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USBC Rewards

Did you know you are entitled to discounts and special deals at a wide array of businesses just by showing your USBC card?  Here are a few examples:

See even more special offers here.

Special Award

On Thursday night we traveled to Sky Lanes to take pictures of the team that won the county tournament .  The team called Sky Laners +1 is composed of Tom Sadler, Ben Hawkins, Mike Miller, Robert Sadler, and Bill Drsek.

While we were there, we were privileged to see and record a special presentation.  Mike Miller threw his first ever sanctioned 300 game during the tournament.  Mike was a bit concerned that he hadn't received his ring yet, and had mentioned it to his league officers several times.  What Mike didn't know was that his friends had arranged  to have the ring delivered to Sky Lanes and asked his grandfather Don Laubert to present the ring,

Don is a hall of famer who was has been a driving force in bowling in Portage County for many decades.  As the manager at Sky Lanes until just a few years ago, Don was a respected coach and mentor to many of the fine bowlers in Garrettsville and was one of the driving forces in getting Varsity Bowling started in the county.

Don said that Mike was more like a son than a grandson to him and his wife Anne.  During the presentation of the 300 ring, Don's voice cracked with emotion as he described his special relationship with Mike.  It was a touching scene.

Association Meeting

The 2012 Annual Meeting and banquet of the Portage County USBC BA was held at Twin Star Lanes on April 15.  William Wimmer said grace before the County Tournament winners were asked to go to the head of the line for the buffet luncheon.

Bill Miner, Larry Smith, and Bill Rogers waiting for the food.	Cheryl entertaining the Carneys.
Matt Tennant getting ready.	Jim Boyle, Vice President, and Ray Woodrum, Tournament Director talking with Matt Tennant
The Flachbarts studying the agenda.	Guest speaker Michael Phillips with Jim Boyle.

The meeting portion of the program featured guest speaker, Michael Phillips, Regional Director for Ohio State USBC BA, who shared his insights on the National and State Conventions and the prospects of having the state sponsored tournaments in Northern Ohio.  He is responsible for several counties in Northeast Ohio (Zone 10) and stands ready  to help associations, bowling centers, and leagues with problems.  He is also a bowling coach and is willing to help with problems involving youth bowling and/or High School Varsity bowling.

The main reason for the annual meeting is to elect Directors and set fees for the year.  Matt Tennant, who has been President of PC USBC BA for the past six years, announced that he would not seek another term as president, but was willing to remain a Director if reelected.  Matt, Dale Holgate, Troy Damicone, and Paul Jarosz were then reelected as directors for another three year term.  There are currently two openings for Directors...interested individuals should contact Matt before the July meeting for more information.

Keith Lang, Financial Officer, discussed the need to increase income as well as spend less to keep the net assets of the Portage County USBC BA at the current level.  He proposed a plan to increase dues to $6 while spending less on tournaments,

Paul Jarosz was elected to succeed Matt starting in July.  Paul has been a Director for the past six years and brings a wealth of business and organizational skills as well as a profound knowledge of the sport of bowling.  As evidence for the last point, Paul was the Singles co-champion in this year's County Tournament.

Our financial officer, Keith Lang, offered a thorough analysis of the financial position of the Association for the past several years.  Six years ago we found ourselves with a financial surplus, much more money than a nonprofit entity should maintain.  Subsequently we decided to lower our local dues from $5 to $0, then to $2, and most recently back to $5.  Our current position is that we have on hand about the amount recommended by USBC (an amount equal to one year's expenditures).  But in order to maintain this amount Keith laid out a plan where we scale back on the amounts we have been spending on tournaments, look into finding sponsors for some of the tournaments, increase entry fees slightly, and increase dues.  After his presentation the members present voted to increase local dues to $6.  The board will then have to find a way to implement Keith's recommendations to maintain our financial position.

At the end of the meeting checks were distributed to those who won money in the County Tournament and champion's plaques and jackets were presented.

Devin Renkel, Singles (Tie)	Scott Lohr, Handicap All-Events
Kevin Kommel and Wes Scott, Doubles Kevin also won Scratch All-Events	Paul Jarosz, Singles (Tie) Paul is also President-Elect

More pictures from the banquet.

