USBC Storm Mixed Team Challenge returns
November 10, 2009
For Ronnie Lapping Jr., 2009 has been a year of firsts. Earlier this year he made his debut at the USBC Open Championships in Las Vegas, an event he describes as a "total blast," and decided that it was time for he and his son, Ronnie Lapping III, to bowl more tournaments together.
So they walked into Palace Lanes in Columbus, Ohio for their first USBC Storm Mixed Team Challenge experience and enjoyed some Vegas-style beginner's luck.
Ronnie Lapping Jr.'s team, Mismatched, blasted the competition on Sunday despite a furious come-from-behind effort by 4 C's, which sandwiched a 274 game between handicap Baker-format scores of 306 and 307 for an 887 series to claim second place.
"They had a few great games," Lapping Jr. said of 4 C's. "Luckily for us they were trying to come back all the way from 13th place."
Lapping Jr.'s team outpaced 4 C's by a total of 111 pins with a grand pin fall of 5,127.
The USBC Storm Mixed Team Challenge begins unassumingly enough, with four-player mixed teams bowling three traditional league-style games. What comes next, though, is the thing that ranks this event among the most distinctive tournaments in the country: 10 games of Baker-format competition in the spirit of the World Team Challenge events of the 1990s.
"The format is a blast," Lapping Jr. said. "You don't see that too often in other tournaments. We had a blast, it was a good time."
Though his team took home a first-place check of $900, the thrill of bowling with family means more than any amount of prize money.
"We just enjoy doing it as a family," said Lapping Jr., who picked up bowling as a grade-school student in Erie, Pa. and then again 16 years ago after a hiatus. "I just remembered bowling from when I was a kid, and now family has kept us into it more than anything else. We get competitive - especially my son and I - and that's probably what has kept us bowling."
The USBC Storm Mixed Team Challenge rolls on to Lightning Strikes Lanes in Birmingham, Ala. on Saturday, Nov. 22, before heading to Brunswick Zone Norcross in Atlanta, Ga. on Sunday.
So they walked into Palace Lanes in Columbus, Ohio for their first USBC Storm Mixed Team Challenge experience and enjoyed some Vegas-style beginner's luck.
Ronnie Lapping Jr.'s team, Mismatched, blasted the competition on Sunday despite a furious come-from-behind effort by 4 C's, which sandwiched a 274 game between handicap Baker-format scores of 306 and 307 for an 887 series to claim second place.
"They had a few great games," Lapping Jr. said of 4 C's. "Luckily for us they were trying to come back all the way from 13th place."
Lapping Jr.'s team outpaced 4 C's by a total of 111 pins with a grand pin fall of 5,127.
The USBC Storm Mixed Team Challenge begins unassumingly enough, with four-player mixed teams bowling three traditional league-style games. What comes next, though, is the thing that ranks this event among the most distinctive tournaments in the country: 10 games of Baker-format competition in the spirit of the World Team Challenge events of the 1990s.
"The format is a blast," Lapping Jr. said. "You don't see that too often in other tournaments. We had a blast, it was a good time."
Though his team took home a first-place check of $900, the thrill of bowling with family means more than any amount of prize money.
"We just enjoy doing it as a family," said Lapping Jr., who picked up bowling as a grade-school student in Erie, Pa. and then again 16 years ago after a hiatus. "I just remembered bowling from when I was a kid, and now family has kept us into it more than anything else. We get competitive - especially my son and I - and that's probably what has kept us bowling."
The USBC Storm Mixed Team Challenge rolls on to Lightning Strikes Lanes in Birmingham, Ala. on Saturday, Nov. 22, before heading to Brunswick Zone Norcross in Atlanta, Ga. on Sunday.