Long Island Summer Bowling Tour!

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patchogue NY, august 12, 2005

For the first time ever, patchogue bowl served as host to the A2Z/LISBT in the 5-year history of the summer tour. a whopping field of 141 bowlers filled the 40 lane bowling center. a local youth captured one of the junior titles while an east meadow young man showed us all while he should be considered perhaps one of the greatest all time junior bowlers long island has ever had. However, with all due respect to legendary performer neil diamond, this "hot august night" belonged to a senior kegler from middle island who went toe to toe with some of the finest scratch bowlers the area has to offer.

starting in the scratch divisions, mike wodzinski, east meadow has been participating in a2Z events since year one of the tour, 2001. known to many on the bowling circuit both junior and adult as "wodz", the St Johns University  student has won at least one event in each of the five year years A2Z has existed in the junior scratch division. this past friday night at patchogue, "Wodz" won for a club record 10th time. mike outlasted 2-time 2005 champion corey hirt, mastic, anthony pepe, queens, ed ries, bohemia and matt kingsepp, miller place en route to the victory. the $199.00 dollars earned by mike will come in handy for sure as he prepares for his junior year in college this fall. it is fair to say that mike is the greatest champion of them all on the A2Z tour based on his number of championships earned. great job Mike!

sal pantaleone, middle island certainly grabbed a portion of the spotlight this week as he won the adult scratch division in splendid fashion. in a simply wild and crazy affair in the shotgun round where each of the 3 participants open the game with 6 straight strikes, pantaleone took advantage of some bad breaks going the other way as he defeated david goldenberg, selden and justin warhol, sound beach giving him an opportunity to bowl for it all vs two time 2005 adult scratch champion BJ Fuller, North babylon.

in the championship game, both fuller and pantaleone stayed tough throughout the first 7 frames with both not giving an inch to the other. however, a bad break to fuller in the 8th frame opened the door wide for Pantaleone to walk through and he did just that. pantaleone won the game going away 247-208.

what is truly remarkable about the victory for pantaleone over fuller is the fact that sal pantaleone is a senior kegler to the tune of "68 years young". it makes the victory over warhol and fuller, both younger players that much more significant, especially in this day and age of bowling where ball speed and power seem to have an edge. we are pretty sure that theory has been blown to bits, especially lately on the A2Z tour. in fact, pantaleone attributed such when we asked him after the tournament was completed what his thoughts were. he responded, "to tell you the truth, meghan inspired me a bit tonight. she honestly did". pantaleone was referring to meghan kase, deer park who won the shirley event a week prior in the handicap division. "It just goes to show everyone has a chance every week, not just the crankers" added pantaleone. it should be pointed out kase and pantaleone share the finesse game.

when all said and done, the rules of bowling state the bowler with the highest score at the end of 10 frames, is declared the winner. and on this night, that is what sal pantaleone accomplished. guess there is room for those finesse peeps afterall eh?

in the junior handicap division, rJ Stephani, patchogue played the role of "Not in MY house you aint!" Stephanie used his wisdom and knowledge of patchogue bowl to his advantage and won the event in dominating fashion. during the qualifying round stephanie was 40 pins better over 2005 garden city a2Z champion rebecca gotterbarn, garden city south and 54 pins ahead of joseph simon, farmingdale. the real fun for the night during qualifying was the race to the fourth spot of the night as five bowlers would finish the night separated by the slightest of margins 13 pins. when the smoke cleared however, nicholas lupo, bethpage would be the one left standing and earned the 4th and final spot to the final round. simon was able to pull out a late victory in the shotgun earning him the right to compete for the title vs stephani. it was all for not however. patchogue belongs to RJ! Stephani defeated simon in a very spirited and sportsmanlike manner 266-242. in addition to stephani, simon, gotterbarn and lupo, mathew robles, bayside and nick klager, hampton bays earned scholarship money for the evening as well! Great job by all the young competitors.

the adult handicap division turned out to be the tightest division for the evening. five bowlers topped the 1000 mark with handicap during qualifying. while robert ehlers, bohemia is most likely STILL counting the pins he lost in game 3 of qualifying (182) that cost him the 4th spot and into the shotgun round, adam krauss, coram is counting his lucky stars HIS lost pins in game 4 (181) didnt come back to haunt him. krauss joined vito genova, franklin square and 2005 garden city a2Z champion rob gotterbarn sr, garden city south in the shotgun round. lou giordani sr, shirley was the top seed for the evening.

the last time vito genova was making a post round appearance on the A2Z he came within one converted 5-10 split in the 10th frame by his opponent of winning the 2005 plainview event. the last time rob gotterbarn sr was making a post round appearance he was winning the garden city event in convincing fashion. adam krauss however wanted to join the fray as he defeated both genova and gotterbarn to earn spot into the championship round vs giordani.

apparently counting lucky stars and having talent go hand in hand. the championship game of giordani and krauss just about mirrored the adult scratch pantaleone / Fuller match as the two stayed close through 7 frames. however, late in the match came bad news for giordani and krauss wasnt going to let him off the hook. krauss finished the game with a flurry of strikes and all giordani could do was watch and congratulate. give (ehlers) the guy and inch (Krauss)...and he winds up taking the whole yard! :o)

ah... so be it.... what the heck.... nobody got hurt......

what a great night on the A2Z 2005 LISBT!

Until next time.....

Chow for now!

Steve "A" and Poppa "Z"

patchogue 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 patchogue:

Adult Scratch Division:  

shotgun round: sal Pantaleone, middle island 264 defeated david goldenberg, selden 228 and justin warhol, sound beach 201

championship game: Pantaleone defeated  bJ Fuller, north babylon 247-214

Adult handicap division: 

shotgun round: adam krauss, coram 257 defeated vito genova, franklin square 238 and rob gotterbarn sr., garden city south 211

Championship Game: krauss defeated lou giordani, shirley 248-209

Junior hdcp division:

shotgun round: joseph simon, farmingdale 261 defeated nicholas lupo, bethpage 253 and rebecca gotterbarn, garden city south 216  

championship Game: rJ Stephani, patchogue defeated simon 266-242

Junior Scratch division:

shotgun round: anthony pepe, queens 257 defeated corey hirt, mastic 236 and ed reis, bohemia 222

Championship Game: mike wodzinski, east meadow Defeated pepe 237-203

a total of 141 Bowlers participated.

Next Stop: commack vets Lanes - 631-499-7722

300 game incentives for commack !

Adults: $96.00 plus $1.00 per adult entry!

Juniors: $145.00 plus $1.00 per junior entry!

Standings after Qualifying

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