Long Island Summer Bowling Tour!

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Garden city nY, august 22, 2003

The LISBT visited Garden City bowl this past friday. 82 bowlers participated in the event that paid out close to $2300.00 in collective prize and scholarship money. one bowler won for the third time this summer. 3 bowlers were crowned champions for the first time. as cyndi lauper would say "Girls just want to have fun"! 

RJ gocinski, coram finally broke into the top 4 this past Friday night in the junior handicap division. Gocinski has been the victim of some bad breaks during the year that has essentially stalled him in gaining entry into the finals. Gocinski however has also been part of the excitement on the LISBT 2003. gocinski flirted with a perfect game in our last visit to smithtown just a few short weeks ago. Gocinski rolled the first 10 strikes and was haulted only by a stubborn 10-pin on shot #11. obviously, the young man knows how to bowl.

Gocinski earned the top seed this past week by rolling games of 194, 238, 245 and 185. with handicap he totaled 982. seeded second and also enjoying a nice summer on the LISBT 2003 was Robert matz also of coram. Matz, making his second consecutive appearance in the finals used the strength of his 224 scratch in game three that helped push his total with handicap to 974. seeded third and making her second trip into the final rounds was Karen girolamo, Shirley at 948. rounding out the top 4 bowlers for the evening was Joshua roca, new hyde park who finished at 940. finishing a distance 5^th was aaron ryan, selden at 918. matz, girolamo and roca to the shotgun. Gocinski would sit out and wait for the winner.

The shotgun game for the most part was very competitive and fun for the junior bowlers. all 3 bowlers staying in the hunt till the end. Girolamo 230 however finished strong at the end and went on to defeat matz 203 and roca 199 to gain entry into the finals vs gocinski.

In the championship game, both gocinski and girolamo came out on all cylinders. Girolamo had the look of a very confident young lady and was very strong in her delivery. Gocinski didn’t show signs of weakness either. Both bowlers were outstanding. However, just as girolamo had done one match earlier, she separated herself from gocinski late in the game and went on to defeat him 257-221. for girolamo it was her first ever title on the LISBT. She also became the first female to win the title in this division in 2003. Girolamo earned $125.00 for the night, while gocinski collected a very nice “paycheck” of $75.00 for continued education past High School. Cant beat that!

Junior Handicap Division qualifying highlights (200+/800+): RJ Gocinski, coram 245/862, robert matz, coram 224, karen girolamo, shirley 212, aaron ryan, selden 209, jason cornacchio, shirley 209, timothy burns, coram 217, jim kavanaugh, ridge 204 and matt kingsepp, miller place 201

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In the junior scratch division, an old familiar face was on the scene this past week at garden city. Vito genova, franklin square. The last time the LISBT 2003 was at garden city in early june, genova rolled the only 300 game that the LISBT has seen this year in the junior division. It was also on that night of june 6, 2003 that genova would break the LISBT all-time high 4 game scratch series for the junior scratch division with a 1001. do you think this young man knows a thing or two about this game? Well, he certainly performed well again this past Friday.

Genova rolled games of 240, 211,  236 and 242 to gain the top seed in the junior scratch division at 929. genova easily outdistanced his competition and certainly earned the first round bye into the finals. Qualifying second and recovering from a tough prior week at east islip was louis dalessio, sound beach at 868. also at 868 was Anthony tretolo, mineola gaining entry into his first LISBT of 2003. qualifying 4^th and for what seems to be just an automatic these days as far as finals go was jack castellano, centereach at 867.

In the shotgun round, castellano once again had trouble gaining momentum for himself. Castellano wasn’t “ugly” as bowlers call it, it was just he couldn’t find a way to throw the string of strikes he needed to in order to stay in the hunt with dalessio and tretolo. Dalessio and tretolo on the other hand were engaged in a battle of halves. As in “you can win the first half if I can win the second half”. Dalessio threw the first 5 strikes of the shotgun game and appeared to be in control of the match and well on his way into the finals. Tretolo on the other hand was doing just enough to keep himself in the match. The match however turned in tretolo’s favor curtious of a miscue by dalessio. After dalessio’s string of strikes ended on the first ball in the 6^th, on dalessio’s second shot, the young man from sound beach either lost his footing or stuck on the approach and fouled on his fill ball. At that point in time, tretolo knew right then and there his opportunity was knocking. And boy did he answer the door.

Tretolo would finish the match with the last 6 strikes while dalessio just couldn’t muster that last double to finish tretolo off. Perhaps it was the mishap in frame 6 that put dalessio on the defense, or perhaps it was just tretolo himself and the string of strikes he had to gain momentum is what did dalessio in. regardless of why, the only thing that mattered was tretolo outscored dalessio 240-234 to earn the “right” to face genova in the final game.

The final game had “high scoring” written all over it. Only sometimes, what is written “aint” always what is. Both genova and tretolo were average at best in the championship game. Neither bowler indicating that one was ready to break out and leave the other. In the end however, genova’s years of experience carried him over the top as he bagged his first title on the LISBT 2003 by defeating tretolo 215-194.

