Long Island Summer Bowling Tour!

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Sayville NY - June 20, 2003

sayville bowl was jam packed this past friday night as 98 bowlers participated in the latest stop on the long island summer bowling tour (LISBT). a record payout of over $2800.00 was distributed for the night as well. the night featured some of the finest collective bowling the lISBT has seen in the 2 1/4 years of its existance. And once again, it was the junior bowlers who thrilled us all this past friday night.

John devito, bayport was simply outstanding for the first 3 games of qualifying this past friday night in the junior handicap division. the 175 average bowler rolled a very impressive 655 scratch that earned him the number 1 seed through the first 3 games. devito however had to hold on to dear life as he plummeted to 146 in game 4 giving him a total with handicap of 997. ed gocinski, coram, was having an outstanding night for the front 3 as well, gocinski, who carries a 154 average put together a strong 563 scratch and was in prime position to take advantage of devito's struggles in game 4. however, gocinski ran into a bit of a wall himself and finished game 4 with a respectable but not enough 159 leaving him 3 pins back with a 994 w/hdcp. the remaining two bowlers that advanced to the finals in the JHD were Michael Komorowski, mastic beach 966 w/hdcp and taylor stewart, bayport 955 w/hdcp.

with devito on the sidelines sitting out the first game due to his #1 seed, gocinski, komorowski and stewart put on quite a show in the semi-final game. all 3 bowlers looked ready and willing to take a shot vs devito in the championship game. Ed gocinski however has been involved with a few of the LISBT's over the first 2+ years and perhaps, that is what may steered him to victory in the shotgun round. gocinski shot a fabulous 258 with handicap while komorowski came in at 250 and stewart at 225.

while gocinski looked ready to go in the finals vs devito, one had to wonder whether or not the bayport youth would be able to shake off game 4 of qualifying in addition to sitting on the sidelines waiting the winner of the shotgun. devito took care of the doubters in a hurry. however, gocinski shook off his as well. the 2 young adults went at it pretty good for the next 10 frames. devito however was able to accomplish the one thing you have to do in order to win a close game....throw the extra double. devito managed to get the extra strike and went on the defeat a gutsy performance by gocinski 249-239. great job and a great finish by two outstanding young bowlers.

Junior Handicap Division qualifying highlights (200+/800+): john devito, bayport 223/801, ed gocinski, coram 215, michael komorowski, mastic beach 210, taylor stewart, bayport 214, ryan wisnewski, east northport 233, jermoe dietz, mastic 204, aaron ryan, selden 210, matt kingsepp, miller place 208 and ryan kane, ronkonkoma 210

it isnt as though mike wodzkinski, east meadow assumes the top spot on the lISBT in the Junior Scratch division. and even if he did, who would blame him? the young man from east meadow had been nothing less then brilliant on the lISBT since day 1. however, this past week, wodzinski was gunning for his FOURTH consecutive title on the LISBT this year ALONE. wodzinski however could not have imagined what was in store for him this past friday night.

For starters, anthony desaro, port jeff station, was making his first appearance this year on the LISBT. the former LISBT Champion of 2002 knows how to win and the handsome young man has a bit of an edge to him as well. in addition to desaro, jack castellano, centereach was making HIS first appearance and as far as edges go, he is as sharp as they come, especially on the suffolk HS bowling scene. both bowlers had a little something to say on the lanes about how the events of the night would play out.

desaro was magnificent in qualifying. after opening with a 222 in game 1, desaro then delivered back to back 279's in games 2 & 3 giving him a 780 front 3. he finished the night with a 201 giving him a 981 (245.24) for the 4 game qualifier.

after game 3, things were starting to look bleak for wodzinski to win his 4th tournament in a row. the rugged right hander was having a "good" night by standards, 675 for 3, but so were 6 others ahead of him. castellano was sitting in the 2 spot at 693, derek vandervoort, mastic beach was sitting in the 3 spot at 689, cheryl drusin, holbrook was sitting in 4 at 679 and noel ocasio, patchogue was in the 5 seed at 676. Louis Dalessio, sound beach was ahead of wodzinski in the 6th spot at 676. to make matters even more difficult for wodzinski was the fact that billy shannon, commack was 8th at 670. with desaro cruising at 780 for 3, if wodzinski were to make the finals, something was going to have to go his way. and what better way to have things go YOUR way then to take care of things yourself?! I guess that is the way he looked at it. Wodzinski rolled a 276 in game 4 and he nervously had to wait on the sidelines for the results of his competitors of game 4.

