July 22 league night recap

My Week 9 bowling, frame-by-frame (Linked to BowlSK sheet)

My tendency was to come up light on stuff tonight, and, unfortunately, the tendency held on my single 7 pin, to the point where I missed three of them. I was able to put strikes together a couple of times in the last game, however, which saved my 500.

Result: 165-163-180=508
Average (27 games): 175
Average for last 9 games: 162
Next week’s AVG+1 score: 555

Both Patrick and Joe were 40+ over average in the second game, which we won by 100+ and was most of the difference for total after we also won the third game.

July 19 league standings update

After failing to win points against Wild Samoans, Spare Us is tied for 13th with Team 8 and No F In Strikes, 24 points behind a tie for the lead between The Minions and Team 15. Team 10 trails the leaders by two points, and Lost Empire by four. Wednesday night’s opponents will be Has Beens.

Tom Hankey wins U15 boys title in 2015 Junior Gold

Like Tyler Perry previously, I’m noting a bowler from Massachusetts who did well on the national stage…

The USBC reported that Tom Hankey, a bowler out of Cove Lanes in Great Barrington, MA, was the champion of the under-15 boys division of this year’s Junior Gold tournament in Chicago. Tom led the division after qualifying and the advancers rounds, winning his first two rounds of match play before losing to Jalen Mosley. After another match, Tom turned the tables on Jalen, then defeated Jorge Rodriguez 445-387 in the title match, which will air on CBS Sports Network on Aug. 11 at 10 PM Eastern time. Tom also earned a spot on the Junior Team USA developmental team.

Prior to Junior Gold, Tom also did well in the Youth Open at Orland Bowl, currently leading the U15 scratch team (with Jersey Boys and Tom) and boys all-events titles, with Tom relating on Facebook that the bowled a 300 game in the team event.

Congratulations to Tom, and I’ll also send along my wishes for continued success. 🙂

Tyler Perry makes top 10 in 2015 Junior Gold

This is one of those times when I recognize a bowler who doesn’t bowl out of Westgate (though his summer league is here), but is still a bowler in the area that does well on the national stage. 🙂

Tyler Perry of New Bedford made a run in the 2015 Junior Gold tournament in Chicago, qualifying 24th after a poor start, then eventually defeating Ric McCormick of Cincinnati, OH in a one-game roll-off for the 16th and last match play spot in the U20 boys division (the USBC video of the match will be below). Today, in match play, Tyler defeated Dallas Leong in the first round, then lost to Zachary Doty before being eliminated by Junior Team USA member Kamron Doyle in a two-frame roll-off. This will also be Tyler’s last Junior Gold after graduating to the adult ranks in the fall.

Congrats Tyler! 🙂

Kevin Thibeault places 68th in 2015 Junior Gold

Congratulations to Kevin Thibeault, who, as the advancers round results show, placed 68th in a field of over 1,400 under-20 boys at this year’s Junior Gold tournament in Chicago after averaging 194+ for 19 games on WTBA lane conditions. This will be his highest Junior Gold finish, as he will be joining the adult bowler ranks in the fall. Kevin related on Facebook that he had a chance at the top 64, but stuffed an 8 pin in the 9th frame of his last game.

Congratulations again Kevin…I said it on Facebook, but will also put on the record here that I see at least a NEBA title in your future. 🙂

Summer change for No-Tap Shootout

Starting this Monday (July 20), the No-Tap Shootouts will be held on Monday following the summer doubles league for the rest of the summer. Junior hopes that a Monday night tournament will be more convenient for bowlers, as well as more comfortable (as, hopefully, it’ll be cooler later in the evening). I will continue to post them on the blog’s calendar as they are scheduled.

July 15 league night recap

My Week 8 bowling, frame-by-frame (Linked to BowlSK sheet)

The third game could only be described as the most disappointing 170 game of my life, as I almost couldn’t miss in the first five frames then couldn’t buy a spare for the rest of the game.

Result: 145-180-170=495
Average (24 games): 175
Average for last 9 games: 164
Next week’s AVG+1 score: 535

Third game was definitely winnable after my start, but then the whole team tanked, failing to avoid the sweep.

July 12 Northeast Amateur Tournament results

Angel Hernandez won the Northeast Amateur Tournament event today at Westgate Lanes, defeating Charlie Unthank in the two-game final match by a score of 455-447 (with handicap). Jason Sherwood (who made the semifinals), Keith Kaestner, and Hakim Emmanuel were the Westgate cashers, with Keith cashing in the NAT for the first time.

