The women take center stage over the weekend

In golf, Easter Sunday belonged to Argentinean golfer Angel Cabrera, who won the Masters at Augusta National. But in bowling, the weekend belonged to the ladies. Several Prince William County women bowlers finished in the money in the 2009 Nation's Capital Area women's championship tournament; the University of Nebraska won the NCAA Women's bowling championship and Carolyn Dorin-Ballard won the Professional Bowlers Association's inaugural Women's Series Showdown.

PWC women in the money

Women from Prince William County made a good showing in the 2009 Nation's Capital Area USBC Association women's championship tournament. They competed against bowl-ers from Northern Virginia, Washington and parts of Maryland. In the team event, the team from Manassas named "Why Not?" placed third behind teams from Leesburg and Land-over, Md.

In the doubles event, the teams of Stacey Gonzales and Charlynne Bowers (Manassas) and Susan Ryan and Dawn Fay (also from Manassas) finished seventh and ninth place respectively. Nora Sanford and Stacy Turcotte, also from Manassas, finished in 27th place. In the singles event, Hazel Wallace (Dale City) finished in 17th place. Other money winners in the singles were Sanford and Joyce Palaschak (Woodbridge).

In the All Events, which is the total pins bowled in the team, doubles and singles, Bowers, Fay, Doris Lenyon (Dale City), Lisa Wilusz (Woodbridge) and Iva Sampiller (Woodbridge) all placed in the money. In the scratch category, Sanford nearly won it all but ended up in second place, only 22 pins behind the winner, Katie Cewe of Leesburg.

Nebraska earns third NCAA Women's Collegiate Championship title

The Cornhuskers of Nebraska locked up their third national title in six years as they defeated Central Missouri in the championship match of the 2009 NCAA Women's Bowling Champi-onship on Saturday.

Nebraska anchor Cassie Leuthold, one of the two juniors on the team, was named the tourna-ment's most outstanding player.

"It's been a hard road and the work has definitely paid off," Leuthold said. "I couldn't have made it this far without my teammates."

The eight teams that competed in this championship were Arkansas State, Central Missouri, Delaware State, Fairleigh Dickinson, Maryland-Eastern Shore, Nebraska, New Jersey City and Vanderbilt. Maryland-Eastern Shore was the tournament's defending champion.

Carolyn Dorin-Ballard takes the PBA Women's Series

Six of the nation's top women bowlers competed in a radically different bowling format for a $25,000 first prize in the Professional Bowlers Association's inaugural Women's Series Showdown.

Carolyn Dorin-Ballard, one of the most successful women bowlers in history, rolled a television record 20 consecutive strikes, including 11 in a row in the title match, to win the inaugural tourna-ment.

In an event that employed the Johnny Petraglia scoring system, Dorin-Ballard posted a near-perfect score of 11 in the championship round title match to nip Jodi Woessner of Oregon, Ohio, by a single point and rising star Stefanie Nation of Arlington, Texas, by two points. The other three bowlers were Wendy Macpherson, Missy Bellinder and Michele Feldman.

The Petraglia scoring system ignores pinfall, but counts the number of balls thrown to clear the deck in each frame. A strike thus equals a 1 and a typical spare would result in a 2 for the frame. A 7-10 split, however, might require three balls for a 3 and a miss could escalate the score for the frame.

Gil Sanchez, a member of the Bowling Writers Association of America, is a freelance bowling writer for the News & Messenger. Reach him at 703-587-6792 or at gsan-chez@insidenova.com.