BREWER – Judy Bowden didn’t have to look far for the inspiration to win her third women’s Maine State Candlepin Bowling Championship Sunday afternoon at Bangor-Brewer Lanes. She only needed to look for the person who wasn’t there.

“I was bowling for my mom today,” Bowden said, tears streaming down her face. “She used to go with me when I bowled. But she has Alzheimer’s, so she can’t go anymore. This was special. This was for her.”

Bowden’s mother, Irene Bolstridge of Corrina, would have been proud. Newport native Bowden beat Mona Lemar of Gardiner 1,277-1,213 to collect the women’s championship and the $270 that goes to the winner.

Al Joy of Windham won the men’s title with a hard fought 1,353-1,319 win over Bangor’s Chip Carson.

Bowden took a slim 23-pin lead into the seventh string but exploded for a 157 while Lemar managed just a 111. The 69-pin lead was increased to 88 pins after the eighth string and the match was all but over.

“The seventh string. That definitely gave me the pins I needed. You can have 60 or 70 pins and sometimes that’s not enough,” Bowden explained.

Lemar received $170 as the runner-up.

Like Bowden, Joy came up with a huge string to take charge in a close match.

Trailing Carson by five pins, Joy tossed a 183 in the ninth string that effectively gave him his fourth men’s title.

“I was pretty steady and then it came down to one string at the right time that was the difference,” Joy said. “I got a couple of breaks [in the string] but that’s the way the game goes.”

Steady is right. Joy did not miss a single-pin spare opportunity until the eighth box of the fifth frame.

Joy maintained a lead throughout the first half of the match. He built the lead to 50 pins before Carson began a steady comeback that eventually gave him a five-pin lead going into the ninth string.

“I didn’t feel comfortable the first five strings,” Carson said. “Then I got back even with him and he just came alive in that ninth string.”

In the ninth string, Joy had a mark in every box but the first.

“For me [the ninth string] came at the right time. It was a lucky string at the right time,” Joy said.

Carson, who was seeking his third state title, picked up $375 for his second-place finish. He had said before the match that it would take 1,300 to win.

“[Joy] was right on, right from the get go. He was getting that little bit extra kick and that’s what it takes – that little bit extra. To score 1,319 and lose, that’s tough. I’ve got to take my hat off to him,” Carson.

Joy received the winner’s check of $625.

“This is my fourth,” Joy said. “One of my titles was against old Charles [Milan III, the 23-time state champ] and now Chip. I’m wracking up some good company.”

Both matches will be televised May 4 and 5 at 2 p.m. each day on WBGR-TV, Channel 33 (cable Channel 9 in the Bangor area).