After experiencing computer problems at the association office, the Brockton Bowling Association has posted the unofficial results of the 51st city tournament (in PDF format). The association hopes to make the results official soon.

You will note that my team finished 15th with handicap, but, with 26 entries in the team event, I highly doubt we did well enough to cash.

(Note: The following is a recap of a tournament in which the author of this blog participated.)

The Northeast Amateur Tournament reported that Rich LeCain was the winner of the event held on Mar. 17 at Westgate Lanes. Rich defeated Todd Letourneau by a score of 254-223 (with handicap) in the final match. Cashers that I recognize as Westgate Lanes league bowlers were Gary Patten (3rd place), Keith Tantillo (4th place), Jason Sherwood, Rick Fallon, Matt Richard, Sean Richard, and Hakim Emmanuel (Eric Lam may have cashed, as well, but I am not sure if his name is spelled incorrectly on the page.).

The USBC announced today that Brockton Bowling Association Hall of Famer Ed Roberts will be one of four men and four women who will represent the USA at the inaugural WTBA World Senior Championships, to be held Aug. 10-16 at Red Rock Lanes in Las Vegas. Ed will be joined on the men’s team by PBA and USBC Hall of Famer Del Ballard Jr., Ron Mohr, and Hugh Miller, as selected by the Team USA coaching staff.

The Boston Bowling Senate of the TNBA will conduct their annual no-tap singles tournament on Sat. Apr. 13, with squad times of noon, 1:30 PM, and 3 PM. Entry fee is $25, and can be paid on-site.

I’ve had this date circled on my bowling calendar since the Northeast Amateur Tournament announced their newly-acquired USBC certification, as this was their first Westgate Lanes tournament since then, and I wanted to make my debut in the NAT at “home.” I hung around the first squad (10 AM), having breakfast while doing so, then signed up about when they opened for the 1 PM squad. I knew the NAT bowls on whatever the THS (Typical House Shot) is where they’re running tournaments, but I also knew I needed to bowl much better than I have been bowling in league to have a chance.

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

All I can say is I gave my best, and scored better than I have in months in the first game, which was clean. The third game was my undoing, as I couldn’t stay off the nose, particularly on Lane 43, but, other than the five splits, my spare game was excellent, and is where I need it to be in league.

The cut in the 49-under (age) division in my squad was 751, meaning I missed by 72 pins, but I told the bowlers I knew I thought I had a respectable showing, and they largely agreed with me. I told Jay, the tournament director, that I’d definitely bowl this again. I might think about bowling the first squad, however: Fresher oil may help me stay in the pocket.

Rob Dickens had to back out of bowling doubles and singles with me because of wrist soreness when he tried bowling a week or so ago, so I ended up only bowling the team event, and this is how I did:

My appearance in team event, frame-by-frame (Linked to BowlSK sheet)

As I said in the BowlSK comment, I don’t think I disgraced myself on a tough lane condition. My spare game was essentially saving me first game, and I thought I had something going in the third game, but faltered. The comical moment came in the 3rd frame of Game 2, when I wound up picking the Greek Church split out of the full rack; I did make the spare after that. The team scored 2,500+ with handicap, but I didn’t think that would be good enough to cash.

I mentioned the tough lane condition, and nobody was really killing the shot, with Alex Aguiar having the closest approach to an honor score with a 289 game in singles; he finished with a 767 scratch series in the event.

The official results of last weekend’s mixed doubles tournament, conducted by the Tri-City Women’s Bowling Association:

Handicap

1. Melissa Peterson & Eric Derochers 1,480
2. Eric Buckman & Mary Altemese 1,431
3. Paul Kenney & Debra Freed 1,413

Scratch

1. Sandi Litchfield & Sean Richard 1,283
2. Danielle Barros & Barry Muise 1,267

Congrats to all of the cashers. 😀

The USBC decided months ago that two patterns, one for the team event and one for doubles and singles, would be used in this year’s national tournament, and, as the usual service to my readers, they are linked below (they will open in a new window/tab):

Pattern for team event

Specs: 41′ in length, 26.05 mL total oil, 2.57:1 ratio

Pattern for doubles & singles

Specs: 39′ in length, 24.4 mL total oil, 2.37:1 ratio

I’ll be running down hard copies to Westgate Lanes tonight for the pro shop and Junior. Junior will be choosing one of these patterns for the last third of the Coke league season.

On the first day of Tri-City’s annual mixed doubles tournament today, Sean Richard, bowling with Sandi Litchfield, had the high game of the squad with a 280, but another highlight was produced by a member of my own league: Marsha Jones, from “Split Happens,” converted the 7-9 split during the squad (I want to say she’s a lefty, but I’m not completely sure.).

Just a note…due to the expected inclement weather on Sunday, the squad time for the annual mixed doubles tournament has been changed on that day to 2 PM. Please take that and the weather into account when planning your travel for the tournament.

There being a lack of entry forms currently at the bowling centers, bowlers wishing to enter the open state tournament may find the entry form here in Microsoft Word format.

In my last post about my coming participation in the Brockton city tournament, I had given up hope of bowling doubles and singles, but, just to see what might be out there, I put out on Facebook to my Brockton bowling friends that I’d be looking for a doubles partner. One came, from an unlikely source: Rob Dickens, who was sitting out league bowling this year because of having surgery on both of his wrists. He did let me know he’d be interested in bowling the tournament, so we made the arrangements online, and I will be doing the paperwork for the doubles & singles entry tonight, as I have to look up his ID number and average online on Bowl.com. He will also have to pay his sanction for the year at the tournament in order to be able to participate. Finally, we planned a practice session for next Sunday afternoon, likely on the current Coke league condition (Route 66), which will be behind the desk.

I had hoped to get a team together for city tournament the first weekend of March, but I still had a couple of people who were unsure if they were going to bowl in it with me, so when Shawn (Coles) told me he had an opening on his team, I jumped on the vacancy. I will be bowling with Shawn, Al Cochrane, and Ken Snow, all from the Brunswick Mixed league, but since Shawn didn’t think his bowling arm would last the nine games, and none of the other two were particularly interested in bowling the minor events (doubles & singles), I will only be bowling in the team event on that Saturday. Shawn took my suggestion of naming the team “Tenth Board Titans,” so people will be able to easily figure out which team I’m on.

Just to make it public, good luck and good bowling to Ryan Yelle, the Brockton Bowling Association’s reigning Bowler of the Year, next week as he competes in the USBC Masters at Brunswick Zone Carolier in North Brunswick, NJ, which has been a US Open site in the past.

As promised, a recap of the tournament in which Sean Richard threw the first sanctioned 300 game in the history of the Northeast Amateur Tournament…

The NAT reported Russ Michaud as the winner of the event on Jan. 27 at Gardner Ten Pin, defeating Mike Budwick by a score of 237-214 (with handicap) in the championship match. Westgate Lanes league bowlers cashing were Billy Trudell, Tony Bennett, Sean Richard, Jim Ferguson, and Danny Khuu.

The 25th annual Brockton/Foxvale/Tri-City mixed doubles tournament, conducted by the Tri-City Women’s Bowling Association and open to members of the Brockton Bowling Association and the Tri-City and Foxvale Women’s Bowling Associations, will be held on Feb. 23 & 24 at Westgate Lanes, with 1:00 PM squads both days. Entries will close on Feb. 12, and entry forms are available at the desk.

The Brockton Bowling Association’s 51st annual championship tournament will take place at Westgate Lanes on Mar. 2 & 3. Entry forms are available at association centers and online, and entries close on Feb. 16.