Long Island Summer Bowling Tour!

"A few players were kidding me about it (300 game) around the 5th frame. By the 7th frame though, It got pretty quiet. Tommy kept me relaxed though."

- Rory Vanderbilt -

Click Here For A2Z Record Highs Page!

sayville NY, june 4, 2004

tournament number two for the LIBST 2004 featured a record field of 144 bowlers along with some of the greatest comebacks the LISBT has ever seen in the qualifying rounds. In addition, a junior bowler won for the second consecutive week while a different junior bowler rolled a 300 game. an adult bowler came thisclose to a perfect game and oh yes, we forgot to mention. being in 20th place after 3 games apparently doesnt bother some "bohlebers"...eh....bowlers...sorry!

Vito Genova, franklin square, john porter bayshore, joe tumbarello, kings park and steve kuehne, patchogue all took home top honors this past week as the LISBT visited sayville bowl in the record setting event.

genova led the junior scratch divsion from start to finish in the qualifying rounds and went on to defeat patrick cooley, east islip in the championship game. cooley however, was part of two stories that un-folded this past friday night. cooley, along with nick windschuh, ronkonkoma and anthony desaro, port jeff displayed a ton of collective poise that carried them into the shotgun round when in fact, neither of them was even seeded in the top 4 positions after game 3. windschuh went from 6th after 3 to 2nd after 4 following a very clutch 266 in game 4, not to be outdone, desaro was even more impressive claiming the 3rd spot based on the strength of his 276 to climb from the 8th seed. the biggest jump however belonged to cooley. seeded 11th after 3 and 49 pins from the 4th and final spot to the shotgun, cooley nailed a 260 finishing for a total wood count of 908. 6 pins behind and finishing 5th was multi-A2Z champion mike wodzinski, east meadown 902, followed by gary haines, west babylon 900 then adam sher, commack 899. pete smith, brentwood was in the hunt at 885 as well.

the individual highlight of the evening went to rory vanderbilt, east northport. vanderbilt, admitting he was "playing out the string" in game 4 and in addition "already thinking about going home and calling it a night", really didnt have much going for him this past friday night. although he managed a 569 through 3, it was far below his 200+ average. vanderbilt offered no excuses and simply stated "it was all on me. really, i had nothing going. the shot was there, however i just couldnt get anything going".

by the time game 4 came around however, vanderbilt never once thought about quitting. how could he? he was a member of the 2004 suffolk county HS Champions Commack boys varsity bowling team. a team that also finished second at "The States".

instead of packing it in, vanderbilt did what any great bowler would do. finish out the string as strong as you can and if possible, learn something in the process. what vanderbilt did was simple, "I changed equipment. I really had nothing to lose at that point in time". vanderbilt started with a sting of strikes and by frame 7, he still had not attempted a second shot in any frame. "A few players were kidding me about it (300 game) around the 5th frame. By the 7th frame though, It got pretty quiet.".

as the string of strikes continued through the 9th frame, vanderbilt was "pretty relaxed to tell the truth. Tommy Scherrer, a good friend of mine kept me relaxed and encouraged. he was really cool about the whole thing and it really helped". it should be noted scherrer won the junior scratch event last week at east islip.

vanderbilt was telling the truth. he patiently and as relaxed as one could be, threw 3 flush hits in the 10th frame to complete his 5th career sanctioned 300 game.

thirty minutes prior to the last ball of his 300 game, vanderbilt was also telling the truth simply because he WAS headed home because he was not one of the top 4 to advance to the finals. However, unlike a half hour earlier, vanderbilt was leaving with $161.00 dollars towards his college tuition next fall at Briarcliffe college. the $161.00 was the bonus fund for a junior 300 game.

