Team USA men and women advance in Baker Team play at 2022 IBF World Cup
November 19, 2022
RESULTS AND INFORMATION
Queensland, Australia – Team USA took another step toward the podium on Friday by advancing both their men’s and women’s teams to the next round of Baker Team competition at the 2022 International Bowling Federation World Cup at Suncity Tenpin Bowl in Queensland, Australia.
The women’s team made up of Bryanna Coté, Stefanie Johnson, Danielle McEwan and Jordan Richard went 3-0 during their final block to finish qualifying in first place with an overall record of 12-2.
One squad earlier, Team USA’s men’s quartet of Jakob Butturff, A.J. Johnson, Kris Prather and Kyle Troup punched their tickets to the quarterfinals by going 1-2 on the day to finish 8-6 overall in Men’s Baker Team qualifying.
With Team qualifying completed, attention will shift back to Singles competition on Saturday for the men’s Round of 32 and the women’s Round of 16.
All four Team USA men are still alive in Singles while Coté, Stefanie Johnson and Richard remain in contention on the women’s side.
But Friday’s focus was all about Team as both American squads looked to lock up spots in the next round.
Women’s Final Qualifying Block
Team USA’s women entered Friday’s final qualifying round in first place with a 9-2 overall record and riding a four-match winning streak thanks to stellar bowling during two sets on Thursday.
That meant that if the Americans could perform at even a fraction of the level that they reached while establishing a 231.6 average the day before, they would be moving on.
They opened Friday’s round with a matchup against the host team from Australia.
The Aussies extended Team USA a bit of hospitality in the form of two early opens, which allowed the Americans to alternate spares and strikes through the first seven frames and still hold a 15-pin lead as the game headed to the ninth and tenth.
That’s when Team USA would be at its best as Coté struck in the ninth, and Stefanie Johnson doubled in the tenth to clinch the victory for the Americans (218-204).
Game 2 was officially over by the ninth frame as after starting with four consecutive nine-count spares, the Australians left splits and opened four of the next five frames, which allowed Team USA to coast to a 218-157 win and complete the sweep.
Singapore was the next opponent on Team USA’s schedule, and the American weren’t ready to give a game up to them either.
The Americans started Game 1 with a five-bagger to jump out to a 30-pin lead through five frames. It looked like things may tighten up after a Team USA open in the eighth frame, but Singapore answered with an open of its own, allowing the Americans to stay out front and capture Game 1 (211-194).
Singapore started Game 2 strike, four-bagger, but back-to-back splits in the sixth and seventh frames halted its momentum.
Team USA, meanwhile, started spare, strike, spare before running off a five-bagger to grab the lead and never look back. When the final shots had been thrown, the Americans had won the game (237-200) and match.
The final match of the block pitted Team USA against Germany in a one-versus-two battle. The top spot in qualifying was not on the line, however, as Team USA had a two-game lead on the Germans before the match began.
Nevertheless, Germany fought like the top spot was on the line, taking advantage of three Team USA opens, including a crucial split in the ninth frame, to take Game 1 by a score of 231-193.
Game 2 was even at the halfway point, but it looked like Team USA was destined to take the victory after the German anchor bowler split and opened the tenth, which meant Coté just needed a mark to win the game.
Things got somewhat scary though after Coté’s first shot in the tenth left the 2-7-8 baby split.
At that point, the math was simple; a spare would give Team USA the win to extend the match while an open would mean falling to Germany in an 0-2 sweep.
Showing the poise that she’s come to be known for, Coté converted the spare, allowing Team USA to grab a hard-fought 193-183 victory.
Possibly deflated from the near-miss in Game 2, Germany struggled to start Game 3, suffering two early opens and notching just two strikes through the first six frames.
Team USA, on the other hand, was riding high, starting with a seven-bagger to put Germany away before it could get started. At the end, the final score was 279-169 in Team USA’s favor.
The win gave the American women their second consecutive undefeated block and extended their winning streak to seven matches in a row.
The streak is even more impressive when considering that after locking up its semifinal berth with the victory in Match 1, Team USA’s sole focus was no longer just on winning.
Instead, players and coaches spent a good portion of Match 2 and Match 3 experimenting with different bowling balls to gather more lane-play information to use in the coming rounds.
Jordan Richard definitely saw the value in the approach Team USA Head Coach Bryan O’Keefe had her and her teammates take during the last two contests.
“It was really important that we got to try some different things during those last two matches because you honestly never know what’s going to happen with the lanes from round to round in a tournament like this,” Richard said. “Now, if things go south during the medal round, we have an idea of what we can do to combat that.”
