July 15, 2010
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — Brittni Hamilton came to Indy on a mission and four days into the bowling marathon known as the Junior Gold Championship the Vanderbilt junior-to-be is on target with a feeling of déjà-vu.
Hamilton emerged after Thursday’s dozen games leading the field heading into Friday’s championship round of round-robin play. She has a scant 16 pin lead over Addleen Pointer of Highland, Mich.
There was tension in the house farther down the leader board. As the frames dwindled down , Commodore Jessica Earnest was fighting hard to make the elite cut to the top 16 bowlers. In what was the 30th game of the week, the NCAA Freshman of the Year started with three strikes, opened and then crafted another nice string of strikes before opening the critical 10th frame.
Vanderbilt faithful then had an anxious wait of over an hour before scores were verified and Earnest’s total was 13 more than the 16th place finisher, Melanie DeCarlo. To illustrate what pins mean, the 17th place finisher was Amanda Fry, who missed making Friday’s cut by a single pin.
Two other Vanderbilt letter winners also performed well but missed the chance to bowl another day. Kim Carper, who made the cut a year ago, placed 22nd with a very good 197.13 average and Sarah O’Brien likewise was a cut contender until running into some tough luck early in the day. She was 44th in a field that originally numbered well over 500.
Hamilton came into this major national tournament as one of the favorites for a number of tangible reasons. A year ago, she was in the mix to win it before finishing fourth. She is a two-time NCAA All-American and also a member of Junior Team USA, which has given her international experience.
“I think I have a bit of an advantage with all the tournaments I’ve been in over the last two years,” says the soft-spoken Hamilton. “I led here last year on Thursday night so I know the feelings that you carry into Friday. I’ll be nervous but not as nervous as I was a year ago. Some of the people that made the cut today will be new to that feeling.”
Hamilton said today’s two rounds played very different, even though the same oil pattern was applied between sessions.
“The scores played higher this morning,” she recounted, “and it was easier to post some big numbers. For whatever reason, the afternoon session became a grind-it-out deal where we were fighting for 180’s and 190’s.”
Tomorrow’s play is round-robin with bonus points added to each winner’s score. Complete results are found by clicking here
