Long Island Summer Bowling Tour!

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Shirley NY, august 5, 2005

the A2Z / LISBT 2005 returned to suffolk county this past friday as shirley lanes hosted event number 10. for the second consecutive week, family ties were in order as a brother and sister duo both competed for the championship of their respective divisions. in addition, the long wait for a 300 game by a junior bowler has come to an end. and the lucky bowler that rolled the 300 game has $1020.50 reasons to be happy!

it was just one week ago, august 5, 2005 that rob gotterbarn sr, rob gotterbarn jr and rebecca gotterbarn all of garden city south found themselves competing in the championship round at garden city bowl. same family members competing for championships on the same night on the A2Z tour is extremely rare. well, just 7 days later at shirley lanes, meghan and ryan kase, deer park, were both just 12 frames away from winning on the same night.

meghan kase was off the charts this past week. the attractive 20 year old southpaw was sensational during qualifying competing in the adult handicap division. meghan has bowled in a number of a2Z events this year and she has performed rather well during those events averaging a very respectful 183 during that time. this past week however, it was all systems go and she looked as though she meant business from the get go. rolling four games on the plus side during qualifying, kase rolled a front end 673 and followed it up with a 245 in game four that gave her a four game total of 918 scratch. couple the handicap into that equation she totaled 1086 for the evening that gave her plenty of distance between second place qualifier dan balsamo, ridge at 1025. qualifying third and fourth respectively were james graebner, shirley at 1024 and joe prozor, lindenhurst 1019. just missing the cut was a late charging vinny zambito, shirley at 1016, jennifer lamonica, patchogue 1015 and jim fitch, coram at 1012. mark paone, shirley was also in the mix at an even 1000 for the night. graebner would defeat balsamo and prozor in the shotgun round thus earning the right to meet top seed kase in the finals.

the top seed spot is all well too documented on the A2Z tour as a spot that is.... lets say...not too desirable. many #1 seeds seem to lose an edge during the bye round and seem to stumble through the gate early on in the championship game. as a result, many dreams of becoming number one for the night have come to an end in the early frames for those such participants. meghan kase however was going to see to it there would be no early collapse on this night. coming out of the gate like a thoroughbred would at churchill downs, kase put the petal to the metal early and took command of the match early and coasted to the end..... uh..... whoa... whoa....whoa...... did we say coasted? Hmmm..... well, not exactly.

kase up to the point of the 9th frame of the championship match had been flawless for the evening. however, perhaps it is just not meant to be sometimes for things to go easy. seeking to close out the match, kase left a 10 pin on her first ball in the 10th frame and as unexpected as can be, the lefty sailed the ball wide of the 10 pin on her spare attempt leaving the door wide open for graebner to claim victory. speaking of 10 pins, graebner, working on a strike and needing a count of 20 in the 10th frame in order for him to win by a single pin rang the dime on HIS first shot in the 10th frame. graebner a right handed bowler however, caught too much of the outside boards early on his spare attempt that resulted in basically the ball ending up in the same spot kase had her ball drop into the pit behind the pin deck. tough loss for graebner... yet a great win for kase. first time too! Makes it that much more satisfying.

30 minutes prior to meghan kase winning her title on the a2Z tour at shirley, brother ryan kase, deer park was gunning for his third all time title on the a2Z tour competing in the junior scratch division. ryan qualified third on the evening with an outstanding 4 game block of 915. qualifying second for the night was bobby bacculi, shirley at 940. leading the pack and gunning for his second championship of the year was corey hirt, mastic at 973. kase would go on to defeat bacculi in the shotgun round setting up his opportunity vs Hirt and the championship.