Malaysia (9-5), Sweden (9-5) and Germany (9-5) will join Team USA in the medal round after finishing qualifying in second, third and fourth place, respectively.
Those four teams will take part in the Women’s Baker Team semifinals, which will start Tuesday night at 10:45 p.m. CST.
The United States will take on Germany, and Malaysia and Sweden will do battle in the other semifinal.
The two teams that win their semifinal matchups will bowl for the 2022 IBF World Cup Women’s Baker Team title Wednesday morning at 4 a.m. CST.
Men’s Final Qualifying Block
If the Team USA men were hoping to get off to a good start, they literally couldn’t have done any better during Game 1 as they ran off 12 consecutive strikes to record the first 300 of Baker Team competition at the 2022 IBF World Cup.
Prather delivered the final three shots, but all four members of Team USA were locked in, helping the Americans collect the perfecto and open the match with a 300-221 Game 1 victory over Canada.
Unfortunately, even though Team USA won the opening battle, Canada won the war.
The Canadians took advantage of a seventh-frame split by the Americans and notched a late five-bagger of their own to take Game 2 (237-228).
The third game was close as well with just four pins separating the two teams after seven frames.
Team USA had a chance after Canada’s Mitch Hupe left the bucket on his first shot in the 10th frame.
That meant that A.J. Johnson would need to strike on his first shot in order for Team USA to go around Canada and complete the comeback.
Johnson’s shot crept high, however, tripping a 4 pin but leaving the ten. Hupe then covered his spare, giving Canada a 200-189 Game 3 victory and the match.
Team USA didn’t have long to shake off the sting of the loss as Sweden was waiting for the Americans in Match 2.
Thankfully, Team USA responded in fine fashion, staying clean early and then closing with a six-bagger to run away and hide from the Swedes with a 248-201 victory.
Game 2 was close early on, but it didn’t end that way.
Both teams began spare, turkey, but Sweden’s run ended with a five-count spare in the fifth. The Americans, meanwhile, kept their string going until Troup’s 10 pin ended it in the seventh.
He covered the spare, and then Team USA struck on four of its final five shots to post 268.
Once Sweden’s Martin Larsen missed a single-pin spare in the seventh frame, it was clear that Team USA would be taking the game (268-202) and match.
The result was equally crucial for both teams as it locked up Team USA’s spot in the quarterfinals while simultaneously eliminating Sweden from contention.
The Team USA men’s final match of the day was a position-round battle versus Germany
Even though both teams came into the bout with a qualifying berth already in hand, quarterfinal seeding was still on the line, so it was clear that neither side wanted to lose.
Germany was able to take the opener (220-189), starting with a four-bagger and taking advantage of an early open and poor pin carry for Team USA.
The carry improved for the Americans during Game 2 as they rattled off seven of the first nine strikes.
Germany threw its share too, however, and when Team USA split on the first ball in the 10th frame, the German anchor bowler stepped up and delivered a clutch strike, the Germans’ fifth in a row, to go around the Americans and complete the 2-0 sweep with a 234-228 victory.
Nevertheless, the Americans finished sixth in the qualifying standings, which was enough to advance them into the quarterfinals since advancing spots went to the top eight teams.
“Shooting Baker 300 was pretty cool, but moving on to the top eight was the goal,” A.J. Johnson said. “Now, it’s a whole new ball game, so we just have to take it one game and match at a time and keep on doing what we do best.”
Johnson and his teammates will certainly be facing the best as there are no weak teams competing in the men’s field.
Joining Team USA in the quarterfinals will be Malaysia (10-4), Australia (10-4), Germany (9-5), Czech Republic (9-5), Puerto Rico (9-5), Canada (8-6) and the Philippines (7-7).
Men’s quarterfinal competition will begin Sunday at 10 p.m. CST.
Team USA’s quarterfinal bout will be a rematch against No. 3 seed Germany.
The other matchups include (1) Malaysia vs. (8) Philippines; (3) Australia vs. (7) Canada; and (4) Czech Republic vs. (5) Puerto Rico.
The four teams still alive after the quarterfinal round will square off in semifinal competition Tuesday night starting at 7:15 p.m. CST.
The Men’s Baker Team final will take place Wednesday morning and is scheduled for a 2:15 a.m. CST start.
A long road still lies ahead for the Team USA men and women, but O’Keefe is just happy that each team has successfully taken the first step.
“Survive and advance is the name of the game in our sport, and we’ve done that on both sides,” O’Keefe said. “Both teams are going to bowl Germany, a storied bowling country with great talent, so it’s going to be hard. We’re going to have to bowl great to win.
