ALLEN PARK, MICHIGAN – Braden Mallasch entered this year’s Teen Masters Championships as one of the hottest youth bowlers in the country. But it didn’t kick in at the event until Day 2.

The 18-year-old was in the middle of the pack after the first round, averaging just 190.8 for his first six games.

On Tuesday, Mallasch made a perfect adjustment and made some tournament history along the way.

After opening with games of 219 and 198, the Waupaca, Wisconsin bowler was still not averaging 200.

That changed in a hurry when Mallasch became the first bowler ever to roll two 300 games in the Teen Masters.

He followed the trey with games of 269, 215 and 246 for a 1,447 set – high block in the event so far this year.

Mallasch also rolled a 300 in last year’s Teen Masters during the fourth qualifying round.

But his hot streak started a few months ago when the two-hander won the boys singles title in the Wisconsin High School Bowling Club State Championships.

At Junior Gold last week, Mallasch was the qualifying leader after the final advancer round, shooting a 300 game to earn the top spot. He got a couple of tough breaks late in the bracket competition to finish fourth – just missing the TV finals.

But he still earned a spot on Junior Team USA.

As a bonus, Mallasch also earned a $3,000 scholarship from the International Bowling Media Association for winning the Chuck Pezzano Medua Scholarship award.

On Tuesday, Mallasch made some adjustments on how he played the lanes, which landed him among the leaders going into the third round.

He jumped into fourth place with his big block, finishing with a 12-game pinfall total of 2,592.

Another Wisconsin bowler, Robert Vater of Iola, maintained his lead with a second-round score of 1,412. He had games of 270, 258, 214, 197, 269 and 204 and has a 12-game total of 2,771 (230.9 average).

That left him 89 pins ahead of Kyle Dunne of Hinckley, Ohio, who totaled 2,682. John Nunn of Jacksonville, Florida, the 2021 boys champ, moved into third with 2,627. He had the second high game of the day with a 289.

Mallasch, however, made the biggest move of the day among the leaders,

“I moved a little bit right today,” said Mallasch, who will be bowling at Wichita State next season. “That’s partially because I was going from burn (the middle squad) to fresh (the early squad).”

He was on the high end of the house on Tuesday for the 300, and rolled last year’s trey on the low end of Thunderbowl Lanes.

“It was different ends of the house, and it was different (oil) patterns I finished on,” said Mallasch, who finished on the lane with the long oil pattern last year. “Last year I liked the long a little bit more, just because I was really trying to keep everything really slow and wheel the lane a little bit more on long. So I was able to get my ball through the pins better on long last year. And I finished on long.

“This year I like the short better, and I knew I was finishing on short (the right lane).”

Mallasch said that in a perfect world, he would not be thinking about the significance of bowling another 300 in the event until after the game was over.

But that was not the case.

“Realistically, I’d like to say that I didn’t think about it, and that I didn’t even know I was shooting 300,” he said. “But I started thinking about it probably around the fifth frame. I know what I can do. I know I can repeat shots, and I just kept to my process.”

Mallasch took his time between shots in the 10th frame. And he threw three solid strikes.

“I know I have to take some extra time, and I’m not going to throw the shot until I’m thinking about the shot,” he said. “I’ve visualized the shot, know where to throw it, and I’m confident in throwing that shot.

“I was more confident on the last shot than the 11th one. Getting the 11th one is the big one, because you throw two strikes on the same lane back-to-back and it’s easier to get the third.”

And now he is the only bowler in the 26-year history of the event to do it twice for a 300.