FAIRLAWN —Melissa Voytko called the Ohio USBC Queens Tournament “my favorite tournament of the season.”
But the 35-year-old Brunswick left-hander had yet to top the field in a tourney she had participated in since age 19.
That changed Sunday at AMF Riviera Lanes when Voytko, who was undefeated during the Round of 16 match play and entered the final match as the No. 1 seed, topped Lewis Center right-hander Jennifer Higgins 197-171 to claim the tiara and title.
“For me, this has never been about the money, but the prestige of being named the Ohio State queen,” Voytko said in a Facebook post. “I had placed everywhere in the top five but first, and I was going to fight like hell to achieve this dream of mine.
“I’m just still processing everything from this weekend.”
Voytko earned the No. 1 seed by stopping Sierra Kanemoto in the final two-game match play match 420-367 to set up the stepladder finals. Kanemoto became the No. 2 seed for the stepladder.
Higgins suffered her first loss during the semifinals of the winners’ bracket 403-402 to Kanemoto and earned the No. 5 seed for the stepladder finals.
Higgins won her first two matches before disposing of Kanemoto 201-171 in the semifinal to set up the meeting with the unbeaten Voytko.
Higgins took an early lead after a double in the second and third frames. But while Voytko stayed clean for the entire match, Higgins had splits in her final three frames, including back-to-back 7-10 splits in the ninth and 10th frame, to fall short.
“I just wanted to soak it all in … the atmosphere, focusing on my abilities, but most of all, competing against the best our state has to offer,” Voytko posted.
The event drew a field of 67 players for the opening Saturday round, with the entire field rolling six qualifying games before the field was cut in half for six more evening games. After those six, with pinfall carried over, the field was cut to the top 16 for two-game match play until the final five were determined.
The field was cut to 34 for the evening session, with Lori Reasoner being the final participant with 1,113, just seven pins ahead of Micki Conner and 10 head of Trisha Reid. The evening shift cut to the top16 was 1,213 after 12 games, with Natalie Miscall earning the final spot with 2,383, just four pins ahead of Andrea Behr and six ahead of Reasoner.
Voytko was the No. 4 seed entering match play with 2,531 total pinfall, an average of 210.9 for 12 games.
OHIO STATE QUEENS
(Saturday, at AMF Riviera Lanes, Fairlawn)
Stepladder finals
(Payouts not available)
Match 1: Jennifer Higgins d. Shannon Stanforth 244-200
Match 2: Higgins d. Angel West 218-205
Match 3: Higgins d. Sierra Kanemoto 201-171
Championship: Melissa Voytko d. Higgins 197-171
See qualifying and bracket results below:
MSBS SCRATCH BOWLING SERIES
The Stark County duo of Brian and Branden Ball captured the MSBS Station 300 Akron House Shot Baker Doubles tournament on Saturday at Station 300 Akron.
Doubles teams bowled eight Baker System Games before the field was cut for match play.
The Balls were the No. 2 seed following qualifying, averaging 227 for their eight Baker games. They defeated top seeded Brett Maciejewski and Matthew Richards in the title match. Final scores were not available.
The event drew 25 doubles teams.
See qualifying results below:
YOUNGSTOWN MASTERS
STRUTHERS — No. 1 qualifier Ryan Liederbach, a two-handed Northfield left-hander, earned his second straight title during the 28th annual Youngstown Masters on Sunday at Holiday Bowl.
The event included 15 qualifying games on three different oil patterns before the stepladder finals.
Liederbach defeated Austintown right-hander Jimmy Cheff for the title, with Jonathan Kleer taking third, Tyler Meredith fourth and Chad Roberts fifth, with 18 players cashing in the 89-player field.
Liederbach led qualifying with 3,508 total pinfall, an average of 233.8, and finishing 108 pins ahead of second-seeded Kleer (3,400). He averaged 237.6 over the final five games to secure the top seed.
“Funny story about yesterday. I almost didn’t bowl. I was about to make my way up to Holiday when about five minutes into my drive, I decided to check if I had everything with me,” Liederbach said in a Facebook post. “Then I noticed something might have been missing: my shoes. So I pulled into a parking lot to check if I had my bag with shoes in them to find out the bag was not in my car. So I had to turn around and go home to get my bag from my mom’s car and then drive up to Holiday.
“Here’s the fun part. The parking lot I pulled into was a church. Perhaps it was a message from above telling me I was missing something. I’m thankful I somehow got the message from above cause it got me the win.”
Liederbach shot 262 in the title match for the win.
See qualifying results here:
OTHER TOURNAMENTS
WARREN SENIOR MASTERS: Rootstown’s Dean Billings earned the victory in the Warren Senior Masters on Sunday.