vandervoort did everything he could do to help himself by rolling a 243 in game 4 and indeed earned himself a birth into the shotgun round. jack castellano, on the strenght of a 225 in game 4 FELL to the 4th spot but managed to survive the cut. the other bowlers mentioned all came in with respectable scores, however, wodzinski DID wind up helping himself and found him sitting in the 2 seed and advancing to the shotgun as well. what was about to transpire may never be seen again on the LISBT. And once again...it was the "kids" who thrilled the crowd of supporters who were cheering them on every ball of the way.

one could possibly give derek vandervoort the benefit of the doubt and excuse the talented bowler from mastic beach for his rather disappointing 160 in the shotgun. the 160 certainly wasnt planned by derek. however, he may have been caught up with the action on the lanes he was bowling on. mike wodzinski seemed to catch a breath of fresh air with his entry into the semifinals. he looked poised and ready to rock and roll as he opened the game with a double. jack castellano on the other hand opened the game in good fashion with a strike and a spare. Wodzinski would go 9-spare in frame 3 and castellano would go strike in the same frame. from that point on....there would be no more attempts at spares for the rest of this game. from frame 4, wodzinski would throw the next 8 strikes, while castellano was with him every step of the way...matching him strike for strike. as a matter of fact, wodzinski threw the last ball of the match that resulted in a 9 count giving him a 278 for the gamef. however, the 10th frame that wodzinski was rolling in frame 10 turned out to be meaningless. castellano had already finished his game and had rolled a 280! wodzinski, being the great competitor and champion he is, rolled the 10th frame with effort and class knowing full well that he was done for the night despite the possibility he could strike out for a 279. he "settleed" for a  278. 558 between the two bowlers. simply amazing. the great part about it was one bowler, and a great competitor in castellano, was advancing to the finals. the sad part about it was one bowler was done for the evening even though he had just bowled a 278. as mentioned however last week in the recap from east islip, you cannot win all the time in sports. no one has, no one will. however, it was also mentioned that something, someone special was going to have to "take" the crown from Wodzinski. for jack castellano, mission accomplished.

Hold on...hold on though..... one more match to go! and im not even half over yet....still got the adult handicap and the adult scratch to report on.....

Poppa Z conitnuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuues.............

Tony desaro, the squad leader must have felt like he was following ELVIS as he stepped onto the stage that happened to be lanes 49/50 at sayville bowl. How was Desaro going to follow THAT act that had just gone stage left! castellano was coming off a 280 and desaro must have seen the look of all looks in the face of castellano. afterall, these two bowlers compete against each other on a weekly basis at port jeff lanes. if anyone knew what he was in for, it was desaro knowing full well that a truck was headed in his direction in castellano for the finals.

the two bowlers came out like heavyweight prize fighters. carefully feeling each other out, taking care of business and not allowing the other one to hurt him if he could. however, what could have been called a "Free for All' just one game earlier, could now be called "who is going to make the mistake...me or you". Both bowlers were protecting the pocket and converting the spares. castellano, finishing first, completed his game for a 192. however, desaro was not out of the woods. he needed 19 pins in frame 10 to tie and 20  to win. on his first ball in frame 10, desaro left a 10 pin that he needed to convert. he converted the 10 pin and it was now 9 ties, 10 wins and 8 causes nausia and a trip straight home without stopping at Mcdonalds along the way. desaro preferred the second option. he carried all the pins on his last shot of the night, rolled a 193 and the two competitors from port jeff gave each other a nice hug while the crowd of parents, friends and remaining bowlers gave them a very nice reception.

Junior Scratch Division qualifying Highlights (200+/800+): Tony desaro, port jeff station 279/981, mike wodzkinski, east meadow 276/951, derek vandervoort, mastic beach 252/932, jack castellano, centereach 245/918, cheryl drusin, holbrook 257/895, billy shannon, commack 245/889, louis dalessio, sound beach 237/846, noel ocasio, patchogue 256/843, tom scherrer, holtsville 255/839, philip demeri, west babylon 247/828, corey hirt, mastic beach 216, rJ Gocinski, coram 237, chris jove, port jeff 234, pete smith, brentwood 222, dave sulzer, bohemia 225 and amy bohlerber, miller place 200

what a night for the kids. what a night. i love it when that happens.

the adult handicap division came down to see josh bowl, see josh win. simple as that.