Corey hirt is proof that if you hang in there.... take things as they come.... learn from those tough times and work through them... good things can happen. hirt was as down as one could be just a few short weeks ago upon returning from the junior gold tournament held in indianapolis, indiana. things apparently did not go to well for him that week. to make matters worse, hirt had his woes continue in rockville centre on the a2Z tour and to be honest, it was there that A2Z co-director Poppa Z encouraged Hirt to "take some time off" to regroup and "forget about the game for a few weeks and go have some fun" doing some other things for just a bit. for those that know hirt however, taking time off was not an option. if he was going to take some time off... it wasnt going to be because of tough times... it was going to be on HIS terms.... and nothing else.

One week later at plainview lanes, hirt defeated arguably one of the best junior bowlers on Long Island in Mike Wodzkinski, east meadow to earn the championship that night... and from the looks of it.... corey's lack of confidence is no longer an issue.

Hirt literally outlasted ryan kase (some tough hits didnt go his way), and went on to victory 208-194 to claim his second victory for the year. great match by two great competitors.

For Meghan and Ryan though, both kase family members left the building winners in more ways than one this past friday night. and dad was in the mix as well. with the victory by meghan, all three A2Z kase competitors, meghan, ryan and dad Frank Kase have all won titles on the A2Z tour during the span of the last 3 years. that is something well worth mentioning.

On a side note however, A2Z is wishing, praying, reading the bible, speaking latin tongue if we need to, hoping and praying to GOD that Frank kase, Meghan Kase and Ryan Kase ALL make the roll off rounds one night SOMEWHERE just so we can watch mom laura Kase pace the entire length of the bowling center while those matches are taking place! and we WILL do our best to ensure there will be 12 lanes in between them all! Nothing for nothing.... jeez..... you just HAD to see the drama unfolding BEHIND the lanes while son Ryan and Daughter Meghan were competing in the final rounds. THIS...our friends... is worth admission! We are tellin ya.... its worth an admission price! We dont know for sure... but we are hoping both ryan and Meghan knew what torture they were doing to mom behind the scenes as they were competing..... but trust us.... forget "for everything else there is mastercard....."... for everything else.... "Mom kase is watching and lets have some fun! and while your at it guys... dump a spare why dont ya!". We all felt her pain! But it was fun to watch. 

turning to the adult scratch division, damion collins, amityville has got to be wondering exactly what he needs to do to win an A2Z event. Making his third straight trip to the finals proved to be no different than the first two. and once again... billy chitty, sound beach is making collins life miserable.

collins was nothing short of spectacular during qualifying this past friday night as he rolled an opening front three of 810 and a back three of 801. included in game two was a 298 (blowout 7-10 on his last shot). his 1059 led the pack after four games.  

chitty while a distant second to collins still "managed" a front three 810 series that helped pave the way to a 1022 four game series qualifying him second for the night. qualifying third was mike nucatola, shirley at 950 "only" 70 pins back of chitty and qualifying fourth was 2004-05 all county, longwood HS star recently turned "Money" kevin kearney, coram at a very impressive 945.

wanna guess who won the shotgun round in "been there" done that fashion? give you a hint.... the other two guys were about to get "the Chit" beat out of em! (This is ALL Poppa Z folks! Steve A has nothing to do with this writeup! Address ALL emails to Poppa Z!) Yup. The young man from Sound beach managed to struggle to a 276 along the way. thank you kevin for bowling... thank you mike for hanging around. Collins vs Chitty is almost destiny now on the A2Z.

this match however, everybody in the center just KNEW was going to be different from the shotgun round... EVERYBODY knew some fireworks were going to go off. collins vs chitty.... power vs power..... thunder vs lightning. Done deal... some things are guaranteed.

the feeling turned out to be correct. Chitty this time rolled a 286 not a 276,  leaving collins behind wondering how many more frames he was going to get in order to raise his dummpy, only missed by 61 pins 225! jeez.... sometimes things just aint right you know? Jeez...

chitty for the third time this summer won an a2Z event. While a2Z is not certain at this point in time, we DO think no other adult bowler has won three times in the same year...we will check on that stat.... and that.... is a very special thing to accomplish. the victory by chitty however has a price. chitty is headed to washington next week  to speak before congress instead of Baltimore oriole rafael palmiero. his team of lawyers is ready for anything they want to ask. but My god.... whatever chitty is on.... can we all have some first PLEASE before he goes?!

