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Patchogue NY, July 21, 2006

Well, everybody likes surprises no? and speaking of, this past friday night at patchogue bowl there couldnt have been one single person that entered the bowling center that would have predicted a night of surprises like the ones that played out during the 4-game qualifying round. afterall, patchogue bowl has a reputation of one of the more challenging houses on long island. to make the point a bit more clear, as the night started out in game one, one could almost hear in the distance TV character Gomer Pyle in his high squeaky unique voice with the big grin flashing on his face almost yelling out "Surprise, surprise, surprise!" by the time junior bowler dan brezo, coram threw his last strike in game 1 for a 300 game. by the time bruce nielsen, levittown and sonna owens, arverne put the finishing touches on their own 300 games later that night,  gomer apparently had lost his voice but was replaced by none other than mr. John blutarski! and only in a way "Bluto" could say HIS version of "surprise", well, by now you should have an idea of how many times steve "A" and Poppa "Z" said his famous words to each other! In case your stuck and confused? well... think horse, deans office with all fours up in the air! <w>

OK.......

getting the night started off with a bang was none other than dan brezo, coram (longwood hS boys varsity bowling team). competing in the junior scratch division brezo opened the night with a 300 game, wound up setting the pace and never looked back... well.... almost didnt look back. more on that later. brezo stood atop the leaders board for all 4 games during qualifying and earned the bye into the championship round.

the remaining 3 bowlers that would advance into the shotgun game were, in order of place, jon trzcinski, bay shore (Bay Shore HS Boys varisty bowling), corey hirt, mastic beach (Sacred heart university mens bowling, connecticut) and frank giordano, farmingville (Sachem east HS Boys Varsity bowling). hirt won the one and done game easily and would advance into the championship game vs brezo.

it was one week earlier at centereach lanes as adult handicap bowler ed walsh literally blew away the field during qualifying only to be looking at needing one spare in order to win the title for the night. here we go again... and as yogi would say..."its deja vu all over again"! Lol. Thats true by the way... he actually said that once. Berra also once said that "nobody goes to a particular restaurant anymore because its always too crowded!" :o) got off track there....

with hirt finishing first, the former a2Z major Event Champion hirt nailed all three of his final shots and put brezo in a position of needing to match the first two strikes along with pin count in order for brezo to be top gun for the night. for all the strikes that brezo threw this past friday night, if he wanted a taste of a championship, he needed to throw 2 more strikes to finish off the job all courtesy of hirt. as calm and cool as you could be, brezo nailed all 3 of his shots and won the championship game 217-213 over hirt. job well done by brezo AND hirt. whether dan knew it or not, he defeated one tough son of a gun in the process of going home with the win.

in the junior handicap division, two local high school bowlers that bowl out of patchogue bowl during the suffolk high school bowling season made it into the shotgun game. kaitlin hughes, east patchogue (Bellport HS Girls Varsity bowling) and taylor maharag, patchogue (Patchogue-meford HS Girls varsity bowling) qualifying 3rd and 4th respectively. qualifying second and continuing his very fine summer on the a2Z circuit was danny singer, queens village. singer is the babylon july 7, 2006 a2Z Junior handicap champion. leading however and finishing 26 pins ahead of the field and drawing a bye into the championshi game was rob gotterbarn jr., garden city south. the shotgun game would eliminate hughes and singer as maharaj got just what she needed late in the match to advance into the final round vs gotterbarn.

gotterbarn is not allergic to big spots. the 15 yr old soon to be junior is a member of the chaminade HS Boys varsity bowling team that competes in nassau county during the winter season. maharaj on the other hand is  a key member of the 2006 league 2 champions in suffolk county for the high school varsity girls league. you pretty much had two young warriors going at it for the championship of patchogue. being on foreign turf didnt matter much for gotterbarn. the young man from garden city south pulled away late and went on to defeat maharoj to earn the title. the way the rules read....somebody has to win... and somebody wont. regardless, great night for all the competitors in the junior handicap division and we are certain the scholarship money they earned for continued education will come in handy when the time comes.