Pete smith collected $40.00 for his hit in the "8 in a row" fund for the juniors! Great job pete!

the junior handicap division was won by john porter, bay shore. porter captured his second consecutive title by winning the shotgun round and then defeated top seed matt dobbins, yaphank. the road however for porter was not an easy one.

porter would find himself in a tough position in the elimination game simply because 2-time A2Z champion ryan kase, deer park and former A2Z Champion as well paul nevadomski jr, west babylon would not let him off so easy. while nevadomski finished 4th for the event he still managed a very solid 234 with handicap in the "win and your in" game. porter though was seriously challenged by kase. when the dust has settled however, porter found himself on the long end of a 276-268 score. kase would settle for third. porter however was just warming up.

matt dobbins did everything he could just short of underneath the sun to defeat porter. dobbins in fact ended the championship game with a 247 with handicap. Porter however wasnt being just stubborn, he was being downright nasty great. porter finished dobbins off with a tremendous 294 in capturing his back to back title! peter briguglio, massapequa rounded out the "cashers" for the junior handicap division.

if the way the night ended for junior bowlers rory vanderbilt and quite possibly patrick cooley didnt impress you. please consider the following for the adult scratch division.

ed downey, brooklyn was headed for an early dismissal this past friday night as he stood 10th after 3 games at 672, 20 pins and 6 bowlers off the pace if he were to jump into the shotgun round in order to prolong his night. multi-a2Z champion pete bohleber, miller place was all alone by his lonesome self in 20th place after game 3 at 661, 31 pins back and sixteen bowler to jump in order to compete for the championship title.

not an issue. really. some things just arent too difficult!

bohleber tapped out in game 4 with a 268/929 that jumped him 18 spots all the way to the number two seed. downey rolled a 256/928 in game 4 to seed himself in the 3rd position as well. in the meantime, aJ fragola, east patchogue 225/923 in game 4 and ken leclaire, hauppauge 224/923 in game 4 tied for the 4th spot. for the first time in A2Z shotgun history, four bowlers would advance into the semi-final round, winner to meet leader joe tumbarello, kings park 953.

the shotgun game stayed competitive for awhile as all bowlers came out "hitting". however, one by one, bohleber 185, downey 178 and leclaire 202 all took turns finding trouble. fragola on the other hand was on a roll. in fact, fragola was on such a roll, that a gutter ball on his last shot of the game (he lost the ball on his upswing), did not impact the match at all. fragola would go on to roll a 257 and meet up with tumbarello in the finals.

fragola vs tumbarello was a great, tough hit match. each bowler finding the strength to get a hit when they needed one however at the same time, neither bowler able to get that double. un-lucky hits followed both bowlers. if frame 8 however, the un-kindest hit of them all paid a visit to fragola. the left-handed fragola could not have placed the ball any better in the pocket the hit was that clean. however, fragola left a stone 8 pin. a truly tough hit for a left-handed bowler. fragola would cover the spare but it was at that point in time you could feel the match turn. still however, fragola was in good position. fragola finishing first and on the left lane finished with a 208. in doing so, tumbarello needed a double and count to win. tumbarello slowly and patiently delivered the first two strikes and needed just count to put the match away. doing as any established bowler would do, the right handed tumbarello moved far left and threw as straight a shot to the head pin he could deliver. however, the ball moved slightly left and tumbarello left "half a loaf" on the deck, the 1-3-5-6-10, and all eyes in the center stared in disbelief, as some not sure of the wood count tumbarello needed to shut fragola out. when the score indicated 209, you could almost hear the sigh coming from tumbarello along with the rest of the "you gotta be kidding me" quotes coming from the remaining spectators. Poppa Z however quoted the famous frank Barrone line of "Everybody loves raymond" fame: "Holy crap. a half of a loaf. Wow"!

Cant make this stuff up... just cant.

Congrats to Joe tumbarello. a well earned, but entertaining finish for sure!

steve kuehne, patchogue has been bowling on and off for the last few years now on the A2Z/LISBT, mostly in the adult handicap divsion. never one to complain about shots, bad hits, tough breaks. if anyone understands the nature of the game and how things even out it is kuehne. the patchogue native however takes it one step beyond. he appreciates the game and what the game has meant to him during his life.

