New Champion at Ft. Shafter 

Another successful 9 Tap tournament concluded at Ft. Shafter Lanes this past weekend crowning a new Champion.  The scoring was just above the norm and the Title went down to the wire.  We saw lots of BIG games Saturday, but not many bowlers were able to string those big games together.  In Bowling, “Success” is not measured by how well one “Cranks Up” a bowling ball (Brian Pineda, 4th place); or the “Speed, Strength and Control” of a bowling ball (Kevin Cruce and Jeremy Ledet, 3rd and 7th place finishers respectively); or the “Smooth like silk” motions of a bowler (a la Ben Ballesteros and Kenny Reynolds 2nd and 10th place finishers respectively), but how “Cool, Calm and Focused” a bowler remains amidst these “Wolves”.  Lauralyn Samson held her composure to “Tame those “FEROCIOUS WOLVES”.  Ben Ballesteros set the tone for the second squad with a nice 4-game total of 1059.  The Tour’s newest Champion, Lauralyn Samson, posted three great games but was a little unsteady midway into the last game of the second squad but righted her game and was “Cool, Calm & Focused” the rest of the way to beat Ben posting a score of 1070.  As the second squad got underway, there were a few good games bowled but only a handful that could maintain some kind of consistency to give them a chance at winning the title going into the last game.  Kevin Cruce had a mathematical chance of surpassing 1070 but needed a huge game to surpass Lauralyn and instead finished in 3rd place with a score of 1056.  Brian Pineda put together two huge games in the last squad but faltered after moving lanes, and finished in fourth place with a score of 1017.For her efforts, Lauralyn collected $1,362 for her win.   Asked what she was going to do with her winnings, her answer “Buy a New IPad”.  She used a Hammer Rhythm drilled by Darin Villegas of Strike’em Pro Shop.  Cheering her on was 9 Tap Tour Champs Don Furuya and Sidney Remigio.  Also cheering was her Coach, Significant Other and one of Hawaii’s Elite Bowlers Thomas Ching.  She also thanked the 9 Tap Tour Staff for holding the tournament.  Congratulations!  Lauralyn Samson!!