want to know the meaning of never say never... Ever?!!! sonna owens, arverne is living proof you NEVER say never... EVER! after 3 games of qualifying this past friday night in the adult handicap division, you couldnt blame owens if she was making plans to exit early and call it a night. she stood in 28th place, 58 pins out of a CASHING spot of 11th place and and an incredible 102 pins out of the 4th and final spot into the shotgun round. it doesnt really matter which way you look at it, 58 pins behind the last cashing spot and 102 pins out of an unthinkable playoff position is quite a handful to make up. on the other hand you could say she needed to jump 17 bowlers to cash and 24 bowlers to make it into the finals. i guess sonna figured it was time to roll a 300 game and let it all work out from there. NO PROBLEM! and this we tell you... is where Mr. Blutarski uttered his infamous words! incredibly, owens rolled a 300 game in game 4 of qualifying and with something bigger than GOD at her side... qualified 3rd for the night leaving literally three bowlers, vinnie zambito, shirley, pat scotti, hicksville and john rigsbee, deer park wondering what if or perhaps they too were quoting mr. blutarski when the final results were posted. if that werent enough for the 3 amigos, fran gotterbarn, garden ciy south jumped 12 bowlers in the last game and secured the 4th spot into the finals along with owens! zambito, scotti and rigsbee were all in the hunt for the last playoff spot in game 4.

All of this overshadowed the magnificent effort by john kingsepp, miller place. kingsepp took over the number one spot for the night after game 2 and literally coasted to the lead in games 3 and 4. it was the second time kingsepp qualified first for the evening as he also led the august 29, 2004 a2Z event held at sayville bowl. qualifying second was lou giordani sr., shirley who was sitting comfortably in the number 2 seed. giodani sr, owens and gotterbarn to the next round while zambito, scotti and rigsbee recieved some well earned dollars for the 4 game work but got the rest of the night off a bit early, courtesy of the ladies.

game 4 truly would prove to be a momentum builder for owens. not only did she win the shotgun game vs giordani sr and gotterbarn, she threw a double in the 10th frame to edge out giordani. the night was rapidly turning into an owens night. in the championship match, kingsepp did all he could to slow down the hard charging owens and for the most part through 5 frames, we had ourselves a match. however, owens was now on a major role and she dominated the late frames while kingsepp struggled a bit late to throw strikes. as quickly as you can say 28th place to 3rd place to winning a championship, all in a span of 3 games... well.... actions speak louder than words....and just like that...in a span of 3 games.... we witnessed perhaps one of the greatest comebacks in the history of the A2Z tour. when the game was over, all kingsepp could do, and he did, was marvel at owens accomplishment and paid due respect to the champion and acknowledged her as such. said kingsepp, "I ran into a buzzsaw. basically thats all there is to it. she was great".  in the distance however, one could still hear john blutarski paying respect in a way he only knew how! :o)

Okokokokokok.... .NO emails from parents! These kids dont even know who john blutarski is! on the other hand... google comes in handy! <VBG>

finally, we finish up with the adult scratch division. what a grand performance... by SEVEN competitors! Kid you not. fabrizio cerutti, levittown had quite a night. cerutti rolled a front 3 series of 855 scratch that has been confirmed as a new house record at patchogue bowl. cerutti rolled a 289, 288 and 278 en route to the record. cerutti finished the night was a 227 that placed him first with a 1082 4-game series. cerutti however finished 1 pin shy of the all time adult scratch record of 1083 established by rich wagner, east islip at south levittown lanes on july 16, 2004. the all time high 4-game scratch record is held by adam sher, commack. sher rolled an 1100 at babylon lanes on august 27, 2004 while competing in the junior scratch division. sher is now an adult competitor on the a2Z tour. qualifying second was jack castellano, centereach at 1035 while BJ Fuller, amityville finished with 1030 and john conroy, mahopac was fourth at 1028. conroy was making his second finals appearance of the 2006 summer season (Babylon Merorial day kickoff). in addition, fuller was making his 2nd finals appearance at patchogue in as many years on the a2Z tour. incredibly, 3 bowlers topped the 1000 mark but did not advance into the final rounds. larry darvis, east atlantic beach 1020, stephen frazzetto, port jeff  1016 and a2Z Champion damion collins, amityville 1013. castellano, fuller and conroy to the shotgun while cerutti drew the bye into the championship game. conroy would win the elimination game and would meet cerutti in the championship match.

as was the case with sonna owens in the adult handicap division, john conroy by the time he advanced into the championship game, was now on a roll. conroy opened with a flurry of strikes while cerutti was not able to kick it in gear off the bye round. conroy took control of the match by the midway mark and coasted to victory in the late frames. the final score read 264-212. fantastic night however for many of the competitors of the adult scratch division. great win for conroy and just an incredible night for cerutti during qualifying.

all in all... everybody likes a surprise. and boy did we get some surprises this past friday night at patchogue.

