Matt Jackson victorious in NAT Old School Singles at Westgate; Calvin Scott nails perfecto

Finalists of Sept. 13 NAT Old School Singles event at Westgate Lanes, champion Matt Jackson, runner-up Calvin Scott (Photo courtesy of Northeast Amateur Touranment)

The Northeast Amateur Tournament reported on Facebook (must be logged in to view) that Matt Jackson was the winner of the Old School Singles event held yesterday (Sept. 13) at Westgate Lanes, defeating Calvin Scott 245-210 (with handicap) in the final match. In the “Old School” format, all of the qualifiers bowled two games, with the top four scores advancing to the stepladder final round (qualifying pins did not carry over). Joe Bourhill, Danny Khuu, Bob Goulart, Ethan Reyes, Cameron Kaestner, Mike “Sensae” Reed, and Chris Zalewski were the Westgate bowlers cashing.

Calvin Scott, the runner-up, had a 300 game during qualifying for the event on the second squad, the final strike which was recorded by Sean Richard and sent to me for posting here:

The event drew a healthy 91 entries, a good number, considering the current public health situation.

Congrats to Matt and Cal, and all of the other cashers. .🎳😎

Sean Richard takes down Digibowl season opener at OML

The Digital Bowling Society reported in the post above that Westgate’s Sean Richard was the winner of the season-opening Digibowl Tournament Series event at Old Mountain Lanes in Wakefield, RI with a 288-195 (with handicaps added) victory over Greg Tack in the title match.

WTG $eany! 🎳🎉😎

Danny Khuu wins NAT Over/Under Doubles at Town Line

Finalists of Aug. 30 NAT Over/Under Doubles (L-R): Champions Dave Gordon & Danny Khuu, runners-up Daquan Holley (kneeling) & Joe Austin (Photo courtesy of Northeast Amateur Tournament)

Per their Facebook post (must be logged into Facebook to view), Westgate bowler Danny Khuu paired with Dave Gordon to win the Northeast Amateur Tournament’s Over/Under (45) Doubles tournament Sunday at Town Line Luxury Lanes in Malden, defeating Daquan Holley & Joe Austin 486-457 in the final match.

WTG Khuu! 🎳🎉😎

Westgate Mixed meeting note

I’ve been asked about the Westgate Mixed league, the other league that bowls on Wednesday night, and I can finally report that they will be meeting next Wednesday, as well, at 6 PM (before the Pepsi league’s meeting). I would assume both meetings will be in the pool room.

Westgate league social distancing

I stated in an earlier post that Westgate Lanes would be able to use every lane in the facility. If you’ve been in the bowling facility, you’ll know that a lot of this is because the tables at each pair (except for the lanes near the desk) are offset, with the table at the left lane closer to the ball return than the right one, keeping them at least 6′ from each other.

AC and Yogi did reveal the rest of their plan to accomplish social distancing for the leagues last night at the league officers meeting, the main point being that bowling will be done PBA style. This means the team on the left lane will bowl their entire first frame, then the team on the right lane will bowl their first two frames, one on each lane, with each team bowling two frames thereafter until the team that started bowls their 10th frame on the right lane. The other major point is that there will be temperature checks, random for now, done with one of the no-touch scanning thermometers everyone’s used to seeing by now.

Bowlers with questions may ask their league officers when their leagues meet in the coming days.

Link to Tenpin Toolkit app added to sidebar

Always on the lookout for useful things to add to the sidebar links, I found, indirectly through Facebook, the Tenpin Toolkit app, developed by British coach Simon Kimber. It’s kind of a Swiss Army knife of bowling apps, as it has these features:

  • Angles & Targeting
  • Axis Tilt & Rotation
  • Ball Speed & RPM (Rev Rate)
  • Observation Trainer
  • Pattern Library
  • Score Calculator
  • Spare Names

Each of these tools is described in more detail on the app’s homepage (now linked in the sidebar, under “Bowling Software/Apps”), along with links to the app on the Apple Store and Google Play. The app does cost about US $10, but it could be the best $10 a bowler spends on technology.

