ONTARIO — Toledo’s Jordan Richard, the No. 1 seed entering Sunday’s match play, had to win a pair of matches during Sunday’s stepladder finals to claim the 2022 Ohio State USBC Queens title at Rebman Recreation.
Richard, who averaged 254 during the semifinal round Saturday to claim the top seed by three pins over Dayton’s Stephanie Burkhardt, was the lone unbeaten bowler heading into Sunday’s stepladder finals, winning her first three matches.
Richard’s first stepladder match was against No. 5 seed Lisa Osborne of Akron, who came out of the contender’s bracket to advance. Osborne stopped Massillon’s Mandi Testa, the No. 4 seed, No. 3 seed Trisha Reid of Columbus and Bowling Green’s Jackie Kosler in the semifinal.
Osborne, needing to win two matches against the unbeaten Richard to claim the title, won Game 1 216-208 to force a second matchup. But Richard emerged with the title, stopping Osborne 258-154 in the finale.
Testa lost to Reid 453-428 in her second match, but battled back in the contender bracket by stopping Miranda Hull 462-426. All matches were two-game cumulative totals.
Osborne lost in her opening match of the day to Reid 474-448, but battled back from the contender bracket with wins over Jessica Hatcher (362-361), Melissa Brenders (450-400) and Briana Wells (407-369) to earn the No. 5 seed for the stepladder finals.
Among other area players, Stark County’s Taylor Sturm finished sixth overall after falling in her third contender’s bracket match to Reid 512-470. Sturm earlier topped Portage County’s Jennifer Kiss 475-410 and Hayley Dann 465-368. The former Jackson High School and Notre Dame College player was beaten by Wells 462-423 in her opening match of the day.
Former Stark County resident and past Queens champion Jennifer Higgins lost her opening match to Reid 474-441 and then fell to Wadsworth’s Nicole Eagon 439-430 in her first contender’s round match. Eagon was eliminated by Hull 525-401 in her second contender’s round match.
HARVISCHAK TOPS YOUNGSTOWN MASTERS
STRUTHERS — Second-seeded Robert Harvischak won two matches to claim the Greater Youngstown Bowling Association Masters on Sunday at Holiday Bowl.
Harvischak, who finished the 15-game qualifier with 3,456 pins, 73 pins behind qualifying leader Chuckie Zarbaugh, stopped third-seeded Richard Allen 212-181 in his opening stepladder match before beating Zarbaugh 194-184 for the title.
In the opening stepladder match, No. 4 seed Jimmy Cheff defeated No. 5 seed Chris Steele 215-120. Cheff was then beaten by Allen 207-191 in the quarterfinals.
The tournament drew 77 players, with players rolling 10 qualifying games on Saturday and five more Sunday morning before the cut to the top five — all three bowled on different oil patters ranging from 37 to 45 feet. Steele gained the final stepladder spot with 3,343 total pinfall, just 11 pins ahead of Joe Bailey.
Harvischak earned $2,000 for his win.