The standings after the cashers round of qualifying indicate that Alex Aguiar of Dartmouth, MA has finished 44th in this week’s US Open. Aguiar qualified 28th for the cashers round, but could not make a move into the top 24 for match play, ending up with a 205.69 average for his 26 games. According to Aguiar’s page for the tournament, his highlight was a 288 game in the next-to-last game of his Wednesday qualifying block, and also opened Thursday’s block with a 253 game. This is Alex’s best-ever finish in the event.

Congrats on a good week, Alex! 😀

Just wanted to give everyone a heads-up that the results of the city tournament are available here. On a personal note, my cousin Dave was a member of the “Lounge Lizards” team that cashed in the team event, so special congrats to them. 😀

According to the blog for the High Roller, Ed Roberts of Braintree, MA, a member of the Brockton Bowling Association Hall of Fame, took down the title recently in the February 2011 High Roller, and, in the process, became only the third bowler in the history of the High Roller to win both in February and July. According to the posted results of match play, Alex Aguiar also made a deep run in the tournament, reaching the sixth round before bowing out.

Congrats to both Ed and Alex on their performances. 😀

I found the official roster for this week’s US Open, and, while I did not see Rai Doblmeier listed on it, I noticed a few bowlers entered that have connections to the area: Alex Aguiar (Dartmouth, MA; bowler in the Tuesday Scratch Sportsmen league), Michael Berube Jr. (from nearby Fall River, MA), Mike Cordeiro (from Walpole, MA), and Ryan Evans (Acton, MA; with a recent 300 game in the Coke Classic League).

Good luck to all of our area bowlers participating in this major tournament. 😀

Unlike previous Brockton Bowling Association championship tournaments, I was able to make it for Day 1 of the tournament, and was able to stay for all of the doubles and singles squad and the beginning of team. The tournament is being contested on the Middle Road pattern, and, in contrast to the USBC Blue pattern used last year, scores were rather low, at least for doubles and singles, with no honor scores recorded during my time there.

I plan on returning for part of the team squad tomorrow, and should be able to post an update then.

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

The People’s Tournament reported that Nicholas Power (American Lanes {Southbridge, MA}, 113 avg.) was the winner of the event held on January 22 & 23 at Westgate Lanes. Power defeated Dave Sargent (Brunswick Lowell Lanes, 186 avg.) by a score of 248-223 (with handicaps) in the title match. For Westgate Lanes bowlers, Sean Richard (203 avg.) was in the semifinals, while Brian Alleyne (165 avg.), Roland Sandefur (191 avg.), Paris Cook (183 avg.), and David Chalifoux (206 avg.) were also in the final eight.

Westgate Lanes will be running two nine-game marathon tournaments in the month of March, with a handicap marathon on March 6 and a scratch marathon on March 20. Entry fee for both tournaments is $100, with a first place prize of $1,000 (second prize $500) based on 30 entries. Entries for the handicap tournament (and maybe the scratch one, as well) close on March 1, and forms are available at the control desk. Handicap for the March 6 tournament is 80% of 240, and bowlers must have an average verifiable on Bowl.com.

As an opening note, I was really hopeful after my warm-up game because I had a clean 213, which is my best single on a Sport Bowling-compliant oil pattern under any circumstances.

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

The warm-up game was on fresh oil, but the lanes I was on for the 12:30 squad were used by the 10:00 squad, so they were much different. By the second game, I had looked lost, and even tried my Fast to start the third game. I did find my absolute best look late, however, but, even then, I ended up leaving 10s and missing most of them.

I normally stick around to find out the cut score, but my ride (Rob) had to leave early, so this post will be commented to and the BowlSK sheet will be updated when I get the February newsletter at the latest.

The Brockton USBC Bowling Association’s annual championship tournament will be held on Feb. 19 and 20 at Westgate Lanes. Entries for the tournament close on Jan. 30, and an entry form is available on the association’s website.

The Tri-City Women’s Bowling Association will hold its 23rd annual mixed doubles tournament, open to members of the Tri-City, Foxvale, and Brockton associations, on February 26 & 27 at Westgate Lanes, with a 1:00 PM squad time on both days. Entry flyers are now available, and entries will close on February 12.

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

The People’s Tournament reported that Chuck Paige II (Westgate Lanes, 192 avg.) was the winner of the event held on Dec. 4 & 5 at Westgate Lanes. Paige defeated Erika Roberts (Lanes & Games, 152 avg.) by a score of 293-216 (with handicaps) in the title match. Westgate Lanes was well-represented in the final eight, as Alvin Rhem (174 avg.) also made the semifinals, and Albert Yuen (177 avg.), Sean Richard (203 avg.), Ricky Chan (164 avg.), and Danny Khuu (213 avg.) cashed in 5th through 8th places.

NEBA reported Tony Reynaud as the winner of this past weekend’s event at Westgate Lanes. Reynaud defeated Brandon Robertson by a score of 258-204 in the title match. According to the match play bracket published on the site, Alex Aguiar made it to the quarterfinals, and other familiar names among the cashers were Brian Gaskill, Mike Lichstein, Jon Van Hees, and Ed Roberts. The Westgate Lanes title was Reynaud’s ninth.

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

I missed the cut again, but only by 34 pins, and, if it wasn’t for my inability to find the pocket last game, things probably should have been different. I can feel I’m growing as a bowler, however: I was proud of my second game (227 scratch) not only because it was a good game, but it was clean, as well, and on a tough shot (they had the Coke league’s shot out). I had a chance at the second game side pot, as well (260 with handicap), but my buddy Sean aced me out for second place.

