Long Island Summer Bowling Tour!

One is the loneliest number
That you'll ever do
Two can be as bad as one
It's the loneliest number
Since the number one

- Three Dog Night in the 70's-

Port Jefferson, New York -

One is the loneliest........one is the loneliest.......number one is the loneliest number that you'll ever do......... And so the song goes on. We all know the song. We sing along with it when it plays on the radio. However, maybe Vito Genova, Anne Herd, Midge Swanson, Brian Darcy and Matt Cabble can sing you another version of the song. The one pin version.  

Adult Scratch Division: for the first three games on Friday night, matt cabble, miller place, looked to have things under control. Opening up the night with a 261, cabble added a 237 and a 197 that powered his way to a 695 3 game series. With the top three advancing to the final round, cabble was 36 pins better than bob volk of east setauket, who was on the outside looking in from fourth place with a 659. However, as the case has been all summer on the lisbt, game 4 delivered a crucial blow to potential finalist. Cabble finished the night with a 184 and slipped to 4^th place while volk rolled a 221 and slipped into the three seed. The end result netted leader joe heggers, port jeff station at 911, justin warhol, sound beach at 892 and volk at 880 as the three final round participants. 1 pin behind at 879 was cabble. Cabble, bidding to make his third finals of the lisbt explained it this way: “I shot myself in the foot. Its hard to take.” He then shook his head and simply said to himself “1 pin. Unreal”.

While cabble took responsibility for his misfortune, it would not come close to what would transpire as the night wore on.

In the semi final match that matched volk and warhol, volk would not be able to continue his momentum that carried him into the final round. Warhol easily defeated volk 247-187 and warhol found himself in a position to win his second scratch title on the LISBT. On june 8 at coram lanes, warhol became the first ever adult scratch division champion on the LISBT. On that night however,  warhol would go on to win in a decisive manner. This Friday night would prove to be different. In a classic battle of competitors, warhol and number one seed heggers battled for 10 frames. Warhol finished the game with a 232 and actually found himself in a bad position. With heggers finishing on the left lane, he needed to fill 8 pins for the victory on his fill ball in the 10^th. What transpired might have eased the pain to matt cabble and his difficulties of the night. The lefty Heggers final ball went high through the 1-2 pocket and he left the 4-6-7-8-10, otherwise known as the “greek church”. Heggers and warhol both looked on in shock. Final score 232-230, warhol. 

Warhol, a veteran of the game, shrugged off the greek church and simply replied,  “hey, it happens, that's bowling. You hope for things like that, but you never really expect it. Especially when joe was bowling as well as he was.” Heggers version on the matter was a lot different. although congratulating warhol on the victory, Returning from a long walk that took him just about the length of Port Jeff Bowl to let off some steam, he simply blamed himself.  “Justin didn't win this match, I lost it. I don't know if you can use the word choke or not, but its pretty damn close.”  He then shook his head in disgust.

However, as warhol said it best, “hey, it happens. That's bowling”. Just ask Matt Cabble and Joe Heggers whether or not they disagree. 

Junior scratch division: for the past few weeks, the junior scratch division on the LISBT has turned into the tom coraci traveling show. Coraci who lives in mastic, simply blew away the field in the 4-game qualifier with an 883 highlighted with an opening game of 267. In second, 101 pins behind was william gocinski, coram at 782. Qualifying third was joe zullo jr, floral park at 777.

In the semi final game that featured zullo jr and gocinski, zullo jr wasted little time and cruised to a 208-162 victory. The victory would set up a final match vs coraci.

In the final game, trading strikes and spares, the two bowlers entered the final frame with each having the opportunity to close the other out. Coraci, although not opening in the 10^th, failed to put zullo jr away, but he did however bowl a 202. Zullo jr, with an opportunity to win the match in the 10^th with a double, left a 6-pin on his first shot in the 10^th and settled for a 195. Coraci won for the 3^rd time in 5 events this summer.