“We’ve gathered a lot of information, and then we’ll hopefully use it to the best of our ability and see what we can do.”
Queensland, Australia – Team USA took another step toward the podium on Friday by advancing both their men’s and women’s teams to the next round of Baker Team competition at the 2022 International Bowling Federation World Cup at Suncity Tenpin Bowl in Queensland, Australia.
The women’s team made up of Bryanna Coté, Stefanie Johnson, Danielle McEwan and Jordan Richard went 3-0 during their final block to finish qualifying in first place with an overall record of 12-2.
One squad earlier, Team USA’s men’s quartet of Jakob Butturff, A.J. Johnson, Kris Prather and Kyle Troup punched their tickets to the quarterfinals by going 1-2 on the day to finish 8-6 overall in Men’s Baker Team qualifying.
With Team qualifying completed, attention will shift back to Singles competition on Saturday for the men’s Round of 32 and the women’s Round of 16.
All four Team USA men are still alive in Singles while Coté, Stefanie Johnson and Richard remain in contention on the women’s side.
But Friday’s focus was all about Team as both American squads looked to lock up spots in the next round.
Women’s Final Qualifying Block
Team USA’s women entered Friday’s final qualifying round in first place with a 9-2 overall record and riding a four-match winning streak thanks to stellar bowling during two sets on Thursday.
That meant that if the Americans could perform at even a fraction of the level that they reached while establishing a 231.6 average the day before, they would be moving on.
They opened Friday’s round with a matchup against the host team from Australia.
The Aussies extended Team USA a bit of hospitality in the form of two early opens, which allowed the Americans to alternate spares and strikes through the first seven frames and still hold a 15-pin lead as the game headed to the ninth and tenth.
That’s when Team USA would be at its best as Coté struck in the ninth, and Stefanie Johnson doubled in the tenth to clinch the victory for the Americans (218-204).
Game 2 was officially over by the ninth frame as after starting with four consecutive nine-count spares, the Australians left splits and opened four of the next five frames, which allowed Team USA to coast to a 218-157 win and complete the sweep.
Singapore was the next opponent on Team USA’s schedule, and the American weren’t ready to give a game up to them either.
The Americans started Game 1 with a five-bagger to jump out to a 30-pin lead through five frames. It looked like things may tighten up after a Team USA open in the eighth frame, but Singapore answered with an open of its own, allowing the Americans to stay out front and capture Game 1 (211-194).
Singapore started Game 2 strike, four-bagger, but back-to-back splits in the sixth and seventh frames halted its momentum.
Team USA, meanwhile, started spare, strike, spare before running off a five-bagger to grab the lead and never look back. When the final shots had been thrown, the Americans had won the game (237-200) and match.
The final match of the block pitted Team USA against Germany in a one-versus-two battle. The top spot in qualifying was not on the line, however, as Team USA had a two-game lead on the Germans before the match began.
Nevertheless, Germany fought like the top spot was on the line, taking advantage of three Team USA opens, including a crucial split in the ninth frame, to take Game 1 by a score of 231-193.
Game 2 was even at the halfway point, but it looked like Team USA was destined to take the victory after the German anchor bowler split and opened the tenth, which meant Coté just needed a mark to win the game.
Things got somewhat scary though after Coté’s first shot in the tenth left the 2-7-8 baby split.
At that point, the math was simple; a spare would give Team USA the win to extend the match while an open would mean falling to Germany in an 0-2 sweep.
Showing the poise that she’s come to be known for, Coté converted the spare, allowing Team USA to grab a hard-fought 193-183 victory.
Possibly deflated from the near-miss in Game 2, Germany struggled to start Game 3, suffering two early opens and notching just two strikes through the first six frames.
Team USA, on the other hand, was riding high, starting with a seven-bagger to put Germany away before it could get started. At the end, the final score was 279-169 in Team USA’s favor.
The win gave the American women their second consecutive undefeated block and extended their winning streak to seven matches in a row.
The streak is even more impressive when considering that after locking up its semifinal berth with the victory in Match 1, Team USA’s sole focus was no longer just on winning.
Instead, players and coaches spent a good portion of Match 2 and Match 3 experimenting with different bowling balls to gather more lane-play information to use in the coming rounds.
Jordan Richard definitely saw the value in the approach Team USA Head Coach Bryan O’Keefe had her and her teammates take during the last two contests.
“It was really important that we got to try some different things during those last two matches because you honestly never know what’s going to happen with the lanes from round to round in a tournament like this,” Richard said. “Now, if things go south during the medal round, we have an idea of what we can do to combat that.”
Malaysia (9-5), Sweden (9-5) and Germany (9-5) will join Team USA in the medal round after finishing qualifying in second, third and fourth place, respectively.