The People’s Tournament reported that Lisa Sousa (AMF Holiday Lanes [Westport, MA], 146 avg.) was the winner of the October event held at AMF Silver Lanes on October 23-24. Sousa defeated Mike Major (Westgate Lanes, 198 avg.) by a score of 197-168 (with handicaps) in the title match. John Hayes Jr. (205 avg.) was the other casher from Westgate Lanes, and Herbert Brown (Kingston Ten Pin, 175 avg.) and Harriet Glatky (North Bowl, 137 avg.) also represented the Brockton/Foxvale/Tri-City area in the roll-offs.

Just a note, the next People’s Tournament will be the Westgate Lanes event I mentioned in my previous post, with a $5,000 guaranteed first prize. The November tournament was canceled due to a conflict with a TNBA tournament.

After taking July and August off, the People’s Tournament returned to AMF Silver Lanes on September 25 and 26, and Reynard Epps (Westgate Lanes, 156 avg.) won the title, defeating Malcom Marius (AMF Silver Lanes, 181 average) by a score of 234-215 (with handicaps) in the championship match. Rosemarie Daniels (165 avg.), Gary Mahame (176 avg.), and Linwood Cowen, Jr. (190 avg.) were the other Westgate Lanes cashers, while North Bowl was represented in the roll-offs by Craig Glatky (178 avg.)

As reported by the Brockton Bowling Association, Rai Doblmeier became the 10th Bowler of the Year after defeating Pat Carrara 208-185 in come-from-behind fashion in the title match. Doblmeier was the first Bowler of the Year winner to win three matches in the stepladder final round, first besting Steve Huntress 247-176, then defending champion Ryan Yelle 223-216 in the semifinal match. The other cashers were Sean Richard, Harry Thibeault Jr., Dan Esdale, and Keith Tantillo.

The Brockton Bowling Association’s annual “Bowler of the Year” tournament is scheduled for this Sunday at Westgate Lanes. As I have to miss it due to a previous engagement (which I’ll write about later), I’ll post a recap once the details are up on the association’s website (which will, as always, include a link to the article).

The PBA reported today that George Tignor of Winchendon, MA was one of the cashers in the PBA East regional Strike Zone Senior Open in Pottsville, PA. Tignor qualified for match play in 7th, but was ousted 3 games to 2 in the first round by David Kneas of Annapolis, MD. The tournament, which was contested on Senior Pattern #2, was won by Sam Maccarone of Glassboro, NJ.

The PBA reported that Brendan Bierch of Grafton, MA finished 7th and George Tignor of Winchendon, MA finished 12th in last weekend’s PBA East regional Colony Park Lanes Senior Open in York, PA. Bierch lost to David Kneas of Annapolis, MD 2-0 in the best-of-three round of eight in match play, while Tignor lost to Kneas 3-1 in the best-of-five opening round. The tournament, which was contested on Senior Pattern #1, was won by Gary Shultis of Levittown, NY.

Catching up on the happenings on the PBA regional tour…

On July 23-25, the PBA East regional tour was at Cedar Lanes in Lebanon, PA for the Cap Card Open, and Jon Van Hees (Charlestown, RI) cashed in 26th place, failing to qualify for match play. The tournament was contested on the Scorpion pattern, and was won by Terry Miller of York, PA.

In an East regional tournament that wound down today, Gary Erickson (N. Attleboro, MA) cashed in 21st place and Chris Monroy (Holden, MA) cashed in 24th place in the Mid-County Lanes Open in Middletown, DE, which was contested on the Chameleon pattern. Danny Wiseman of Baltimore was the champion.

The PBA also runs regional tournaments for the senior crowd, and, at the recent PBA East regional Iroquois Lanes Senior Open held at Iroquois Lanes in Canajoharie, NY on July 9-11, George Tignor of Winchendon, MA was reported by the PBA as finishing 7th in the tournament. Tignor qualified in 6th position, but went 3-5-0 in match play. The tournament was won by Bob Caruso of Dayton, NJ. Senior tournaments at the regional level also guarantee four “super senior” cashers, and one of the final super senior cash spots went to Brendan Bierch of Grafton, MA.

Congrats to both of the New England cashers. 😀

Note: The tournament was contested on Regional Senior Pattern #3.

The High Roller blog reported that Braintree’s Ed Roberts finished in the fifth-to-seventh place cashing group in the July High Roller at Sam’s Town in Las Vegas. Roberts lost in the eighth round of match play to Steve Calyore of Naples, FL by a score of 215-173, and “The Big Game” was eventually won by Dennis Killough of Indian Trail, NC. Alex Aguiar of Dartmouth also did well, cashing with the 21st-39th place group after losing in the fifth round to Casey Murphy of Nixa, MO by a score of 258-219. Congrats to both of the local bowlers. 😀

These posts may be sporadic b/c of my forgetfulness in checking the PBA’s site for East regional tournament results, so I’m going to combine the recent New England-based cashers into one post and hope I get back on track:

• Jonathan Van Hees (Charlestown, RI; round of 16) and Gary Erickson (N. Attleboro, MA; 30th) cashed in the King Pin Lanes Open on April 30-May 2 in Rome, NY, contested on the Viper oil pattern. The tournament was won by Rick Graham (Lancaster, PA).
• Jon Van Hees cashed again (round of 16) at the Burlington Bowl Open on June 11-13 at the Burlington Bowl and Recreation Center in Burlington, NJ, contested on the Shark oil pattern. This tournament was won by Ryan Ciminelli (Cheektowaga, NY).
• Van Hees scored another round of 16 cash at the Howell Lanes Open on June 18-20 in Howell, NJ on the Cheetah oil pattern. This time, however, there was a New England-based bowler ahead of him, as Chris Monroy (Holden, MA) made it to the round of 8. The winner was Brian LeClair (Athens, NY).