I guess we can sum it all up in two words: bluto.... say wha?  

Until next time.....

Steve "A" and Poppa "Z"

Veteran A2Z bowler bruce nielsen rolls gem!

near the end of game two this past friday night at patchogue bowl, there was a buzz coming from behind lanes 25 and 26 as one of the three bowlers that rolled a 300 game this past friday was putting the finishing touches on his gem. that bowler was bruce nielsen, levittown. bruce has been a mainstay here on the a2Z tour now for several years. even our most regular a2Z bowlers may not realize bruce is in the house simply because of his low key personality. bruce, along with his daughter cara and son brian have participated in numerous events over the years. in fact, this past friday marked the 44th event that bruce has participated in during the years a2Z has been on the scene. for steve "A" and Poppa "Z", it was a special treat for them to give bruce his portion of the 300 money he won last friday and it will be an even more special treat to present his 300 ring once the ring comes in. A2Z has been saying all along the past few years that it is our bowlers that make our tour work for the reasons our bowlers are very special people. it is bowlers such as bruce nielsen and his family that make all of the effort put forward by a2Z bowling, steve "A", Poppa "Z", laurie, wendy and donna Z all worth while. congratulations bruce on your 300 game. a gentleman and a great bowler.

The Perfect Fit Pro Shop at Coram Lanes Becomes Official Sponsor For A2Z 2006 Tour!

The Perfect Fit Pro Shop at Coram Lanes - Adam Krauss

615 middle country road

coram, new york, 11727

631-732-2094

Adam Krauss of the perfect fit pro shop is donating $100.00 per event on the 2006 Summer tour to the top out of the money finisher in each division. FOUR $25.00 certificates will be handed out per tournament. one each in all divisions. the winners of the certificates for Shirley are wayne cheslak, rocky point, vinny zambito, shirley, heather mccormack, mastic and paul borkowski, west hempstead. the certificates can be picked up at any future a2Z event. 

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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Post tournament Recap:

Adult Scratch Division:  

Shotgun: john conroy, mahopac 235 defeated BJ Fuller, amityville 212 and Jack Castellano, centereach 212

Championship game: Conroy defeated Fabrizio Cerutti, levittown 264-212

Adult handicap division: 

Shotgun: sonna owens, arverne 257 defeated fran gotterbarn, garden city south 251 and lou giordanni sr., shirley 246

Championship game: owens defeated john kingsepp, miller place 276-228

Junior hdcp division:

Shotgun: taylor maharaj, patchogue 216 defeated danny singer, queens village 213 and kaitlin hughes, east patchogue 186

Championship Game: rob gotterbarn jr, garden city south defeated maharag 233-211

Junior Scratch division:

Shotgun: corey hirt, mastic beach 238 defeated frank giordanno, farmingville 204 and jon trzcinski, bay shore 193 

Championship Game: dan brezo, coram defeated hirt 217-213

a total of 132 Bowlers participated.

Next Stop: East Islip Lanes - friday july 28, 2006 - 7:30 pM!

5-Game "DOG DAYS" Major Event

300 game incentives for east islip lanes

Adults: $96.00

Juniors: $36.00

* 8 In A Row Carry Over for East Islip

Juniors: $54.00 - ($54.00 added to game 5) From centereach

Juniors: $18.00 - ($18.00 added to game 5) From Patchogue

* centereach 8 in a row for the juniors was not hit altogether. Patchogue 8 in a row was not hit in game 4. a total of $72.00 will be carried over to east islip that will be added to the game 5 8 in a row portion only.

Standings after Qualifying

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

Payout