"I have been working on my game for a long time now. Ricky papandrea and sanday catalano are really an inspiration to me". kuehne continues, "Sandy being here tonight means allot to me. he has kept me focused and he truly is a great person and teacher. They both know how important this game is for me".

the results substantiate the remarks made by kuehne.

Kuehne averaged a whopping 242.75 for the 4-game qualifier and easily distanced himself from the field with a 1087 with handicap. in second was melissa dichiara, blue point 1054 followed by david reed, aquebogue 1054 and michael cantwell, rocky point, 1031. two pins back of qualifying 4th was james graebner, shirley 1029.

in the shotgun round, perhaps it was reed who had the highest incentive to advance. a week earlier, reed had captured tournament number 1 at east islip in the same division. could championship number two be had on this night? well, for starters, dichiara and cantwell, although rolling respectable games of 219 and 215 respectively, came up a little short. reed was a bit tough on the two bowlers as he finished with a 251. title number two was well within reaching distance for reed. nobody notified kuehn though that this was supposed to be reeds night.

Kuehne opened up with strike...after strike....after strike....after strike. by the time kuehne stopped rolling strikes, it was now a matter of exactly how high he could go. as the 10th frame approached and reed 219 obviously done for the night, reed displayed a very sportsmanlike vote of confidence for kuehne to finish the night off well. and kuehne did just that. kuehne doubled up in frame 10, then got count and finished with a 264 scratch and a 293 with handicap. reed and kuehne exchanged kind words to each other and each had a pat on the back for the other.

"Stevie Boy Wonder" as nicknamed by Poppa Z went home a champion! Somehow we dont think David Reed minded all that much.

The night ended on a great note for bob maglione, bayport. maglione came within a 2-5 leave in a bid for a 300 game during game 4 of qualifying. The 3300 game for the adults is in tact for north levittown. the "8 in a row" fund was split between AJ Fragoloa and Michael Cantwell at $36.50 each 

what a night....what an event....... what a great two weeks this has been for sure! and the best is yet to come! 

Catchya all next week at north Levittown!

"A" and "Z"!  

Sayville Bowl Qualifying Highlights (Scratch Series Order)

Junior Handicap Division qualifying highlights (200+/800+):

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Junior Scratch Division qualifying Highlights (200+/800+):

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Adult handicap Division qualifying Highlights (200+/800+):

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adult Scratch Division qualifying Highlights (200+/800+):

Recapping the action for sayville:

Adult Scratch Division:  

shotgun round: AJ Fragola, patchogue 257 defeated ken leclaire, hauppauge 202 , Pete Bohleber, Miller Place 185 and Ed Downey, Brooklyn 178

Championship game: joe tumbarello, kings park defeated fragola 209-208               

Adult handicap division: 

shotgun round: david reed, aquebogue 251 defeated melissa dichiara, bayport 219 and michael cantwell, rocky point 215

Championship Game: steve kuehn, patchogue defeated reed 293-216

Junior hdcp division:

shotgun round: john porter, bay shore, 273 defeated ryan kase, deer park 268 and paul nevadomski, west babylon 234

Championship Game: john porter, bay shore defeated matt dobbins, yaphank 294-247

Junior Scratch division:

shotgun round: patrick cooley, east islip 256 defeated anthony desaro, port jeff 246  and nicholas windschuh, ronkonkoma 212

Championship Game: vito genova, franklin square Defeated cooley 203-181

a total of 144 Bowlers participated. 

Next Stop: north levittown lanes, 516-735-3900

june 11, 2004 8:00 PM!

(Register Here For north levittown - CLICK!)

300 game incentives for north levittown

Adults: $241.00 plus $1.00 per adult entry!

Juniors: $0.00 plus $1.00 per junior entry!

Standings after Qualifying