Also, during qualifying, Charlie Unthank had games of 243, 279, and 290 for an 812 series (first three of four games), Corey Hanson a 300 game, and Shawn Fitzpatrick II a 299 game.

Congrats to all. 🙂

2015 Mass. women’s state tournament results

The results from the Massachusetts USBC Women’s Bowling Association’s state tournament, recently concluded at Brunswick Zone Lowell, are still in an unofficial state on their website, but I’ve been given a hard copy of the official results and will note the champions below, with the association of entry in parentheses. Note: The scratch champions are the ones that entered the optional scratch events and have won the monetary prize for scratch. The division champions’ scores are with handicap.

Team

Div. 1: Scotty’s Girls (Greater Springfield) 2,758
Div. 2: Sister Hood (Greater Boston) 2,735
Scratch: Chair City Chicks (Worcester County) 2,257

Doubles

Div. 1: Debra Adley & Linda Edwards (Merrimack Valley) 1,531
Div. 2: Darla Gunder & Lisa Trombley (Berkshire County) 1,452
Div. 3: Kelly Standish & Kelly Luiz (Southeastern Mass.) 1,504
Scratch: Mariann Klosin & Maryellen Thorne (Merrimack Valley) 1,267

Singles

Div. 1: Laura Krikorian (Worcester County) 815
Div. 2: Theresa Roberge (Merrimack Valley) 757
Div. 3: Elizabeth Mabry (Greater Springfield) 806
Scratch: Lynne Lewis (Greater Boston) 669

All-Events

Div. 1: Laura Krikorian (Worcester County) 2,274
Div. 2: Karen Strickland (Merrimack Valley) 2,224
Div. 3: Kelly Luiz (Southeastern Mass.) 2,252
Scratch: Laura Krikorian (Worcester County) 1,959

The website additionally reported that Debra Adley bowled her first 300 game during the tournament, in the doubles event.

Congratulations to all! 😀

Link to Bill Spigner’s site added to sidebar

The IBMA’s group has yielded another useful link, that to the site of USBC Gold coach Bill Spigner, who writes “The Pro Approach” column for Bowlers Journal International, with the site archiving the columns as well as earlier pieces for Bowler’s Digest. Being that the columns are instructional in nature, I thought the “Coaching/Tips” category the appropriate one for the link.

July 1 league night recap

My Week 6 bowling, frame-by-frame (Linked to BowlSK sheet)

I felt I threw the ball OK tonight, but just ran out of strikes in the third game. I still missed some single pins, but that was the case in my warm-up game, too, where my only opens were missed corner pins.

Result: 187-183-156=526
Average (18 games): 181
Average for last 9 games: 173
Next week’s AVG+1 score: 563

Team took all eight, but the third game was probably not possible without a 187 from Joe, which was the best game I’ve seen him bowl.

8th anniversary post

It has been eight years now since that first bowling outing with my brother that both “lit the fuse” for my return as a league bowler and provided the impetus for starting this blog. I must say that it’s been easily the most memorable year of my time in the bowling media. One of the first things I should mention that happened in the last year was joining the IBMA for the first time, something I didn’t think was possible for me until one of the other members mentioned it to me on Facebook. Finding the IBMA’s group has allowed me to share the larger news with the larger bowling world, and I wish to thank Jackie Wyckoff for getting me connected. It certainly set up some of what has happened since then.

My IBMA membership played a role, too, in easily the biggest story of my life in the bowling media, one for which my only regret will be not having witnessed the event in person. Of course, that would be Hakim Emmanuel’s 900 series on Feb. 19. First thanks connected to this event will have to go to Danny Khuu, as he kept me updated from Hakim’s first 300 game up until the last strike. The night was surrealistically exciting, as I was also keeping association second VP Mike Carter updated on what was going on, as we didn’t know if the lanes would have to be inspected and Mike would be one of the ones involved with the inspection. Of course, after it ended, I was coordinating our social media coverage, part of which included posting my report on the IBMA’s group, after which Jeff Richgels picked up my account (which alone has had nearly 2,000 views now) for his post on The 11th Frame. One other item was getting Matt Cannizzaro of the USBC in contact with both Hakim for the interview for his report and with Jason Sherwood for his video. I’d like to thank Jeff, Matt, and Jason for their roles in the story’s coverage.