Bowling with the Baslers

I’d been looking for a spot to break out of my own bowling hiatus, and some dear friends and supporters who bowl in Kingston, the Baslers, provided the excuse when they told me they were about to move to Florida. A few planned meet-ups got postponed, but we finally did get together today. The Baslers, Larry & Shannon, with their son, Sean, had a little bit of an edge in having bowled since bowling reopened in the region. We worked it so that I would bowl one game as a doubles team with each of them, starting with Sean, then Shannon, and, finally, Larry.

It was clear during the first game that I hadn’t forgotten how to bowl, merely forgotten how to carry all ten pins. I missed a couple of single pins, but I’d be proud to say none of them were the 10, which I was actually leaving more of. The 153 that I ended with was a game I’d take basically going into it cold (we were graciously given the league standard 10 minutes of practice).

The first game was bowled with my Tropical Breeze, but I thought to dig out my Alpha Crux from my locker with the thought that I could carry with that ball, and was rewarded with five in a row starting with the 2nd frame on the way to a 219, which was better than any game that I had in my shortened league season. It still didn’t matter, because Larry also had a good enough game to not make my 10th frame matter.

Larry & I ganged up on Shannon & Sean in the last game, but I did lose the pocket at the end. However, my 165 was still better than my league average, and my 537 series was better than all but one of the eight series I bowled in my league. The adult Baslers, to their credit, bowled well, with Shannon having her only “clunker”, unfortunately, bowling in the second game with me.

It was a fun day, with the four of us posing for the photo below to mark the occasion:

Best wishes in Florida, guys! 🎳😎

Site theme and header changed

I’ve been involved in another web design project (not for bowling), and, seeing what was out there now, I felt it was time to update this site a little bit. Looking through the available (free) themes, the Nucleare one looked fresh enough, but functionally similar to the P2 theme I’ve had, so I went with that.

I also had the opportunity to use a larger header graphic, so I used that to try my hand at some simple graphic design in Paint 3D, resulting in what’s on the site now. I went with the Boxer Red & Black this time, and was able to match the colors up on the site with the header somewhat. The site also has a little bit of a background to it. The last thing everyone will note is that the menu bar now has a search button, eliminating the need for the sidebar search widget.

Let me know on Facebook what you think of the new look.

Update: Paint 3D wasn’t using the full dimension of the image I’m allowed by the theme, so I did a second header, porting a blank canvas in the optimum theme dimension from Paint, first.

I’d like to also note that, with my font face choices (which I was able to make with this theme), it now makes a good mobile site, although you’ll still need to view the site in desktop mode in mobile browsers to get the sidebar.

Reopening social distancing follow-up

While I had to run a few other errands, I stopped in at Westgate, and was informed by Yogi Patel that he was told that he didn’t have to enforce social distancing with regard to lane assignments as long as his total capacity didn’t exceed 300. This they can use every lane in the house and offer the same leagues at the same times, and is likely the same statewide. Of course, the ultimate judgment about whether a bowler wants to bowl leagues this season will be up to the individual bowler.

Westgate reopening summary

I would have gone on Facebook Live today if Westgate Lanes changed drastically for the pandemic’s aftermath, but they didn’t install anything special, so I decided just to write a normal post. I was briefed by Yogi Patel and Tim Major, however, and they were able to report that the roof and air conditioning were repaired during the shutdown (likely during Phase 1 of the reopening in Massachusetts), and the facility has been given a thorough cleaning.

Westgate’s capacity for bowling will be 300, and masks will be required as you enter the facility, and you don’t have to wear them while you are bowling (in the settee area), but you must when you are going through the building. For the bowlers using house balls, those will be disinfected and wrapped in plastic as they are returned. Westgate is also encouraging social distancing where they can, with markers on the floor at various places in the establishment:

These are in front of the desk.
And these are in the snack bar and pro shop area.

Kevin Thibeault has also informed me that only two people other than staff (mostly he & Alex Aguiar) will be allowed in the pro shop at a time.

