June 25, 2011
EULESS, TX — Josie Earnest’s perfect 300 game sparked the Vanderbilt assistant coach into the 68th position during the first day of qualifying at the United States Open.
Earnest, the former two-time NCAA Player of the Year, is competing in her first “big girl tournament” in a field of over 300 competitors from around the world. She had games of 189-216-249-300-169-187-178-207 for a total of 1695. Lisanne Breeschoten led the first day board with 1,997.
“I was paired with Liz Johnson today,” Earnest said of one of the nation’s premier women’s bowlers. “And what was interesting about my 300 game was that she also had the first nine, then doubled in the tenth and finished with six for a 296.
“I’ve been in this position before so I wasn’t nervous until the 12th ball when I could feel how many people were watching,” Earnest continued. “I tried to keep my focus on fundamentals and once you strike, it’s a surreal experience because so much is going on you can’t take it all in. It was a cool experience.”
Earnest has had nine prior perfect games, several recently in smaller tournaments. However, she said her first experience at this world class event is a learning one. She attributed her uneven day of scores to her inability to make correct ball changes as lanes changed, something the more experienced competitors were generally more able to do.
There are two more days of qualifying before the field gets trimmed to the top 32.