By ADRIAN STEWART CO

Bacolod City’s Sugar Bowl Tenpin Association Inc. (STAI) emerged as champions in the Philippine Bowling Federation National Youth Championships held recently at the E-Lanes Bowling Center in San Juan.

Alyana Abelada, Antonette Garcia, Nomie Rosario, and Tracey Carlyn Tan anchored the team to a come-from-behind victory as they edged the favored TenPin Bowling Association of Makati (TBAM), 179-177.

The Makati City-based squad had the lead until the seventh frame at 131-111, but STAI’s Rosario started the rally as she delivered a strike in the eighth frame, setting up a nail-biting finish.

Tan then completed the Bacolod-based squad’s turnaround with back-to-back strikes followed by a spare and another strike against TBAM’s spare strike to pave the way for a two-pinfall victory.

Abelada hails from STI-West Negros University, Garcia is from St. Joseph High School, Rosario studies at University of Negros Occidental-Recoletos, Vista came from University of St. La Salle, and Tan is from St. John’s Institute.

It was a Cinderella championship for the STAI as they struggled in the early part of the 10-game elimination round and were in fifth spot in the rankings before they turned things around.

In the sixth game, Garcia anchored for STAI and got a boost when the team scored 230 pinfalls to move up in the standings, but from Game 7 to 9, the team faltered anew with scorelines of 178, 165 and 171 pinfalls, respectively.

However, the 10th game worked well for our girl bowlers and Tan delivered three strikes in the last frame to spearhead STAI with 210 pinfalls to finish the eliminations in third and advance to the step-ladder finals.

With momentum on their side, STAI led from start to finish as they ousted the No. 2 Sta. Lucia East TenPin Bowling Association, 187-171, to set up a golden showdown with the Makati City squad.

Meanwhile, Antonnette Garcia and 2022 top youth national qualifier Alyana Abelada also nabbed the silver medal in the doubles event girls’ division./ASC, WDJ