Josh noble, bayport led from start to finish in the qualifying round by jumping out to with  232 scratch in game 1 and finishing the night with a 244 in game 4. along the way during qualifying, 9 other bowlers would find themself in the top 5 spots at one point or another at the conclusion of every game. in the end however, it was chris buckley jr, farmingville 1035 in 2nd, ricky wrage jr, selden 1005 in 3rd and edward walsh, ronkonkoma 1002 holding down spot #4. bowlers at one point or another that were in 5th or better during the night included joe nuzzi, farmingdale, marco troise, wading river, ralph marino, west islip, ron cammarata, sayville and brian lifschin, sayville.

in the shotgun game, ricky wrage jr 258 would easily defeat Edward Walsh, Ronkonkoma 215 and Chris Buckley Jr, Farmingville 204 and earn himself trip #2 into the finals on the LISBT for the summer tour and a possible championship #2 as well (Babylon may 23).

the championship game between wrage and noble turned out just like the championship game in the junior handicap division. neither bowler showed an eagerness to be aggressive and take the match into his own hands. for wrage, that is an unusual approach. wrage on the lISBT has shown a certain aggression on the lanes that is to be respected by all his opponents. however, on friday night, both bowlers in the championship match seemed to be favoring the opponent to make the crucial mistake. with noble finishing last for the evening, he needed to throw a 9 count on two balls to earn his first victory as an adult on the LISBT. and 9 pins is what he got. he wound up missing the 10 pin on his lasat shot of the evening, however, it turned out to be just enough as he defeated wrage jr, 194-193.

Adult handicap Division qualifying Highlights (225+/825+): josh noble, bayport 244/873, chris buckley jr, farmingville 226/843, ricky wrage jr, selden 237/829, edward walsh, ronkonkoma 247, joe nuzzi, farmingdale 258/904, ed vandervoort, moriches 237/848, marco troise, wading river 225, brian lifschin, sayville 232, ralph marino, west islip 232, ron cammarata, sayville 234, gary lindahl, ridge 231, nicholas baialardo, farmingville 246/833, dom geraci, farmingville 256/827, rudy small, brentwood 235 and cynthia zagorski, fairfield 234

and BENNY WONG.....CELEBRATED HIS BIRTHDAY! BENNY WAS EITHER 85, 95 or 105. DONT KNOW. WHATEVER. :o)

the adult scratch division produced the nights closest action. Three bowlers made strong bids to come from way back in the pack to earn a trip into the seme finals. however, only one was able to accomplish the feat.

paul molnar, commack found himself looking up at a lot of paper after game 1 this past friday night. molnar, a past champion of the LISBT nearly blew his whole wad of gum by rolling a 187 to open the night. his place after 1? try 26th. stacey bokina, peconic, faired slightly better but found herself in 22 with a 212. molnar however finished the night with a very strong 736 back 3 giving him a 923 for the night while bokina was equally as impressive with a 705 back 3 herself. Kevin O'Keefe, Brentwood, started the night with a 205 and found himself in 24th place after 1. O'keefe added a 705 back 3 and finished the night with a very impressive 277 in game 4. however, as the story is playing out this summer on the LISBT, that one extra strike or lack of it is either helping players advance into the finals or simply killing them. depends on how you look at it. bokina finished 6 pins back in 6th with a 917 for the night. while O'keefe was at 913, 8 pins off the pace. one bowler who was in the top 5 all night long but couldnt crack the shotgun round was pete ruiz selden. ruiz rolled a 921 finishing just 2 pins off the pace. wonder how many "Whatifs" were thrown around by those particular 3 bowlers on the way home?

while molnar, bokina, O'Keefe and ruiz were battling for survival this past friday night, frank kase, deer park was on cruise control. the quiet but very talented kase pounded his competition in qualifying with a strong showing rolling games of 268,238,279 and 206 giving him a 991 for the night. in second place was alex cavagnaro, north massapequa celebrating his 19th birthday at 953 and matt traina, farmingdale at 924. it would be cavagnaro, traina and molnar into the shotgun.

