BATON ROUGE - This weekend will mark the 12th time that All Star Lanes in Baton Rouge will host the Capital City Strike Out and if advance entries are any indication this is going to be quite an entertaining two days of competition on Saturday and Sunday.

As of noon Monday, there are 77 entrants signed up in the four age divisions which is a great sign for an event like this, again proving the Labor Day weekend seems to be synonymous with youth bowling and Baton Rouge.

For years, it was the Mid-South Classic that drew lots of bowlers to Circle Bowl for years until it faded away and when Phil Godley, Kim Bogan and the late Mike LaCroix came up with this idea at All Star, it seemed like a perfect time to bring an event back on this weekend.

Even with the pandemic and LaCroix’s untimely passing pausing the tournament in 2020 and 2021, it came back in 2022 with strong fields the last three years. It again proves that well run tournaments are remembered and supported and location can be a bigger factor then you may think.

I want to concentrate a bit on one of the U18 divisions which, despite some bowlers aging out, will really be a great show. Six bowlers qualify for a double elimination showdown after two four-game blocks on Saturday. Those two four-game blocks are set to be rolled on two different patterns.

Those two patterns are Stonehenge (40 feet) and then the 44-foot Big Ben pattern from the Kegel Pattern Library.

Now if you expect me to give you the complete rundown of how to tackle these patterns you’ve got the wrong person. There does appear to be a lot of oil in the middle with a pretty high ratio and volume, but the bowlers will get a shot to practice on the patterns from 2-7 p.m. on Friday at All Star.

The U18 girls will bring together Caroline Engeron of Albany, who bowled a 300 game in Junior Gold in Green Bay; Ava Doucet, from St. Joseph’s Academy, who won state match games in Shreveport; Annie Laurence of Denham Springs; and Parker Blanchard of St. Michael The Archangel, who all had top 10 averages in the state during the spring high school season.

Throw in Addison Legendre of Dutchtown and Molly Milligan of St. Joseph’s who were 11-12 in qualifying and this is anyone’s division to capture.

The U18 boys looks to be led by Anthony Linker of Rummel, who averaged 221 in the high school season as far as the advanced entries showed, but that division looks extremely wide open and a group that will provide plenty of high scores no matter the pattern.

The event starts at 9 a.m. both days and if you want to see some of the future stars in action, come on out to watch.

A Few Notes

First thing I wrote on my to-do list, was to remember where I put my bowling equipment earlier this summer. I guess I need to find it since the fall league starts on Thursday…

The USBC Open Championship folks have to be happy that the event will have over 10,000 teams next year at the National Bowling Stadium in Reno. In fact, the event has now been extended a week. What seems to really be helping draw entries is a deal worked out at The Row properties in Reno for three hotels with rates of $60 a night at two casino hotels and $49 at another with no resort fees.

This helps tremendously for bowlers because airfare to Reno from most places has proven very expensive.

We should be hearing from USBC as we near a month out from the Baton Rouge event soon that results are “official” and that checks have started going out.

We will have Capital City Strike Out results next Monday for you.

             Thanks for joining us and good luck and good bowling,

                                                                                   Kent Lowe