If one were to have seen the young man for the first time this Friday at port jeff, one would possibly assume that coraci could possibly be a problem on the lanes. Coraci, 17, dressed in a tampa bay bucs keyshawn johnson jersey, in addition to wearing a white bandana covering most of his head, certainly does portray a free spirit. However, when speaking to this young man, and drawing your conclusion from that, you will find a very passionate and intelligent young man. He brings intensity and an enthusiasm that is very hard to not admire. Coraci admits that he “loves bowling on the LISBT on Friday nights” and he would like to “use the success he has had the past few weeks as a springboard” for his senior year at william floyd hs where he is a member of the varsity bowling team. While coraci would like nothing more to win for his hs, he does have plans for his future in both life and bowling. Coraci, “ is going to spend some serious time improving My grades” and hopes to bowl for Briarcliffe College in the fall of 2002. After that, he plans to attend a major college, that features collegiate mens bowling, and more importantly, “finish up on a degree so I can be succesful in life.” Coraci has been bowling since the age of 4 and he admits “it is in my blood. I love bowling. And A2Z has given me the opportunity to get my name out there and possibly, somebody is going to notice”.

if He keeps thinking the way he is, and continues bowling the way he is, it would be hard to not notice.

Adult handicap division: with 5 of the 19 entries advancing to the bracket finals, one would assume that a “sense of urgency” would prevail in the qualifying round. being presumptuous is not a good thing sometimes. Of the 19 participants at Port Jeff this past Friday night, only two, bob michaud, port jeff station, and anne herd, bethpage, bowled over average in the 4-game qualifier. 17 of 19 bowlers, failed to bowl average for the night. In addition, 1 single pin in wood count would not only separate the leader from the second place qualifier, it would leave two bowlers on the outside looking in.

Michaud led all bowlers with a 943 w/hdcp. Michaud, who entered the tournament with a 196 average, rolled an 823 scratch (205.75) highlighted by a 233 and a 232 in games 1 and 2. He would need every pin he knocked down. Herd on the other hand, entered with a 165 average and shot a 710 scratch (177.50) that guided her to 942 w/hdcp, 1 pin back of michaud. Rounding out the top 5 were frank collins, holbrook at 901 (there is that number again!). Vito genova, franklin square, 870 and joe zullo sr, floral park at 868. Missing the cut by a 1 pin were midge swanson, freeport  and brian darcy, setauket, both at 867. As a matter of fact, the difference between the 5^th and 12^th place, was only 20 pins. Only vinnie zambino of shirley, would bowl better than his average in game 4, 200 (178 average). to put things in proper perspective for the evening, #4 seed Vito Genova, went from 9^th place after 3 games into the #4 seed by bowling 191, exactly his average, in game 4. Joe Zullo Sr went from 7^th after 3 games to the 5^th by rolling a 192, 14 pins under his 206 average. lots of head shaking going on for sure.

In the brackets elimination round, the head shaking would continue. Only #5 seed zullo sr would break out as he defeated #2 seed herd 252-211 w/hdcp. Genova would defeat collins 228-211 w/hdcp. Genova and zullo sr would meet in the semis. Winner to face #1 seed michaud.

Genova at this point decided to take matters into his own hands. He would stay clean for the entire game and he went on to roll a 213 scratch (248 w/hdcp). However, zullo sr ran into some bad luck. Opening 3 times in the semi final match, zullo sr would finish with a 181 scratch (202 w/hdcp) and genova would find himself in a position to bowl for the championship vs michaud.

in the championship match, neither bowler showed signs of wanting to leave the other behind. michaud ran into problems with splits, while genova couldnt throw strikes. however, in the end, genova had just enough to defeat michaud 214-199 w/hdcp. genova explained his views on the low scores.  “the lanes were tough. My spare shooting is what did it for me tonight, especially in the last game.” Genova further explained, “bob ran into some problems with the splits he left. I just kept saying to myself ‘throw good shots and make the spares’. Tonight it paid off”.