CITRUS HEIGHTS, Calif. - Colombia's Anggie Ramirez started and finished her day at the Professional Women's Bowling Association Storm Sacramento Open with her two best games, closing with a 258 effort to surge to the top of the standings after 12 games.
The 25-year-old left-hander averaged more than 231 during the second block of qualifying Friday at Steve Cook's Fireside Lanes to move up from fifth place after the day's first block. She finished with a 2,713 total, an overall average of 226.08.
"I definitely didn't expect this, and if you would've told me this morning I was going to lead, I wouldn't have believed it," said Ramirez, who shot 266 in her opening game Friday. "I tried not to look at the standings, but I looked early in the last game and saw I was third. After that, I just wanted to get as many pins as I could heading into tomorrow."
Ramirez, who resides in Austin, Texas, is 28 pins ahead of Singapore's Hui Fen New, who made the stepladder finals for last week's Nationwide PWBA Sonoma County Open and just missed the TV show for the season-opening PWBA Las Vegas Open.
New finished Friday with a 12-game total of 2,685 and was followed by United States Bowling Congress Hall of Famer Carol Gianotti of Australia (2,667), left-hander Shannon Pluhowsky of Dayton, Ohio (2,648) and Danielle McEwan of Stony Point, New York (2,645).
The final spot in the cashers' round went to Jackie Carbonetto of Blauvelt, New York, who finished Friday's 12 games with a 2,460 total, a 205 average.
The fast start this week for Ramirez was the exact opposite of last week's first game of 135, but she took that experience as part of the learning process. She also battled back and went on to finish 17th last week at Double Decker Lanes in Rohnert Park, California.
"Last week, I just changed balls too soon, thinking it was the equipment, when it really was me the whole time," Ramirez said. "This week, I'm focusing on executing and making the best shots I can, especially at the beginning of each game, so I can see what the lanes are giving me and be sure about it before I think about moving or changing balls. My focus is on patience and execution."
Ramirez, who only bowled in three events during the 2015 PWBA season, is much more comfortable now that she's bowling every week, and she will lead the top 32 players into Saturday's cashers' round, which begins at 11:30 a.m. Eastern. Competition will conclude Saturday evening with a group stepladder final starting at 8 p.m. Eastern.
Six additional games, with pinfall carrying over, will determine the 12 players who will advance to the round-robin match-play portion of the PWBA Storm Sacramento Open. The match-play finalists will be split into two groups, each featuring six players. Each group will bowl six games of match play, including a final position round.
At the end of the match play, the top qualifier in each group will earn an automatic spot in the stepladder finals, with seeding being determined by total pins. The second, third and fourth qualifiers in each group will advance to a group stepladder final. The winner of each group stepladder final will advance to the televised stepladder finals.
All qualifying and match-play rounds are being carried on Xtra Frame, the exclusive online bowling channel for the Professional Bowlers Association.
The finals of the PWBA Storm Sacramento Open will be taped May 26 during the USBC Queens and will air Tuesday, June 21 on CBS Sports Network.
