When things go bad, sometimes they can go really bad.
And such was the case Sunday morning when the Silver Lake (Calif.) Atom Splitters were eliminated in the first round of the Professional Bowling Assn. League’s stepladder finals at Thunderbowl Lanes in the Detroit suburb of Allen Park, Mich.
The Dallas Strikers overwhelmed the Atom Splitters by the score of 278-171.
Dallas rolled strikes in its first six frames and scored strikes in every frame but the seventh. Leadoff man Bryon Smith, Amleto Monacelli, Mike Machuga, Norm Duke and Rhino Page each bowled two frames and kept the pressure on throughout the one-sided match.
The Atom Splitters, meanwhile, had trouble getting untracked. Chris Barnes started the game with a spare and then Stuart Williams opened when he failed to convert the four-pin bucket. Nathan Bohr then rolled a split for back-to-back opens.
Josh Blanchard got the Atom Splitters’ first strike in the ninth frame and anchor man Dom Barrett then struck in the 10th for a double, but it was far too little, too late. Right after Blanchard bowled his strike, teammate Williams hugged him as both smiled.
The Atom Splitters had qualified fourth for the stepladder finals while the Strikers had qualified fifth. The L.A. X placed sixth in the qualifying, finishing a mere 10 pins behind the Strikers for the final qualifying berth.
The BROOKLYN STyLES, the top qualifier, defeated the New York City WTT KingPins, 225-215, in Sunday’s championship match behind Sean Rash’s clutch two-strike performance in the 10th frame.
The KingPins advanced to the finals with a 226-191 victory over the Motown Muscle.
Comments