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In the championship match, the Port Sanilac native surfaced in a hard-fought contest to edge Candy Gerber, 207-202, and earned the coveted trophy.

McAfee's title run started by surviving the qualifying rounds. With a pair of 600 series already on the board after the early qualifying shift, the pressure was on for a spot in the field of eight in the championship series. In a tightly congested group of scores, McAfee locked up a No. 6 seed with a 569 series.

That was just the start of some quality bowling for McAfee. She met No. 3 seed (613) Jennifer Osborn in the quarterfinals and pulled out a 217-212 victory. She followed that up in the semis with a 160-153 win over Marie Pardy, who had just knocked off No. 2 seed (629) Pam Thurlow.

McAfee fought off a valiant effort by Gerber, from Peck. With wins over Karole Mezo and Shawna Lentner, who have a combined six Bowler of the Year titles, Gerber appeared destined for her first championship.

McAfee took an early lead in the finals by putting together three strikes and two spares in the first five frames. Gerber, meanwhile, opened in the first frame, but followed with a strike, a great split conversion and a turkey to go up by as much as 19 pins when McAfee had a single-pin miss in the sixth.

Doing absolutely what she had to do, McAfee doubled in the seventh and eight, spared in the ninth and struck out in the 10th, forcing Gerber to reach deep.

Gerber turned in her second split conversion in the ninth frame to give herself some life after sparing in the seventh and eighth frames. Needing a double and a high count in the final frame, Gerber started with a strike in the 10th but had a seven pin count on the next ball.

It was McAfee that then knew that persevering pays off. It was only her second roll-off appearance at the Bowler of the Year. She made the cut last year but lost a first-round match.

Gerber reached the finals by stopping Mezo, a four-time champion who has won the crown three times in the last five years, 177-139 in the quarterfinals and then out-striking Lentner, the 2001 and 2005 champion, 259-245 in the semifinals.

Joanne Paehlig, another former champion, was the eighth qualifier in the field of women, losing a quarterfinal match to Lentner, who was the No. 1 seed with a huge 674 series.