Welcome back, folks! 🎳🎉💖

Westgate Lanes to reopen Mon. July 13

Per the Facebook post above, Westgate Lanes announced that they will resume operations following the COVID-19 pandemic on Monday, July 13, with hours from 12-9 PM. The center will follow all regulations and guidelines posted by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts for indoor recreation.

Looking forward to returning to bowling, finally! 😀

Bill Briggs elected to BPUSBC Hall of Fame

As announced on Facebook and Instagram (the Instagram post was chosen here), the Bristol-Plymouth USBC has elected Bill Briggs to its Hall of Fame as the first elected by the merged association. Details on the induction will be announced at a later date, but much will depend, of course, on the public health situation.

Congratulations Bill! 🙂

Brian Egan, Kevin Thibeault, Jon Hester take titles at 2020 Northeastern Open

Per the posted final prize list, Westgate bowler Kevin Thibeault has won the scratch doubles title at the 2020 Northeastern Open Championships at Yankee Lanes in Keene, NH with Chris Viale, and Patriots league sub Jon Hester won handicap doubles with Shawn Hagan. I was also told Hester additionally was a member of the winning scratch team, Massholes, as was were Hagan and Brian Egan, along with Bill Beck and Dave Chalifoux.

Congrats to everyone! 🙂

Sean Richard, Bill Briggs, Danny Khuu win titles in shortened SEMASS tournament

Per the post in their Facebook group, Westgate bowlers Sean Richard, Bill Briggs, and Danny Khuu won titles in a shortened Southeastern Mass. association tournament, which took place last month at Holiday Lanes in Westport. Richard and Briggs were on the winning scratch team with Ralph Dahlgren, John Camara, and Tiler Levesque, with Richard additionally winning handicap all-events and Khuu taking down the scratch singles title.

Congrats everyone! 🙂

Ed Grossett wins Bay State Open Over/Under Doubles in Lowell

Per the Facebook post above, Westgate league bowler Ed Grossett, along with partner Derek DuBois, won the Bay State Open’s Over/Under (age 45) doubles event last Saturday at Bowlero Lowell with a 498-470 (with handicap) final match victory over Chuck Malatesta and Joe Bouchard. I did not share the live stream due technical problems, but the match was also recorded and uploaded, which is shared here:

Congrats Ed! 🙂

Mar. 11 Brunswick Mixed recap

My Week 26 bowling, frame-by-frame

Mostly happy with my spare game last night, particularly with my 10, where I missed only one. However, I’m not going to get much further if I don’t get my third game, in which I’m averaging eight pins under my full average, figured out.

Result: 190-177-140=507
Average (24 games): 164
9-game moving average: 174
Next week’s AVG+1 score: 501

Team won second game and was leading total after it, but we couldn’t put a good third game together, so that was the only point we won.

Kevin Thibeault tosses 300 in 2020 BPUSBC association singles

It took until the very last squad of the tournament, but there was one 300 in this year’s Bristol-Plymouth USBC association tournament, and it was by Kevin Thibeault in the singles event yesterday at Kingston Ten Pin. The video I got below was the first one posted here that I got on my current cellphone and not on my “good” camera.

Congrats Kevin! 🙂

Feb. 22 youth league notes

Some notable youth league scores from Feb. 22:

  • Dylan Major, with a 279 game (207 avg.) in the Seniors league
  • Aiden Delehoy, with a 246 game and 711 series (176 avg.), also in the Seniors league
  • Ian Zalewski, with a 204 game (130 avg.) in the Juniors league
  • Phillip Noonan, with a 164 game (99 avg.), also in the Juniors league

Nice bowling everyone! 🙂

Note: Aiden Delehoy is a younger bowler, but is allowed to bowl with the senior kids because he carries such a high average for his age.

Mar. 4 Brunswick Mixed recap

My Week 25 bowling, frame-by-frame

This should have been a lot better, but I didn’t figure out the third game until it was too late. I also struggled with my 10 early, but, unlike a lot of times, I made the adjustment, and only missed one of the last six the rest of the night.

Result: 169-205-135=509
Average (21 games): 164
9-game moving average: 167
Next week’s AVG+1 score: 513

Team, with our anchor absent, only won the second game.