Long Island Summer Bowling Tour!

Say this much for the youth bowlers of today. they never cease to amaze. Scores were high and plenty as the Long island Summer bowling tour visited centereach lanes on July 6, 2001. and the young bowlers of today led the parade of high scores.

in the jr handicap division, joseph haines jr., west babylon, set the pace in the qualifying rounds. the young lefty, averaged 259.75 w/hdcp (204.75 scr) to earn him the number 1 seed in the finals. just behind haines jr, was theresa castellano, centereach, at 258.75 (205.75) and anthony de saro, port jefferson, 255.50 (220.50). 

In the semi-final game, 1 open and 1 strike proved to be the difference of victory as castellano and de saro squared off. castellano fired a 234 w/hdcp, but it was her open in the 2nd frame, a 3-10 baby split, that would spell trouble for the right hander. castellano however, did put herself into a good situation by forcing de saro to double in the 10th frame if he were to advance to the finals. de saro wasted no time and flushed the first two shots in the 10th that carried him to a 241-234 victory.

in the championship match, de saro faced haines jr. the two young competitors struggled early and often with both of them missing good opportunities to put pressure on the other. in the end, it was de saro who converted the extra mark that pushed him to a 208-193 victory over haines jr. haines jr however Brought his sense of humor with him to the lanes. after congratulating de saro on his victory, he was heard saying "and im a mets fan too, tough night!" the yankees defeated the mets on friday night 8-3.

other fine efforts in the jr handicap division in qualifying include haines jr, 236,628,819, castellano, 245,650,823, de saro 246,708,882, kevin kearney, Coram, 246,619,804, Pat cooley, east islip, 256,658,853, jack castellano, Centereach, 233,613,814, amy bohleber, miller place, 237, gary gainer jr, new hyde park, 255, 710,869, gary haines, west babylon, 215, thomas catapano, brooklyn, 216, 608,821 and jess figeuroa, east islip, 256,655. 

in the adult scratch division, good scores and familiar faces were the trend. the field of the competitors averaged a respectable 215.33 for the qualifying round. earning the 1 seed was charlie lombardo, greenlawn, who averaged an incredible 241.75 for the 4-game block. second in qualifying saw susan farley, holbrook, average 229.50. and the 3rd and final bowler to advance to the finals was stacey bokina, peconic, at 229.25. 

the semi-final game saw two of the areas finest lady bowlers in action. bokina, making her 2nd consecutive finals appearance (Westhampton, june 30), came out strong, while farley struggled early (1 open, 3 spares and 1 strike through 5). bokina seemingly was in control of this match despite the fact that farley had doubled in frames 6 and 7. however, in the 7th, bokina left the 4-6-7, inviting farley back into the match. farley then struck in 8th and marked in the 9th. bokina then failed to throw another double in the match and it was farley who finished first in the 10th and closed bokina out by throwing 3 strikes giving her a 212-183 victory.

in the championship match, farley faced the #1 seed lombardo. lombardo and farley are very familiar with each other. they compete against each other in the monday summer doubles league at sayville and both of them are aware of how dangerous the other can be. the bowlers matched strikes early, however lombardo didnt stop throwing strikes till the first ball in the 10th. lombardo simply over powered the lanes and went on to defeat farley 278-217. lombardo said about the match and farley, "Hey, Next time we bowl, maybe sue beats me. thats how it goes. its not personal and sue knows that. i got zoned and felt good all night long" 

outstanding efforts in the adult Scratch division for the 4 game qualifyer  were turned in by lombardo, 257,730 front 3 720 back 3, 967, farley, 247,697,918, bokina, 267,718,917, Frank Pastore, Brooklyn, 259,726,890, dave frey, northport, 225,652,844, matt cabble, miller place, 234,624,816, don wickman, seldon, 231,633,809, michelle haines, west babylon, 242,631 and ken burns, laurel, 214,609. 

in the adult handicap divison, the LISBT saw redemption and a repeat. Steve Kelly, islip, led the field of bowlers in qualifying by posting a 976 244.00 w/hdcp (199.00 Scr) that was 4 pins better than ryan neary, dix hills, 972-243.00 (221.00). benny wong, Port jefferson station,  who last week (Westhampton) missed the finals by just 4 pins, reversed his misfortune by almost the same margin this week. Wong shot a 957-239.25 (177.25) that just edged out Pete bohleber, miller place, 951-237.75 (210.75). bohleber earned a 4th place check.

in the semi final match, wong faced neary in what would turn out to be the battle of the mistakes and a battle of the comeback. both competitors were ugly early but both then finished strong. wong opened twice, once in the 4th and then again in the 7th. in between he could not double. neary on the other hand, could not double as well,  and even when wong gave him the gift in the 7th frame, neary failed to capitalize by opening in the 7th as well. at that point, both bowlers reallized that the best way to win a match is to perform on the lanes, the both of them went double in the 8 and 9 box. for neary however, it was too little too late. spotting wong the 40 pins in hdcp, it was wong who prevailed 222-210 to advance to the championship match vs kelly. 

as was the case in the adult scratch division, the bowlers stayed close for 3 frames. however, kelly, who is gaining credibility very quickly on the adult circuit, then proceeded to throw 7 straight from the 3rd through 9th and easily defeated wong 303-245. Kelly, who approaches the game as "all business" has certainly gained attention in just the few short months he has been an ABC member after leaving the YABA ranks. Wong is impressed. "You know, its just 2 bowlers, me vs him. its fast and exciting. if one of us starts throwing strikes like he (kelly) did tonight, bam, bam, bam, bam, just like that, the other guy better wake up or its lights out". Wong then added with a wink and a smile, "I did good though tonight eh? beats the hell out of last week". 

adult handicap bowlers in the spotlight are Kelly, 222,611, Neary, 238,661,884, bohleber, 225,639,843, mario calles, central islip, 225, vinnie zambito, shirley, 214, brian darcy, setauket, 208, matt romano, holbrook, 218, eryn cully, medord, 214,604 and jim bohleber, miller place,215.

great job by all bowlers who competed!   

A total of 37 entries participated in the event. Next on tap? COUNTY LINE BOWL, July 13, 2001 8:45 pM.

Thanx for all the support. 

Final Standings

Payout