kulick, who missed last week to have her troublesome right ankle checked out
and to rest it, averaged 232 and her 2,782 pinfall total gives her a 37-pin lead over
2015 PWBA Rookie of the Year Stefanie Johnson of Grand Prairie, Texas. Liz
Johnson, the 2015 PWBA Player of the Year, is in third followed by Colombia’s
Clara Guerrero and Siti Rahman of Malaysia.
Kulick said she had irritation in her right ankle and then overuse in trying to push
off compounded the problem. An X-ray and MRI showed a good deal of inflamma-
tion, which caused the pain, but there was no structural damage.
“Knock on wood, my body is still healthy, just a lot of inflamed tissue,”
Kulick said. “It’s about 85 percent, and if I have good rhythm it doesn’t
seem to irritate me. If I try to get aggressive, that’s when I find I have a
lot of irritation.”
Go to PWBA.com for more information about the PWBA Tour, including
full results of the Go Bowling PWBA Players Championship, the com-
plete tour schedule, plus news and player biographies.
GO BOWLING PWBA PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP
At Ashwaubenon Bowling Alley, Green Bay, Wis.
Friday’s Results (after 12 games)
1, Kelly Kulick, Union, N.J., 2,782. 2, Stefanie Johnson, Grand Prairie,
Texas, 2,745. 3, Liz Johnson, Cheektowaga, N.Y., 2,733. 4, Clara Guer-
rero, Pflugerville, Texas, 2,697. 5, Siti Rahman, Malaysia, 2,683. 6,
Shannon O'Keefe, O'Fallon, Ill., 2,668.
7, Jennifer Higgins, Westerville, Ohio, 2,658. 8, Rocio Restrepo, Louis-
ville, Ohio, 2,639. 9, Bryanna Cote, Red Rock, Ariz., 2,624. 10, Erin
McCarthy, Omaha, Neb., 2,616. 11, Diana Zavjalova, Latvia, 2,614. 12,
Shannon Pluhowsky, Dayton, Ohio, 2,604.
13, Anne Marie Duggan, Edmond, Okla., 2,593. 14, Syaidatul Hamidi,
Malaysia, 2,584. 15, Danielle McEwan, Stony Point, N.Y., 2,578. 16,
Gabby Mayfield, Lake Isabella, Calif., 2,573.
Did not advance
17, Amanda Greene, Romney, W. Va., 2,569, $1,200. 18, (tie) Lynda
Barnes, Double Oak, Texas, and Sabrena Divis, Gillette, Wyo., 2,563,
$1,200. 20, Lindsay Boomershine, Perry, Utah, 2,559, $1,200. 21, Kayla
Stram, Minnetonka, Minn., 2,557, $1,200. 22, Kayla Bandy, Salisbury,
Md., 2,550, $1,200. 23, Natasha Roslan, Malaysia, 2,541, $1,200. 24,
Jackie Carbonetto, Blauvelt, N.Y., 2,532, $1,200.
25, Leanne Hulsenberg, Pleasant View, Utah, 2,529, $1,200. 26, Elysia
Current, Ephrata, Pa., 2,524, $1,200. 27, Karen Marcano, Venezuela,
2,522, $1,200. 28, Maria Jose Rodriguez, Austin, Texas, 2,514, $1,200.
29, Josie Earnest, Nashville, Tenn., 2,504, $1,200. 30, Diandra Asbaty,
Chicago, Ill., 2,501, $1,200.
(Continued page 11)
Congratulations to Bill Thomas for winning this weekend Special Event at AMF
Pinole Valley Lanes ... congrats also to Michael Vergara (2nd), Ramon Alferez (3rd),
Dalton Cox (4th) and to other cashers: Leo Dacasin, Bobby Crawford, Deborah God-
man, Row Woods & Jun Santos. Thanks to all who came out and participated in this
event and to your continued support of ABT NorCal Branch
Congrats to our Regular Event Top 4 L-R, Champ: James Balestreri, 2nd - Lisa Hop-
kins, 3rd - Del Chinn and 4th - Bernie Luvisi
