BOWLING: Ashlee Yokoyama’s 574 series proved pivotal in her team winning the Kings & Queen’s League Championship

After the grind of a long 2024-25 season winning the league championship in the Kings & Queens League petty much came down to the final game of the roll-off.

And that’s when Ashlee Yokoyama elevated her game with six strikes in a decisive 222 game, and combined with two earlier games of 181 and 171 finished with a clutch 574 scratch series which turned out to be key in helping her team win the roll-off by 52 pins with a total team score of 2,671, versus a 2,619 total team score for the opposing team, Caroline’s Crew.

And Illustrating just how vital her 757 total series score turned out to be is the fact if Yokoyama had bowled her average total series score of 669 from during the regular season, her team would have lost the roll-off by 36 pins.

However, it should also be pointed out her teammate Dylan Kesl was also a factor in helping his team emerge victorious with a 641 scratch series, while a third teammate, Jacoby Ford tossed a subpar scratch 496 scores. But I’m giving him a mulligan on his 496 because he’s been dealing with a nagging wrist injury the last month of the season which has clearly impacted his game. Also, in spite of that off night, he’s enjoyed a tremendous rookie season with outstanding scores including both his first 600 and 700 series scores and he’s gonna be a consistent scoring juggernaut without a doubt.

 And like Ford, Sal Diaz had a pretty rare and substandard outing with a 498 scratch series. However, Diaz enjoyed a tremendous regular season as he became the first bowler in Mesquite bowling history to throw three 300 games in one season, and he also picked up the nasty 7-10 split. And there isn’t a person on the planet who’s bowled in a league in Mesquite since 1998 when the Virgin River Bowling Center first opened for bowling who’s achieved those two amazing feats in the same season.

Meanwhile, for the Caroline’s Crew team finishing in 2nd Place for the league is still pretty special as it means they finished ahead of 22 other teams. Eddie Elsner led the scoring action with a 689 total series score which included a scratch 201 game, Bobby Dixon booked a 670 total series score, while Rick Crain finished with a darn nice total series score of 631, and Jessica Crain wrapped up the season with a 629 total series score.

In other final league play, in the Wednesday morning Early Risers League, the strong ALL IN team of Orlyn Meyers, Dale Davidson, Victor Madrid and Bill Finnegan won the league title in comfortable fashion with 77 wins.

And the Early Girlies team of Margaret Baron, Sherry Serrano, Tama Hixson and southpaw bowler Lynae Page finished in 2nd Place with 68 1/2 wins.

Finally, this column will run for the next two weeks after which it will be on hiatus until I return in September.