NEBA reported Mike Lichstein won his record 28th NEBA title, and his 4th at Westgate Lanes, this past Sunday. They reported on Facebook that Lichstein defeated Alex Aguiar by a score of 217-205 in the title match. Westgate Lanes bowler Sean Richard made a run into the quarterfinals before losing to Lichstein, and he was joined out of Westgate Lanes as cashers by Brian Gaskill, Jason Sherwood, Danny Khuu, Brockton Bowling Association Hall of Famer Jim Ferguson, Eric Durden, Bob Hamilton, and Kevin Thibeault (who, competing as a youth bowler, will have his prize money deposited into his SMART scholarship account). Brian Egan of Westgate Lanes won the prize for high game outside of the cut.
The title match itself was a classic, as Aguiar had an early split, but it became apparent that whichever bowler could figure out the right lane first would win, and Lichstein broke through in the 9th frame. When Lichstein struck in the 10th to seal his victory, he was overcome by emotion (as it was his first NEBA title in four years) and flopped down on the approach. Entertainingly, Aguiar mimicked the gesture when he finally struck in the 10th on the problem right lane. An observation of Lichstein I made during match play was that he was constantly giving his opponents encouragement during the match. Mike Lichstein is a bowler who gets it, which reminded me of what the great bowling writer Chuck Pezzano said about the mindset of most bowlers: You want your opponent to bowl well, too, just you a little bit better.
There were five 300 games in the regular NEBA tournament, and I already posted about Brian Gaskill’s on Saturday, but one I missed on Saturday was thrown by Bob Dimuccio Jr. There were three more perfect games on Sunday, all of which I have video for, and I’ll go in order. First, Mike Wilson:
Charlie Bonis Jr.:
And, finally, Dave Martorella:
In addition, Mike Lichstein had a chance at one before a “super washout” (1-3-4-6-7 for a lefty) derailed him on the last shot.
The Tenth Board 