Published: February 28, 2006 07:25 am      

Carson: Full slate of tourneys coming

A full slate of tournament activity kicks off this weekend when the Meridian Bowling Association hosts the first of two weekends of the 49th Annual Association Tournament. Action gets underway Saturday afternoon with shifts at 1 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. Identical shifts will be held both Saturdays and Sundays through next weekend.

Teams that bowl in the men only leagues have their team entry paid by the Sponsor Fees, so guys, you have no excuse not to get your team entered. Doubles and Singles are available at $25 per person per event. Doubles Only is also offered but you must complete a full Doubles and Singles before being eligible for this. An optional All-Events entry is also available. If you haven't entered your team, you may do so at least thirty minutes prior to the beginning of each shift on a "lanes available" basis. You may also put together your own team or teams.

Next on the agenda will be the 46th Annual Ladies City Tournament which will be held March 25-26 and April 1-2. Entry deadline for this tournament is March 12, which is less than two weeks away. There is no late entry allowed so be sure to get your entries turned in on time. You may submit your entries to tournament directors Betty Aycock or Mary Formby. As usual this tournament will offer entries in Teams, Doubles, Singles and All-Events.

This tournament will be followed by the youth who take to the lanes April 8-9 for their annual championship. Doubles and Singles will take place Saturday, April 8 at 10 a.m. Teams will bowl Sunday, April 9 at 1 p.m.

Entry forms are also available for both the MBA State Tournament at Hub Lanes in Hattiesburg and the Ladies State Tournament at Rivergate Bowl in Natchez. Be aware that entry deadlines are also drawing near for each of these tournaments. As with the local tournaments, there are no late entries accepted in the ladies tournament.

In local league action, while a few guys were able to put together some good numbers the series in the ladies led the scoring charge. Barbara Holden paced all the ladies with a fine 267 game and 576 series in the Dixie belles league. Two ladies picked up their first career 200s during the week. Congratulations to Ina Fairley who reeled in a 207 in the Senior Non-Smoking league and to Regina Richardson who bonked 200 on the nose in the Friday Night Mixed league. Several ladies were able to cross the 200 mark including Paula Wooten with a nice 244 effort and Adrienne Watkins who blasted out a 232. Other ladies doing well last week included Kate Grant, Janice Kasper, Mary Copeland, Debbie Jones, Taneezia Cook, Kim Shirley, Linda Genin, Nonie Embrey, Cathy Jones, Yolanda Edmonds and Eunice Dillard.

For the second week in a row only one "7" appeared on the board. That came from the long arms of Barry Woods who used a 252 game to splash his way to a 710 in the Queen City league. Herb Bruister brought home the high game with a 279 while Dick Jentoft chipped in his two cents with a 260 in the Hucklebuck league. Rodney Bounds carded a fine 258 and Randell Palmer proved to the older set he still has the touch with his 256 game and 657 series.

Danny Shannon led the juniors with a nice 24 game while Amanda Rickles had a good time with a 210 game and 556 series. In the meantime young Tyler Richardson enjoyed her, and yes I said her, best day of the season by beating her average all three games Saturday morning.

Last week, I reported that the high school bowlers were headed to Tupelo for their first ever traveling match, but that trip was canceled at the last minute due to weather conditions. No make-up date has been set. That's all for now. Until next week, good luck and good bowling.