Those four teams will take part in the Women’s Baker Team semifinals, which will start Tuesday night at 10:45 p.m. CST.
The United States will take on Germany, and Malaysia and Sweden will do battle in the other semifinal.
The two teams that win their semifinal matchups will bowl for the 2022 IBF World Cup Women’s Baker Team title Wednesday morning at 4 a.m. CST.
Men’s Final Qualifying Block
If the Team USA men were hoping to get off to a good start, they literally couldn’t have done any better during Game 1 as they ran off 12 consecutive strikes to record the first 300 of Baker Team competition at the 2022 IBF World Cup.
Prather delivered the final three shots, but all four members of Team USA were locked in, helping the Americans collect the perfecto and open the match with a 300-221 Game 1 victory over Canada.
Unfortunately, even though Team USA won the opening battle, Canada won the war.
The Canadians took advantage of a seventh-frame split by the Americans and notched a late five-bagger of their own to take Game 2 (237-228).
The third game was close as well with just four pins separating the two teams after seven frames.
Team USA had a chance after Canada’s Mitch Hupe left the bucket on his first shot in the 10th frame.
That meant that A.J. Johnson would need to strike on his first shot in order for Team USA to go around Canada and complete the comeback.
Johnson’s shot crept high, however, tripping a 4 pin but leaving the ten. Hupe then covered his spare, giving Canada a 200-189 Game 3 victory and the match.
Team USA didn’t have long to shake off the sting of the loss as Sweden was waiting for the Americans in Match 2.
Thankfully, Team USA responded in fine fashion, staying clean early and then closing with a six-bagger to run away and hide from the Swedes with a 248-201 victory.
Game 2 was close early on, but it didn’t end that way.
Both teams began spare, turkey, but Sweden’s run ended with a five-count spare in the fifth. The Americans, meanwhile, kept their string going until Troup’s 10 pin ended it in the seventh.
He covered the spare, and then Team USA struck on four of its final five shots to post 268.
Once Sweden’s Martin Larsen missed a single-pin spare in the seventh frame, it was clear that Team USA would be taking the game (268-202) and match.
The result was equally crucial for both teams as it locked up Team USA’s spot in the quarterfinals while simultaneously eliminating Sweden from contention.
The Team USA men’s final match of the day was a position-round battle versus Germany
Even though both teams came into the bout with a qualifying berth already in hand, quarterfinal seeding was still on the line, so it was clear that neither side wanted to lose.
Germany was able to take the opener (220-189), starting with a four-bagger and taking advantage of an early open and poor pin carry for Team USA.
The carry improved for the Americans during Game 2 as they rattled off seven of the first nine strikes.
Germany threw its share too, however, and when Team USA split on the first ball in the 10th frame, the German anchor bowler stepped up and delivered a clutch strike, the Germans’ fifth in a row, to go around the Americans and complete the 2-0 sweep with a 234-228 victory.
Nevertheless, the Americans finished sixth in the qualifying standings, which was enough to advance them into the quarterfinals since advancing spots went to the top eight teams.
“Shooting Baker 300 was pretty cool, but moving on to the top eight was the goal,” A.J. Johnson said. “Now, it’s a whole new ball game, so we just have to take it one game and match at a time and keep on doing what we do best.”
Johnson and his teammates will certainly be facing the best as there are no weak teams competing in the men’s field.
Joining Team USA in the quarterfinals will be Malaysia (10-4), Australia (10-4), Germany (9-5), Czech Republic (9-5), Puerto Rico (9-5), Canada (8-6) and the Philippines (7-7).
Men’s quarterfinal competition will begin Sunday at 10 p.m. CST.
Team USA’s quarterfinal bout will be a rematch against No. 3 seed Germany.
The other matchups include (1) Malaysia vs. (8) Philippines; (3) Australia vs. (7) Canada; and (4) Czech Republic vs. (5) Puerto Rico.
The four teams still alive after the quarterfinal round will square off in semifinal competition Tuesday night starting at 7:15 p.m. CST.
The Men’s Baker Team final will take place Wednesday morning and is scheduled for a 2:15 a.m. CST start.
A long road still lies ahead for the Team USA men and women, but O’Keefe is just happy that each team has successfully taken the first step.
“Survive and advance is the name of the game in our sport, and we’ve done that on both sides,” O’Keefe said. “Both teams are going to bowl Germany, a storied bowling country with great talent, so it’s going to be hard. We’re going to have to bowl great to win.
“We’ve gathered a lot of information, and then we’ll hopefully use it to the best of our ability and see what we can do.”