Long Island Summer Bowling Tour!

Click Here For A2Z Record Highs Page!

Click Here For Our "Major Event" Winners Page!

babylon NY, january 1, 2006

a field of 235 bowlers participated in the New Years Day 2006 5-game major event, a new a2Z record. In addition, over $12,000 was paid out in collective cash prizes for adults and junior scholarship funds for the junior bowlers.

the junior scratch division was won by former Island Trees HS star and current member of the st. johns university mens bowling team adam chase, seaford. chase defeated corey hirt, mastic beach in the semifinal game in the stepladder finas and then edged out scott schultz, tampa, florida (formerly of huntington) to earn the championship pin trophy that goes to the major event winners of the a2Z tour. craig wellbrock, riverhead continued his fantastic bowling on the A2Z tour as he and darren andretta, rocky point qualified into the stepladder finals as well. brian lestz, roslyn and matt siry, sound beach both had excellent scores for the day but fell a bit short in advancing into the final round.

turning to the junior handicap division, nicholas klager, hampton bays earned his first a2Z championship in grand style as he defeated loriann knapp, ronkonkoma in the championship game. klager was spendid for the 5 game qualifier as he rolled a 635 scratch front 3 and a 655 scratch back 3 en route to his title. justin drago, west babylon and bobby richter, fairfield also advanced into the post tournament play with splendid showings as well. leonard gala, watermill actually led the 5-game qualifying round and earned the top seed into the rolloffs. however, gala did not participate in the championship game and was defaulted 1 place in the standings. for his showing however, a2Z directors steve abrams and poppa Z decided it would be fair to let gala share 1st and 2nd place money with the eventual champion. as a result, klager is recognized as the major event winner but will share equally $400.00 in scholarship money with klager. everybody goes home happy and nobody got hurt. to us, its the A2Z way.

in all, 75 bowlers participated in the junior divisions with a total of $1924.00 paid out in scholarship funds for the junior bowlers. in addition, a2Z handed out 8-$25.00 "out of the money" scholarships that when all totaled up, $2124.00 was added to the college funds for the junior bowlers of the A2Z tour! That... is a treat for sure.

the adult handicap division came down to one ball for it all as doug herold, bay shore needed and knocked down the 9 pins he needed to close out tommy genova, elmont to win the match 241-240. david ryan, selden finished third with mike ducasse, levittown and terry mcdermott, ridge earning equal money by virtue of the shotgun appearance. just missing the cut to the stepladders was bob gotterbarn, garden city south, lou giordani sr, shirley and robert wellons, lindenhurst.

the adult scratch division was dominated in the 5-game qualifying round as louis dalession, sound beach easily outdistanced his opposition by 68 pins with a stunning performance of 1292 (258.40). dalessio turned on the afterburners in games 2,3 and 4 as he rolled a 3-game middle block of 824 with games of 278, 268 and 268. qualifying second was adam sher, commack with guy serino, queens 1 pin back. rounding out the top 5 were justin warhol, sound beach and bob olsen, medford. warhol in fact opened the event with a 299 leaving just a stubborn 10-pin on the deck on his 12th shot. olsen would go on to defeat warhol and sereno in the shotgun game in impressive fashion but would fall a bit short to sher in the semifinal game setting up the championship game vs dalessio.

the championship match was an interesting match for the reason both dalessio and sher have had major success on the a2Z tour in years past in the junior ranks. both bowlers combined have numerous titles under their belt on the A2Z tour with sher, having earned a major event championship in 2004 at sayville for the labor day weekend kickoff. in fact, sher broke the record books in the summer of 2004 by winning over $1100.00 in scholarship money for the summer season and finished with an incredible 252.00 scratch average for 40+ games in doing so. both marks will be very hard to duplicate on the a2Z tour in the years to come. dalessio and sher both are former suffolk county HS all state competitors. as you can tell, the finals match in the adult scratch division had a rather young side to it.

whatever hype and luster the championship game had prior to the game starting was lost a bit as both bowlers began to struggle with carry and as a result, the game turned into grind out affair. in the end however, sher got the extra hit he needed and went on to defeat dalessio to become the first bowler ever to win a major event title as a junior and as an adult. great job by all the bowlers to say the least.

holiday bowl III, 2006 is now in the books and is part of history on the a2Z tour. there is not one single person on this planet, steve a and poppa Z included, that could have predicted such a magnificent event would take place. the event ran as smooth as an event could be with management at babylon lanes doing everything possible to make it work from a promotional and host standpoint all the way through onto the lanes. it is fair to say that holiday bowl III was the greatest event A2Z has had up till this point in time.

For adam chase, nick klager, doug herrold and adam sher, your names have been etched in stone on the a2Z major event winners Board. you four were the best of the best on the day that a2Z was at its best.

Congratulations to all!   great job by all!

Until next time.....

Chow for now!

Steve "A" and Poppa "Z"

babylon Qualifying Highlights (Scratch Series Order)

Color Code:    200+    225+    250+    1000+   1125+    1250+

Junior Handicap Division qualifying highlights (200+/1000+):

------------------------------

Junior Scratch Division qualifying Highlights (200+/1000+):

------------------------------

Adult handicap Division qualifying Highlights (200+/1000+):

------------------------------

adult Scratch Division qualifying Highlights (200+/1000+):

------------------------------

Recapping the action for Babylon:

Adult Scratch Division:  

Shotgun: Bob Olsen, Medford 278 defeated Justin Warhol, sound beach 201 and Guy Sereno, Queens 190

Semifinal: adam sher, commack 256 defeated olsen 248

Championship Game: Sher 180 defeated Lou Dalessio, sound beach 158

Adult handicap division: 

Shotgun: David Ryan, selden 228 defeated Mike Ducasse, levittown 214 and terry mcdermott, ridge 188

Semifinal: tommy genova, elmont 242 defeated ryan 219

Championship Game: doug herold, bay shore 241 defeated genova 240

Junior hdcp division:

Shotgun: loriann knapp, ronkonkoma 262 defeated justin drago, west babylon 259 and bobby richter, fairfield 231

Semifinal: nick klager, hampton bays 264 defeated knapp 248

Championship Game: leonard gala, watermill did not participate in the championship game. klager crowned champion as a result of semifinal win. gala and klager split first and second place scholarship money.

Junior Scratch division:

Shotgun: corey hirt, mastic beach 238 defeated craig wellbrock, riverhead 237 and darren andretta, rocky point 202

Semifinal: adam chase, seaford 258 defeated hirt 179

Championship Game: chase 228 defeated scott schultz, tampa, florida 226

a total of 235 Bowlers participated.

Next Stop: Babylon May 28, 2006 - 6:45 PM!

300 game incentives for Babylon

Adults: $680.00

Juniors: $360.00

Standings after Qualifying

Color Code:    200+    225+    250+    1000+   1125+    1250+    600+   700+    800+