The Tenth Board

Congratulations to Alex Aguiar, who finished second to PBA Tour exempt player Brad Angelo in the Miller High Life Scratch Challenge on Sunday at Strikers East in New Hampshire. Steve Hardy, the organizer of the tournament, told me via Facebook that Angelo won the title match by a score of 211-195. The official results also have Richie Fulton and Dave Chalifoux, both Westgate Lanes league bowlers, cashing in the tournament.

Today was my first association event as a director, the Bowler of the Year tournament. There were a handful of entries (competition from Steve Hardy’s scratch tournament in New Hampshire may have hurt turnout), but it turned out to be a fun day, and I was assisting the association by helping set up the scorers and changing scores where I could see the scoring needed changing.

In the end, Chris Carter, seeded second in the stepladder, was our champion, defeating Tim Major in the title match by a score of 247-224. Chris missed a 10 pin in the first frame, but then seized control of the match by running the next four strikes while Tim was struggling to find carry. Sean Richard finished third in the stepladder, and Dan Robinson, the recently-inducted association Hall of Famer, was fourth. It should be said that the first match of the stepladder was very entertaining, with Dan being as animated as I’ve ever seen him.

A full recap of the event is coming soon on the association website, and a photo of Chris and Tim has been posted on the association Facebook page. Congrats again, Chris!

NEBA reported that Danny Khuu out of Westgate Lanes was the high qualifier for last weekend’s event at AMF Airway Lanes in Springfield, MA. As noted in the match play results, Khuu finished in the final eight. The event was won by Rob Greene, Jr., who defeated Chris Wood by a 258-211 score in the title match.

The Tri-City Women’s Bowling Association will hold their annual championship tournament, with singles and doubles events, at Westgate Lanes on November 19 and 20. Entry forms are available at the control desk, and entries close on November 10.

The People’s Tournament reported that Paris Cook (Westgate Lanes, 188 avg.) was the winner of the event held on Sept. 25 at AMF Auburn Lanes. Cook defeated Herb Brown (Kingston Ten Pin, 180 avg.) in the championship match by a score (with handicaps) of 213-210. Besides Paris Cook, Westgate Lanes was well-represented in the top 8: April Raines (169 avg.) was a semifinalist, and Bill Kempton (185 avg.), Al Donato (195 avg.), and Mike Major (208 avg.) also picked up checks for making the round of 8.

The Brockton Bowling Association has set the annual Bowler of the Year tournament for October 23 at Westgate Lanes, starting at noon. A list of qualifiers is up on the association website at brocktonusbcba.com. This will be my first association event as a director, so I hope to see everyone.

The TNBA Boston Bowling Senate will run a handicap singles tournament on October 15 & 16 at Westgate Lanes, with three squads on both days. Entry fee is $25, and re-entries are permitted. Note: Entrants must be certified by both the USBC and TNBA (TNBA membership cards can be purchased at the tournament site).

Ed Roberts finished in the top 16 in the September NEBA event held last weekend at Nutmeg Bowl in Connecticut, with Greg Flamand, Rich Fulton, and Danny Khuu also representing the Brockton association among the cashers. Storm DeVincent won his first NEBA title, defeating 13 time champion Bill Webb by a score of 234-196 in the title match. Full match play results can be found on NEBA’s website.

The People’s Tournament reported that Ricky Brigham (Sparetime Lanes {CT}, 167 avg.) was the winner of the event held on Aug. 7 at Westgate Lanes. In the title match, Brigham defeated George Jones (Hanscom Lanes, 209 avg.) by a score (with handicaps) of 219-194. For Westgate Lanes, Tyrone Thornton (188 avg.) and Mike Major (208 avg.) were in the final eight. Elsewhere in the Brockton association area, Herbert Brown (Kingston Ten Pin, 180 avg.) and Charles Donovan (North Bowl, 190 avg.) were both semifinalists.

The PBA reported that George Tignor of Winchendon, MA finished 5th in this past weekend’s PBA East Region Colony Park Lanes Senior Open in York, PA, which was mentioned earlier in connection to a pro-am result. Brent Hunter of Glenville, PA won the event, which was contested on Regional Senior Pattern #1 (not the Viper, as had been reported to me earlier, though they may have used the Viper for the pro-am).