the week prior at east islip may have been etched into the mind of cavagnaro this past friday night. afterall, it was molnar who bumped cavagnaro out of contention for the semifinals by jumping him in game 4 in east islip. whether cavagnaro remembered or whether he did not remember was not the issue. what WAS the issue that cavagnaro was not going to be bumped on this night...at least not in the semifinals. cavagnaro went on the defeat traina and molnar, 235-217 to 197. cavagnaro would now meet up with Kase for the championship.

frank kase was bowling in his 2nd ever LISBT. his first tournament was in the 5-game marathon that opened up the LISBT in babylon on may 23. while perhaps cavagnaro remembered molnar from the week before, kase was still lingering over his loss to scott tietler in the finals in babylon. afterall, it was kase who left the door wide open for tietler to win the event. kase opened in the 10th that night in the championship game that left the game tied (Tietler would go on to win the rolloff). kase seemed to be more upset with himself as opposed to any one particular event that transpired that night. If kase came down to sayville to right the ship...well....he righted the ship! and boy did he right the ship!

while cavagnaro in the championship game left every possible one pin spare imaginable for a right handed bowler (4 pins, 8 pins, 10 pins), kase picked up where he left off in the qualifying round and simply took advantage of cavagnaro not being able to carry. he went on to defeat cavagnaro 239-191. kase, being the sport and gentleman that he is did not want to finish the match after cavagnaro had finished first and was still short in pin count to defeat him, was encouraged by co-director Poppa Z to "finish the match off and finish a great night for himself and for the sport". Kase finsished the night with a 20 count in frame 10 to his credit. the two fierce competitors in kase and cavagnaro shook hands and the rest they say.....is history.

for kase, the victory was sweet. "The babylon tournament just didnt sit right with me after it was over. sometimes, in the heat of battle, we can interpret things in our own mind and they really arent what they seem.". kase added "I had a great night tonight". he then smiled somewhat and said "and i won. feels good."

I guess we can say....KASE CLOSED?! yeah.....KASE CLOSED!    

Adult Scratch Division qualifying Highlights (250+/850+): frank kase, deer park 279/991, alex cavagnaro, north massapequa 953, matt traina, farmingdale 258/924, paul molnar, commack 923, pete ruiz, selden 921, william d'angelo, coram 254/917, stacey bokina, peconic 257/917, kevin o'keefe, brentwood 277/913, christina schultz, williston park 895, jim calamia, centereach 258/891, jay marine, selden 885, craig lindahl, ridge 884, john ciccarelli, port jeff 871, john scarpulla, smithtown 869, matt sulzer, bohemia 869, brian nielsen, levittown 278/867, bruce nielsen, levittown 257/853 and joe durso, middle island 256

Recapping the action for sayville:

Adult Scratch Division:  

Semi Final game: Alex Cavagnaro, North Massapequ 235 defeated Matt Traina, Farmingdale 217 And Paul Molnar, Commack 197

Championship game: Frank Kase, Deer Park defeated Cavagnaro 239-191               

Adult handicap division: 

Semi Final game: Ricky Wrage Jr, Selden 258 defeated Edward Walsh, Ronkonkoma 215 and Chris Buckley Jr, Farmingville 204

Championship Game: Josh Noble, Bayport defeated Wrage Jr 194-193

Junior hdcp division:

semi final game: Ed Gocinski, Coram 258 Defeated Mike Komorowski, Mastic Beach 250 And Taylor Stewart, Bayport 225

Championship Game: John Devito, Bayport Defeated Gocinski 249-239

Junior Scratch division:

Semi Final game: Jack Castellano, Centereach 280 defeated Mike Wodzinski, East Meadow 278 and Derek Vandervoort, Mastic Beach 160

Championship Game: Tony Desaro, Miller Place 193 Defeated Castellano 193-192

a total of 98 Bowlers participated. 

Next Stop: SMITHTOWN BOWL, 631-265-0121, June 27, 2003 7:45 PM!

(Register Here For SMITHTOWN - CLICK!)

300 game incentives for SMITHTOWN BOWL , June 27

Adults: $145.00 plus $1.00 per adult entry!

Juniors: $64.00 Plus $1.00 per junior entry!

Standings after Qualifying

Payout