The victory for genova must have been sweet. Genova has averaged 227 in two prior finals this year on the LISBT only to come up short and finish second both times. On this night however, 215 was enough to earn the title. He played the lanes the way he had to and got the job done. Sometimes, that’s what you gotta do!

Good job by Genova and all the competitors for the evening.  

junior Scratch Division qualifying Highlights (200+/800+): vito genova, franklin square 242/929, louis dalessio, sound beach 243/868, anthony tretolo, mineola 238/868, jack castellano, centereach 234/867, pete smith, brentwood 267/836, ed barton, east moriches 227/823, david ryan, selden 235/819, michael yamond, east northport 222/805, gary ricci, staten island 211, doug feldman, copiague 205, jenn marmo, north babylon 215, jerome dietz, mastic 204, cheryl drusin, holbrook 200 and corey hirt, mastic beach 205

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the adult handicap division this past friday night certainly had movement in the standings both early and late. gail brunner, baiting hallow, made the first move of the night that certainly had an impact on things to come. brunner, seeded 17th after game 1, shot a 266 scratch in game 2. with handicap the second game totaled 313 for brunner and leaped her all the way to the top seed after two games. brunner actually fell to the second seed after the third game behind vito genova, franklin square, but quickly regrouped and took over the number one seed for the 4-game qualifier and finished with a 1024 with handicap. genova on the other hand finished second for the night in the opening round by firing a 1003. seeded third and making his first appearance on the LISBT in 2003 was mike cantwell, rocky point. cantwell put together 3 games over average for the night and finished with a 984 to earn the third seed. the number four seed is exactly where the biggest move of the night was made.

the fourth and final seed went to 2003 Smithtown LISBT champ jennifer paxson, patchogue. paxson climbed all the way out of the 10th spot after 3 games up to the 4th and final spot on the strength of her 215 scratch in game 4. with handicap, paxson rolled a 289 with handicap. it was the second straight week a bowler on the LISBT had come from way back of the pack to climb into the shotgun round in game 4. john ramsey, holbrook climbed the latter from 18th place into the finals one week ago at east islip. hey, you never know. the drama however was not over for paxson. in fact, this was just the start of the script for her. cashing but not advancing to the final rounds bill gocinski, coram 967 and theresa castellano, centereach 950.

in the shotgun game, paxson, genova and cantwell would lock horns with the winner advancing to the finals vs brunner. genova simply couldnt get untracked. he struggled badly and finished the elimination game with a 180. cantwell and paxson however were engaged in a very competitive and clutch game. cantwell was fantastic and finished out the shotgun round with a 240. paxson on the other hand was doing just enough to stay ahead of cantwell and faced just a spare and you are in situation in frame 10. the righthanded paxson delivered her first shot in the 10th frame and the ball entered the pocket seemingly at a good angle. however, as is the case in this sport, looks doesn't  matter, reallity does. paxson was staring at the 4-9 strikesplit. paxson was also staring at convert 1-pin for a tie or covert the spare outright, and she advances to the finals vs brunner.

well, while most bowlers would be willing to take their chances with the 2-frame roll-off and shoot for the 1-pin and get count, paxson felt otherwise. paxson lined up on the approach and it was obvious to all she was going to give the 4-9 a ride. to her credit paxson converted the 4-9 split, filled 10 on her last shot and won the game 251-240 over cantwell. the stage was set for an all female finals.

brunner came onto the championship pair and looked ready. you could say very ready. while both ladies opened the game in good fashion by filling with marks, brunner slowly but steadily started to pull away from paxson through the middle frames. brunner at 177 and 30 pins higher in entering average then paxson was covering her spares and throwing strikes in between. paxson on the other hand lost the consistency she had from the prior two games and was digging a hole she would never get out of. brunner went on to defeat paxson 268-199 and claim the title and earn the title 2003 LISBT Champion, a title that paxson already has herself. two ladies, two champions.

to put it mildly and into perspective for genova and cantwell: Nice try guys! better luck next time! :o) 

Adult handicap Division qualifying Highlights (225+/825+): gail brunner, baiting hallow 266/836, vito genova, franklin square 258/915, bill gocinski, coram 242/867, patti dealy, selden 234, jason alexander, mastic beach 269/830 and melissa dichiara, blue point 244

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In the adult scratch division this past friday night, the 4 bowlers that reached the finals have been there before this year on the LISBT. Two bowlers, Pete bohleber, miller place and brad ross, st james are champions of the LISBT 2003 as well. bohleber a 2-time champion and ross has won once. In fact, ross was trying to become a back-to-back winner based on his victory at east islip on august 15.

