PERRY TWP. — The last time J.D. Jones hit the one pair during Game 4 of the Hall of Fame Summer Series, it was not a good experience.
“I shot 122 that last game and it took me out of the cut,” said Jones, a 27-year-old Massillon right-hander. “I was relieved to not have the same thing happen again.”
Instead Thursday night, Jones shot 254 on that final qualifying pair — the tournament’s high game — and went on to stop Adam Kutz 213-166 to claim a win in the Hall of Fame Summer Series’ second event at AMF Hall of Fame Lanes,
“This just feels great,” said Jones, who led the four-game qualifier with 896 total pinfall, “Especially after that debacle the last time.”
The five-player stepladder finals began with 55-year-old Lake Township left-hander Jeff Mowls facing 26-year-old Canton right-hander Alex Lincoln, who was making his first appearance in a traditional stepladder finals format.
Lincoln, Perry High School’s boys coach, ran a string of four strikes late while Mowls, who is Lake High School’s girls coach, had a 1-3-6-10 washout and two spare misses as the former earned a 210-156 win.
In Match 2, Lincoln faced 26-year-old right-hander Kara Thomas, who was making her second career stepladder appearance. The former fell behind early with a spare miss in the third frame and a 4-7-10 split in the fifth while the latter stayed clean through the first five.
But things unraveled for Thomas, who is marrying Kutz later this summer. It started with a 2-7-8 split in the sixth frame. She then had 1-2-4-10 washouts in the eighth and 10th around a 6-7-9 split in the ninth to suffer opens in four of her final five frames.
“The left lane just would not hook. The right lane was fine,” Thomas said. “I moved right and tried to ball up, but then I missed outside, so I just stuck with what I knew. I just didn’t move far enough right.”
Meanwhile, Lincoln ran four strikes from the eighth through the first two in the 10th frame for a 185-148 win.
But in the semifinal match against Kutz, trouble came for Lincoln following two open frames to start and then two strikes. He rolled a gutter ball on his first shot in the fifth and finished with a nine count. He then added 3-6-7-10 and 3-9-10 splits in the seventh and eighth frames, respectively, en route to a 172-159 loss to the second-seeded Kutz.
Kutz, a 31-year-old Louisville right-hander who finished third in the opening Summer Series event, also had a pair of splits with a 2-10 in the fourth and a 1-4-8 in the eight frame. But he also doubled to start the match and added the first two strikes in the 10th frame to earn his title match position.
“The left lane on the championship pair was way different than any pairs we bowled on during qualifying,” Kutz said.
And the title match proved his point as Kutz had just two strikes overall with one spare miss and a 4-6-10 split in the 10th frame.
“If I went up the lane, it hooked way early. So I moved in and just didn’t throw it very well,” said Kutz, who threw the Roto Grip Wild Streak most of the night. “It didn’t look half bad, but I tried five or six balls, but nothing worked great.”
“Alex gave me a chance to try some different things. The outside was so touchy and I figured Alex moved in and it gave him a better look, so I tried to jump into it.”
In the title match, Jones ran off three strikes from the second through fourth frames to take the early lead and then added another run of three strikes in the sixth through eighth to stay ahead.
“The one pair we hit the second game was open, and I was able to compare that to the right lane. But the left lane was definitely tighter than anything we played on the entire night,” said Jones, who used the Storm All-Road on the right lane and the Roto Grip UFO Alert on the left.
“The fact that I could strike absolutely made a difference. I threw three pretty good shots in the first four frames and let one get a little errant on me. Then I threw three more and got lucky with a Brooklyn,” Jones said.
Kutz finished qualifying with a 244 in Game 3 before 180 in his final game.
“I was able to keep it in front of me more until the last two games and they started to hook,” Kutz said. “We’ve been to nationals and bowled on this stuff, and that helps a little to be sure. It’s just about making spares.”
Jones said the pairs kept getting tighter during qualifying.
“The first pair wasn’t too bad, and the second pair was wide open,” Jones said. “The third pair was tight, and the fourth pair was really tight. I just happened to stay more consistent on the last pair.
“The shots in the title match were all close. All I wanted to do was keep it close enough to maybe strike. That’s all I could do.”
NEXT UP
The Hall of Fame Summer Series continues June 23, and will be contested on the 2019 U.S. Open No. 1 pattern. Entry fee again is $40 with a 6:15 p.m. start.
As with previous events, a practice session at a discounted rate will be available on June 21 for players. Contact AMF Hall of Fame for details.
NOTEBOOK: The tournament was contested on the 2021 USBC Open Team Championship oil pattern after the initial event was on the doubles and singles pattern of the same year. … The tournament drew 29 entries, with only 12 players returning from the initial 23-player event. … Mowls was one of four left-handers in the field. … Mowls had to earn his way into the final four, sitting 11th after Game 3 but rolling 200 during his final game to tie for the fifth spot with the initial event’s runner-up, Eric Long, at 750. A one-game rolloff was held for the final stepladder spot, with Mowls topping Long 10-9, the latter leaving a 4-pin. … Lincoln had 189 during his final qualifying game to move from eighth to fourth. Jones and Kutz were never out of the top five, with Kutz holding the qualifying lead following Games 2 and 3 … Rolly Shanklin, who led after Game 1 with a 228, had 154 his final game to finish seventh, three pins out of the cut. … First place paid $275.
HALL OF FAME SUMMER SERIES
(At AMF Hall of Fame Lanes)
Match 1: Alex Lincoln d. Jeff Mowls 210-156. Mowls wins $77.
Match 2: Lincoln d. Kara Thomas 185-148. Thomas wins $87.
Match 3: Kutz d. Lincoln 172-159. Lincoln wins $97.
Championship: J.D. Jones d. Kutz 213-166. Jones wins $275; Kutz wins $160.