Long Island Summer Bowling Tour!

"It was just a special night. It was truly the best bowling night of my life."

- Vinny Zambito -

Click Here For A2Z Record Highs Page!

smithtown, june 18, 2004

As the saying goes, "good things happen to those that wait". For Vinny Zambito, shirley and RJ Gocinski, coram, words of wisdom never had a truer meaning!

vinny zambito is a dedicated bowler and a workhorse. second on the all-time list of appearances by a bowler in A2Z tournaments, only trailing Benny wong, Port jeff, if one needs to find vinny in a hurry on a friday night, all they need to do is look at an A2Z schedule of events chart. chances are vinny will be at the bowling center the tour happens to be at that particular night.

the only thing missing though from vinny, was a championship. not any longer.

Zambito was simply brilliant this past friday night at smithtown bowl. zambito opened up the evening in the adult handicap division with a 268 scratch/317 with handicap and never once had to look upwards in the standings. wire to wire, zambito simply flourished. rolling games of 202, 268 and 222 for the remainder of the night, the shirley native easily distanced himself from the field with a total pincount of 1156 with handicap. in doing so, zambito earned his way into the championship match via an automatic bid. although the road to victory over brian nielsen, levittown wasnt exactly an easy chore for zambito, his OT victory over nielsen was oh so sweet. zambito expains. "It was just a special night. It was truly the best bowling night of my life. I never put 4 games together like that at any other time. I really don't think it will ever happen again but I will keep trying"

Here is a gut feeling on our part. Yes it will. Yes it will.

consider now the case for RJ Gocinski, coram. gocinski has been a regular on the A2Z tour for the last couple of years as well. while the ever improving young man from coram has improved his game tremendously over the last year or two, gocinski himself was without a title. like zambito, the wait is over.

gocinski seeded second for the four game qualifying round in the junior scratch division, squeaked by jack castellano, centereach and louis dalessio, sound beach to earn his way into the championship match vs the hot as ever adam sher, commack. sher was making his second consecutive appearance in the finals. sher it should be noted simply pounded out games of 226, 277, 222 and 287 for his qualifying round for a 1012 series!

on this night however, gocinski would get the hits he needed along with some breaks along the way that everyone seems to need in order to win a championship. two bumps along the way for sher in frames 5 and 6, both 7-10 splits provided the difference that gocinski would need in order to get the championship he so well deserved.

the championships won by zambito and gocinski had other significance as well. zambito joins son sal zambito and gocinski joins brother bill gocinski in the elite "multi Family member" champions of the LISBT! certainly not an easy feat to accomplish!

great job by vinny and RJ!

since we seem to be quoting famour sayings, do you really want to know what "a major butt kicking" is? lets examine what craig lindahl, ridge accomplished this past friday night in the adult scratch division.

should we start with the 300 game he rolled in game 4 of qualifying that gave him an additional $362.00 for the night? Or perhaps should we mention the 817 back 3? how about his 1076 four game total that now stands as the all-time scratch high series in a2Z history? still not enough? how about being put into the position in the championship game vs Rich dibernardo, smithtown in having to throw a double to win the championship only to bury all three shots as in "10 in the pit"? because quite simply, that is what transpired this past friday night. lindahl was simply outstanding. there really are no other words to describe his performance.

while the night was beneficial to lindahl finance wise, perhaps the nicest thing about the night was his perfect game and the meaning of it. "this was my fourth perfect game. however, it is my first since I turned adult. so yes, it is special to me. not to forget about the money though. I would be less than honest if I told you i wasnt thinking about the money. I was".

for lindahl, the money will be very handy once he resumes college in september at marist. the ring he will recieve however for the 300 game will be handy as well! literally. (We make this stuff up on the fly! Props to us eh?!)

in the junior handicap divsion, aaron ryan, selden did all he could do during qualifying and easilty set the pace. ryan put on a fantastic show by rolling his way to the top seed with a total pinfall of 1068. included in the 1068 were games of 203, 212 and 238. mike ruggiero, smithtown 1035 and kevin brochhausen, east northport rounded out the field of bowlers that would advance to the playoff rounds. mark walsh, ronkonkoma, while falling just a tad short, had an outstanding four game block as well with a total of 996.

the semi-final game though found ruggiero, a/K/A "Rugs" to his HS Commack Boys Bowling teammates, starting to heat up. "Rugs" blew by brochhausen and set up his match vs the waiting ryan.

perhaps the wait in limbo paid the toll on ryan, perhaps "rugs" was a bit too much to handle at that particular moment in time. regardless, the champion of this particular division on this particular night would be ruggiero. hopefully, mike can now use some of the experience gained on this night to his benefit come november when the school bowling season starts up again!

Well, thats it for now!

smithtown 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 Smithtown:

Adult Scratch Division:  

shotgun round: Rich Dibernardo, smithtown, 223 defeated artie loeffler, commack 206, and frank Kase, deer park 173

Championship game: craig lindahl, ridge defeated dibernardo 226-223               

Adult handicap division: 

shotgun round: brian nielsen, levittown 262 defeated joe prozor, lindenhurst 234 and scott zlochower, northport 189

Championship Game: *vinnie zambito, shirley defeated nielsen 227-227

Zambito wins two frame rolloff

Junior hdcp division:

shotgun round: mike ruggiero, commack  272 defeated keven brochhausen, east northport 192

Championship Game: ruggiero defeated aaron ryan, selden 274-211

Junior Scratch division:

shotgun round: rJ Gocinski, coram 214 defeated louis dalessio, sound beach 208  and jack castellano, centereach 206

Championship Game: gocinski Defeated adam sher, commack 213-199

a total of 100 Bowlers participated. 

Next Stop: Melville Bowl, 631-271-1180

june 25, 2004 8:00 PM!

(Register Here For Melville  - CLICK!)

300 game incentives for Melville!

Adults: $0.00 plus $1.00 per adult entry!

Juniors: $34.00 plus $1.00 per junior entry!

Juniors 8 In A Row: $26.00 plus $1.00 per optional entry!

Standings after Qualifying

Payout