WAYNESBORO – Alyssa Vulgamott has become quite the bowler.
It helps that she comes from a family of bowlers. Her father, David, her mother Stephanie, and her grandfather Bill Eyler all had a hand in Alyssa’s development in the sport. So did Chris Thompson at Nellie Fox Lanes in Chambersburg. Not to mention, her grandmother Ginny McBeth coached youth teams while Alyssa was growing up.
Now 14 years old and getting ready to enter high school in Waynesboro, Alyssa is waiting for the new season of the Pennsylvania Junior Bowlers Tournament circuit to begin in August. Until then, she bowls at least once a week at Nellie Fox Lanes.
Back in April Vulgamott won the Franklin County Jack Lear Scholarship Tournament at Nellie Fox Lanes when she rolled a 790 series.
“He was a coach back when I bowled,” David Vulgamott said of Jack Lear. “He passed away and Franklin County has a tournament at the end of the year. It’s like a memorial tournament.”
On Mother’s Day weekend, Alyssa won another tournament, this time at ABC North in the Harrisburg area.
“I competed against boys and girls,” she said. “I was the third seed in the step ladder. I bowled against the fourth seed and he needed a spare in the 10th frame and he missed it. So we went to a ninth and 10th frame roll-off, and I won that. And then I bowled against a kid who had a 65-pin handicap and I bowled really well and beat him. And then I bowled the first seed and won that match.”
It was her second PJBT win of 2024. The first was Jan. 28 in Berks County In a girls’ only competition.
Alyssa competed in three PJBT events in 2023, winning the second of the three on Feb. 12 in Palmyra. A week later she finished fourth.
She underwent foot surgery to repair damage done by plantar fasciitis and being flat footed and did not compete In the junior circuit again Dec. 17, 2023. tournament. She didn’t place, but she fared much better in her next competition on Jan. 14, 2024. She finished fourth.
“It was from a bunch of things I did – softball, bowling, theater. It built up over time,” said Alyssa. “It was hard. There were times I was frustrated. I had to watch other people. I knew it would all be worth it in the end. Whenever I had my foot surgery, it wasn’t a good idea to go back to playing softball. Being in the boot and physical therapy took about six months. I was out of the boot in November.
“At the end of October, I got cleared to bowl again. It felt really good to go out there and compete again because I knew I was better because I had more stability. It took a while for me to trust myself. I was practicing at least once a week to make sure I was strong enough to do it.”
Her fourth-place showing in what David Vulgamott described as a PJBT major was a confidence booster.
“It was a pretty big accomplishment because when I came back and got fourth I knew I was ready to get back in there. That was a pretty exciting day for me,” she said.
PJBT events begin in August and run through June, including one at Nellie Fox Lanes. Most are a couple hours away.
“They have bowling alleys up there who are willing to give them a whole Sunday or Saturday because they’re basically shutting the lanes down,” David said. “They have a girls’ only at Nellie Fox because that’s smaller. Everything else is around Allentown.”
Tournaments draw anywhere from 20 to 70 bowlers, depending on the type of event. Bowlers play five or six games of qualifying and whittle down the number to four in a step ladder format.
Alyssa will be making the trip to Ephrata next week to learn from women’s professional bowler Kerry Smith. Smith, a 2003 graduate of Garden Spot High School, has been a member of the WPBA since 2015.
“I bowled with Kerry Smith at an invitational,” Alyssa said. “It was a lot of fun to bowl with her. I’m looking forward to it. I learn a lot from her.”