I’m posting to let everyone know that Sean Richard related to me that he finished second in the pro-am for the PBA East Region Colony Park Lanes Senior Open this weekend in York, PA. In PBA pro-ams, the amateur generally bowls 3 games of 9-pin no-tap with 6 different pros (changing every 5th frame), with only the amateur’s score counting for prizes. The pro-am was on the Viper oil pattern, which is the condition for the main tournament, so this was a big result for Sean. Congrats!

The People’s Tournament reported Sean Richard (Westgate Lanes, 203 avg.) as the winner of the event held on July 10 at Westgate Lanes. Sean defeated Eric Sanders (South Windsor Ten Pin {CT}, 176 avg.) by a score of 210-199 (with handicaps) in the championship match. Also for Westgate Lanes, Rob Dickens (165 avg.) and April Raines (169 avg.) were in the final eight.

Additionally, Tom Hedding executed a rare conversion of the 7-10 split during qualifying. Congrats to Sean, Rob, and TomTom on doing so well in this tournament.

BowlingDigital.com reported that the Tuesday Scratch Sportsmen’s own Alex Aguiar was the winner of the Summer Mini-Eliminator at the Sunset Station Strike Zone in Las Vegas, rolling a 258 game in the final match. Aguiar pocketed a check for $20,000 as the event champion. Congrats Alex!

The following are the results from the American Wheelchair Bowling Association national tournament that was held from June 20 to June 25 at Westgate Lanes. For the sake of brevity, I’ll only list the champions; where total score decided an event, the score is given, and where match play was involved, the result of the title match is given.

Up and Down No-Tap (1 wheelchair, 2 standing): Henry Walters (Georgia), Ed Miller (Brockton), Tyrone Thornton (Brockton?) 2401
Nelson Welker Scratch Doubles (pins over average): Keith Douglas & George Holscher (Virginia) +21
Gene Ramus National Handicap Team: Wayne Webber (Florida), Dave Roberts (Florida), Al Uttecht (California) 1972
Scratch Singles: Walt Roy (California) def. Al Uttecht (California) 207-199
Division A Handicap Singles: Mike Destasio (Delaware) def. David Spotts (Colorado) 242-241
Division B Handicap Singles: Michael Cannizzaro (Florida) def. Joel Hodel (Wisconsin) 221-187
Tournament of Champions, Handicap: Tom Walthall (Virginia)
Tournament of Champions, Scratch: George Holscher (Virginia) & Walt Roy (California) tied

In addition, Richard Spizzirri of Westwood, MA had the high scratch game in the B Division singles competition. Congratulations to all of the champions. Also, thank you to Maureen Morrison for getting me the week’s results.

(Note: The following is a recap of an event in which the author of this blog was a participant.)

The People’s Tournament reported Eugenio Mauro (North Bowl, 150 avg.) was the winner of the event held on June 12 at Westgate Lanes. Mauro defeated Bill Kempton (Westgate Lanes, 180 avg.) by a score of 234-215 (with handicaps) in the title match. Also, for Westgate Lanes, Michael Reed (175 avg.) was a semifinalist, and April Raines (169 avg.) was also in the round of eight.

My qualification attempt, frame-by-frame (Linked to BowlSK sheet)

I could definitely say I bowled better today on the “Dead Man” than I have been. My spare game was actually what was holding me in good stead, but it deserted me in the last game, particularly in the middle of it, when I missed three very makeable spares in a row. I figure I make the cut (639) if I stay clean and add the fill strike in the 10th, but I’ll definitely take this effort, particularly the first two games (of course).

The People’s Tournament reported Josh Skuby (Boston Bowl, 165 avg.) as the winner of the event held on May 22 at AMF Cranston Lanes. Skuby defeated Michael Williams (AMF Silver Lanes, 186 avg.) by a score (with handicaps) of 244-203 in the championship match. Representing Westgate Lanes, Bill Kempton (180 avg.) made it to the round of eight.