the star of the qualifying round this past friday night at garden city was alex cavagnaro, north massapequa. Cavagnaro started the qualifying round in an explosive manner. in fact, he had just about an entire enterage of competing bowlers behind his lanes as he started the 10th frame. cavagnaro had the front 9 and was now in position to earn an additional $544.00 in the 300 club fund for the adult bowlers on the LISBT. He flushed the pocket on his first shot in the 10th. however, on his 11th shot, his ball jumped a little to deep into the pocket and he left the 4-9 strike split. he finished game one with a 287 and never looked back. cavagnaro rolled games of 258,248 (793 front 3) and 209 to give him a total of 1002 for the evening and sole possession of first place after the 4 game qualifying round. the 1002 ranks 5th (tie) on the all time high 4 game block in the adult handicap division. His 287 also cracked the top 20 as well. click our "Records Page" at the top of this webpage to access our all-time records on the LISBT tour.

qualifying 2nd for the evening was 2-time LISBT 2003 champion Pete Bohleber. bohleber put together a very solid effort with a 971 for the 4-game round. in third, and attempting to win back-to-back titles was brad ross at 967. qualifying 4th and making his 2nd trip into the finals this summer was wayne kimble , roosevelt at 947. finishing at 900 or better and not qualifying were phillip marks, staten island 907, 2-time LISBT champion Frank Kase, deer park 905 and 2-time LISBT Champion 2003 craig lindahl, ridge 903.

the shotgun round of bohleber, ross and kimble turned into a one-sided affair. bohleber was simply brilliant in rolling a 277. kimble was very respectable with a 224 and ross would finish the night in 4th place as he went on to roll a 217. bohleber and cavagnaro to the finals. it should be also noted that bohleber and cavagnaro were paired with each other during qualifying.

the championship game was rolled on pair 13 and 14. and lane 13 would turn out to be the beast for cavagnaro that did him in for the night. cavagnaro simply could not carry lane 13. bohleber however was as strong as could be and started the match with the front 5. it was in frame 6 however, that the match could have swung in favor of cavagnaro. in the 6th frame, bohleber failed to convert the 3-10 baby split. cavagnaro, with a strike up on 14 was now in position to make way back into the match if he could through a bomb on 13 on his next shot. well, he didnt throw a bomb, but he must have felt like throwing a hand grenade on the lane after he just stonewalled a 10 pin on his first shot. once again, lane 13 just did not co-operate for cavagnaro when he needed it most. for the most part, bohleber was in conrol for the rest of the match. cavagnaro eventually threw a strike on lane 13, however, it was too little too late as bohleber simply needed to mark in frame 10 and he did, completing the win 235-230. bohleber is now a 3-time champion on the LISBT 2003.

It was a few short weeks ago when this website poked a little fun at bohleber for his habit of finishing 2nd. we also mentioned the fact the walter ray williams of the PBA has his share of seconds as well, but has become one of the most elite bowlers in the history of the PBA with his 37 titles. while we are not suggesting bohleber is on par with williams, we are suggesting that by rolling consistant high games like he has will eventually even things up. for bohleber things have certainly evened up. for cavagnaro, lets just say he has some evening up to do on lane 13 at garden city bowl his next time in there. chances are next time, the only one left standing wont be a 10-pin. it will be cavagnaro.  

adult Scratch Division qualifying Highlights (225+/825+): alex cavagnaro, north massapequa 287/1002, pete bohleber, miller place 277/971, brad ross, st james 267/967, wayne kimble, roosevelt 278/947, phillip marks, staten island 254/907, frank kase, deer park 247/905, craig lindahl, ridge 257/903, bruce nielsen, levittown 269/898, paul molnar, commack 267/879, matt cabble, miller place 226/832, liz field, mastic beach 825, tom coraci, shirley 241 and kevin sosnicki, shirley 234

Recapping the action for Garden City:

Adult Scratch Division:  

shotgun round: pete bohleber, miller place 277 defeated wayne kimble, roosevelt 224 And Brad Ross, St James 217

Championship game: bohleber defeated alex cavagnaro, north massapequa 235-230               

Adult handicap division: 

shotgun round: jennifer paxson, patchogue 251 defeated mike cantwell, rocky point 240 and vito genova, franklin square 180

Championship Game: gail brunner, baiting hollow defeated paxson 268-199

Junior hdcp division:

shotgun round:  karen girolamo, shirley 230 Defeated robert matz, coram 203 and joshua rocco, new hyde park 199

Championship Game: girolamo Defeated rJ Gocinski, coram 257-221

Junior Scratch division:

shotgun round: anthony tretolo, mineola 240 defeated louis dalessio, sound beach 234 and jack castellano, centereach 200

Championship Game: vito genova, franklin square Defeated tretolo 215-194

a total of 82 Bowlers participated. 

Next Stop: SEASON FINALE SAYVILLE BOWL August 29, 2003 7:45 PM!

(Register Here For SAYVILLE  - CLICK!)

300 game incentives for SAYVILLE!

Adults: $544.00 plus $1.00 per adult entry!

Juniors: $314.00 Plus $1.00 per junior entry!

Standings after Qualifying