A great weekend at Skyway Park with 104 entries producing 26 finalists.  The scores were slightly higher than our last several events at Skyway, but every single member that cracked 900 made the finals.  Both Saturday and Sunday, the high scores to miss the cut were in the 890's.  We came a bit short of our target of breaking the last EQC Quarterly's records, although, with over $8,300 in total paid out, a successful weekend nonetheless.

Some tight and dramatic matches in the Finals kept it interesting.  In one semi-final the #3 seed Mick Hodge was coming off back-to-back 300's, wearing a Champions Shirt from Skyway Park, he faced Char Patton also wearing a Skyway Champion's Shirt.  Char prevailed, and won the Tournament in the next round winning $1716 .  She took the Championship from Kenny Tameno 247-226.  Kenny was the #1 seed, winning both a 9-Tap Tour jacket and the Hammer Black Widow Pearl , as well as 2nd place and $850 .  Char didn't have an easy road through the finals.  She had to face former EQC Champion Mholee Divina in the 1st round.  In the second, she beat the #2 seed, Dawn Eaton, by only 2 pins.  The 3rd round put her up against Bill Beauchere, who has the Tour's highest average, winning that one by only 3 pins.  So, in (General) Patton's 5 matches she beat the #1 seed, #2 seed, #3 seed and #1 average member.  A tough mountain to climb and well earned victory!  Who says a 164 league average bowler can't compete??

After an 883 in her 1st entry on Sunday, Char was unsure of whether to re-enter or not since her score was, at that time, enough to make the finals.  A good decision to re-enter, it wouldn't have held up.  Her 969 on her re-entry cemented her spot in the finals.  She is one of the original 9-Tap Tour members and very proud of her member #1.  In contrast, the Tour is about to issue member #1200.  That's a lot of growing!  Over Char's 6 years with the Tour, this is her 5th Tournament Championship.  We told her she could choose her own shirt color for her 5th win.  The "General" used her Hammer "Pain" for this win, which she felt was an appropriate name.  By qualifying on Sunday, she had 13 straight games in by the end of the day and said her knee felt like a " Hammering Pain ".  Our own Fred Mattson, at the Narrows Plaza Precision Pro Shop, did the drilling, along with a few tips.  She has been a bowler since 1970 and does her league bowling out of HiLine Lanes.  She is a member of the "Red Hat Society" and also enjoys gambling, mostly at the Emerald Queen Casino . 

Char asked me to pass on her thanks to those who stayed and rooted her on in the Finals. Kenny Tameno's 1039 took the Top Qualifier honors, and of course the new ball.  He had a very nice run through the brackets with consistent games of 238-271-251-226.  Mick Hodges 3rd place tie, was his 4th Top 3 finish of the year.  Our own Jon Schneider also finished 3rd for his highest finish to date, taking home $425 for his efforts.  Our CONGRATULATIONS to ALL of the Finalists and THANKS to everyone who participated for making this a very enjoyable weekend.

Next up: October 6th - Tower Lanes - " Best 3 of 4 " (Throw Out Your Worst Game) Squad Times:  12:00 - 2:30 - 5:00  -  Come Early!!!  Later squads may be very large.