while congress isnt going to question junior bowlers, perhaps mike flynn, patchogue should let us in on his secrets! All mike accomplished this past friday night in the junior handicap division was to roll four games over 200 scratch, well over his 138 average as he left his competitors for the night literally like dust in the wind during qualifying.

the performance by flynn overshadowed very strong performances turned in by shotgun competitors ed gocinski, coram, nicole desimone, selden and jimmy field, shirley. also competing and having an outstanding night was steven friedlander, holtsville, christopher holzmann, shirley and vincent giordani, shirley. in a wild, wild fight to the finish, desimone would go on to victory in the shotgun and meet flynn in the championship match.

on this night however, mike flynn would be too much to handle. the young righty from patchogue layed into desimone early and often and would go on to win his first title ever on the A2Z tour.

great job by all the junior competitors on the A2Z.

Bacculi breaks the Bank! Wunsch Collects as well!

the long dry spell is over in the junior division as bobby bacculi, shirley hit the 300 game fund to the tune of $956.00 this past friday night! Bacculi didnt waste any time as he rolled his perfect game during game one of qualifying. adding to the drama during game 1, dominic giordani, shirley ALSO had an oppurtunity in game one of qualifying as he had the first 9 strikes as well...on the same pair and following bacculi in the lineup slot! Wow! talk about pressure. for the evening,  bacculi earned a total of $1020.50 in scholarship money that can be used for continued education past HS in the years to come. Great job...and 13 months in the making! A2Z will now start the junior 300 fund with $100.00 starting this Friday at Patchogue Bowl! We wonder how long it will take to hit another 300 by the kids?! Betchya a buck it wont be 13 months!

Robert Wunsch, east meadow hit the 300 game fund for the adults in game 3 of qualifying. It was the 7th 300 game rolled on the a2Z tour this year by an adult competitor. a 300 game has been rolled by an adult competitor in 5 consecutive stops and 6 of the last 7 stops altogether starting in Sayville. Wunsch joins, Kenny Hosek, Bayshore, Chris Pisino, mastic, Pete rodriguez, mineola, Dick Doremus, Levittown, Alex Cavagnaro, North massapequa and Amanda Beck, Oakdale in the 300 club for A2Z 2005. Wunsch collected $68.00 in the progressive Pot for the Adults.

Until next time.....

Chow for now!

Steve "A" and Poppa "Z"

shirley Qualifying Highlights (Scratch Series Order)

Color Code:    200+    225+    250+    800+    900+    1000+

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+):

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Recapping the action for shirley:

Adult Scratch Division:  

shotgun round: billy chitty, sound beach 276 defeated kevin kearney, coram 209 and mike nucatola, shirley 184

championship game: chitty defeated  Damion collins 286-225

Adult handicap division: 

shotgun round: james graebner, shirley 233 defeated dan balsamo, shirley 222 and joe prozor, lindenhurst 212

Championship Game: meghan kase, deer park defeated graebner 234-223

Junior hdcp division:

shotgun round: nicole desimone, selden 240 defeated ed gocinski, coram 239 and jimmy field, shirley 233  

championship Game: mike flynn, patchogue defeated desimone 256-184

Junior Scratch division:

shotgun round: ryan kase, deer park 258 defeated robert bacculi, shirley 181

Championship Game: corey hirt, shirley Defeated kase 208-194

a total of 112 Bowlers participated.

Next Stop: patchogue bowl - 631-475-5164

300 game incentives for patchogue !

Adults: $0.00 plus $1.00 per adult entry!

Juniors: $100.00 plus $1.00 per junior entry!

Standings after Qualifying

Color Code:    200+    225+    250+    800+    900+    1000+    600+   700+    800+