The other big event of the year was the state tournament, which was hosted by the Brockton Bowling Association at Westgate Lanes this spring. When the late Bob Young recruited me for the board, it was with this event in mind, and I can’t say I didn’t join with my eyes wide open because I knew Bob had the tournament in mind. With my assuming duties running brackets for the Coke league this year, I was a natural to run them for the state tournament, and did so every day of the tournament’s run. There is one thing I do wish to note on this, and that was that everything went smoothly until the last weekend, when my backpack fell out of my brother’s car on the last Saturday morning, after which my laptop’s touchscreen cracked. This forced me to use Bob Young’s old laptop for brackets on the last weekend. However, that wasn’t the end of the “adventure” of the last weekend, as the printer I was supplied for use with that laptop ran out of ink, and I decided not to run brackets for the last squad that Sunday. The board agreed to let me donate the proceeds from brackets to the Westgate junior bowler scholarship fund, and, even missing the last squad, we raised over $1,000 for the fund during the tournament, so I’d like to thank my board for letting me help our kids out. 🙂

Two of the other amazing performances I got to witness in the last year and wanted to mention again were the 3,662 series put up by Richard’s Warrior at state tournament, narrowly missing the state tournament team record, and Sean Richard’s duel with Danny Khuu for the house record average, so thanks to everyone involved in those. As usual, final thanks to my readers, and I hope you’ll continue to follow the blog. 🙂

Raise the Roof

Wanting to do a little more bowling, I decided to actually bowl in the Cabrals’ Raise the Roof fundraiser today. I want to try to do more of these fundraisers, as it gives me a chance to bowl with people I don’t normally bowl with, and, today, two of the bowlers I was crossing with were bowlers I’ve mentioned on this blog before, Henry Webber and AJ Voisine. As for the bowling itself, I only shot a 499 no-tap series with the lanes transitioning quickly, but I did have my moments, including three natural out of the last four strikes (with the fourth being a 4 pin that stood for a no-tap strike).

I think they’ll be doing more, and I hope I’m in a position to join the fun again.

June 24 league night recap

My Week 5 bowling, frame-by-frame (Linked to BowlSK sheet)

I put together strikes as often as not tonight, but I left pins out there with spare misses, as well as a few bad shots. I do feel I’m rolling the ball better this summer, so I just have to put a couple of consistent nights up.

Result: 191-173-171=535
Average (15 games): 182
Average for last 9 games: 184
Next week’s AVG+1 score: 561

I was high on the pair tonight, but the team lost all eight, with only the first game being close at all.

Sidebar link to BowlerSource app added

I’ve been alerted to another useful mobile bowling app called BowlerSource. Available from the app are tech specifications on over 1,100 balls from the leading brands, an oil pattern library with over 300 patterns, ball demo and coaching videos, and more. I’ve added the Google Play (Android) listing to the “Bowling Software/Apps” sidebar list, but the app is also available for iOS on iTunes.

Raise the Roof fundraiser note

There will be a no-tap tournament fundraiser for the Lively Stones Christian Center on Saturday starting at 3 PM. All bowlers are welcome, with fees $20 for adults, $10 for children, and $3 for shoe rental (if needed). Westgate league bowlers Will & Cindy Cabral are connected to this church, so they’d appreciate a good turnout. 🙂

June 22 league standings update

After winning two points from Pinheadz, Spare Us is tied for 10th with four other teams, 12 points behind the leading Team 10 and Team 15, who are two points ahead of 60 Ft. To Success and four ahead of four other teams tied for 4th. We bowl against Pin Laws Wednesday night.

AMF Auburn Lanes to hold US Women’s Open qualifier Aug. 2

AMF Auburn Lanes will be running New England’s qualifier for the US Women’s Open on Aug. 2 beginning at 11 AM. Entry fee will be $65, and entrants will bowl eight (8) games across 16 lanes, with US Women’s Open entries being awarded at a 1:10 ratio. The lane condition will be the 2011 US Women’s Open pattern (39′, 5.21:1 ratio; link is to top graph on Kegel.net). Anyone interested can contact Eric Mahoney at the bowling center for more information.

Sean Richard & Danny Khuu win Lefty Righty Doubleheader at Carolier

Congrats to “$eany Ka$h” Sean Richard and Danny Khuu for winning the scratch division of the third annual Lefty Righty Doubleheader at Brunswick Zone Carolier in N. Brunswick, NJ today. The format of the tournament was that there had to be one bowler with each hand on the team, with back-up bowlers counting as the opposite hand. Sean and Danny shot 2,440 for the five games, with Danny putting up a 299 second game to lead the way.

Congrats again guys! 😀