Heiser Wins the Senior Memorial

Finalists in the Senior Memorial Tournament:  Gary Heiser, Larry Schwalbach, Shelby Berry, and Rick Ewell

Gary Heiser of Brimfield shot 258-239 in the finals to run away with the title in the 2012 version of the Portage County Senior Memorial Tournament at Kent Lanes on April 13.  Heiser finished the qualifying round as the winner in his age group (70 and over) with 742; Larry Schwalbach bested his age group (65-69) with 669; Shelby Berry led the 60-64 age group with 709; and Carl (Rick) Ewell won his age group (55-59) with 741.

In the two game finals, featuring the four age group winners the scores were Heiser 533, Berry 458, Ewell 442, and Schwalbach 437.  Each of the age division winners will receive a paid entry into the State Senior tournament next November in addition to their prize check.

The best score in the tournament was a 268 by Don Morrow in the third game of qualifying, and the best actual series in qualifying was 688 by Heiser.

Prize money

YOUTH Tournament Results

The Portage County YOUTH association sponsored a Singles/Doubles tournament over the weekend.  The results are here.

Portage County Tournament Prize List

Prize checks, champions' jackets, and champions' trophies will be presented at the annual meeting and banquet of the Portage County USBC BA at AMF Twin Star Lanes on Sunday, April 15 at 1:30.  This is a change from the information printed on the entry form.  The banquet is free to all bowlers sanctioned in the Portage County USBC BA, and all bowlers are encouraged to attend.

The pay-outs for this year are listed below:

The Portage County Concludes

The 65th Portage County Tournament ended as the last ball was thrown at about 4:15 on Sunday afternoon at the end of the ninth and final squad.  The biggest change for the day was when Devin Renkel knocked down just enough pins to tie Paul Jarosz for the Handicap Singles title.  After completing a not-so-successful doubles series with his father, Emil, the 20 year old with a 133 average shot 182-167-191-540 for a handicap total of 774.  Jarosz still had the best Scratch Singles score, 774.

The best team was never challenged on the day and the champions will be Sky Laners +1 (Mike Miller, Ben Hawkins, Robert Sadler, Bill Drsek, and Tom Sadler)  who have led since the third day of competition.  They also have the top scratch score.

The leaders in Handicap Doubles remained Kevin Kommel and Wesley Scott, while the best Scratch Doubles score was accomplished by Ben Hawkins and Howie Moore.

Scott Lohr will receive the champion's jacket for Handicap All-Events while Kevin Kommel will be presented the jacket for Scratch All-Events.

Prizes are determined by the tournament director, Ray Woodrum, according to the rules printed in the entry form:  one in five teams, doubles, and singles earn money, with approximately 20% of the money awarded for scratch places.  So there will be five Handicap Team awards and one Scratch Team award, ten Handicap Doubles awards and two Scratch Doubles awards, and 17 Handicap Singles awards and four Scratch Singles awards.  Duplicate awards will be presented for ties, including the tie in Handicap Singles, with each getting a jacket and plaque. 

In All-Events there will be seven Handicap checks and five Scratch checks because participants pay separate entry for those events.  Each champion will also receive a jacket and plaque.

Now here is every score in the tournament:

The Portage County...Day 6

The Portage County Tournament meets St. Patrick's Day at Sky Lanes.  Aaron O'King and Dave O'Long showed their holiday spirit and did a little bowling as well.  They teamed up with the rest of the gang on Bainbridge Auto to take over second place in the Handicap team event.  Teammate Scott Lohr thrilled the crowd as he had the first eleven, but left one pesky pin on his 12th shot in game two.

Bainbridge Auto (Aaron King 648, Ben Hawkins 694, Dave Long , Brian Kish, Scott Lohr 681) jumped into second place in the Team event with 3425.  Lohr drew applause when he shot 299 in his second game which helped him take a 37 pin lead in Handicap All-events.

Brian Boveington and Russ Martin both shot 727 in singles to get into the top 10 in that event after Martin and Devin Renkel bowled well enough to get on the board in Doubles.

Dale Holgate shot 747 in the team event with his friends on the Portage County USBC BA team.

Competition concludes Sunday with squads at 9:30 and 1:30.  Entries are now closed. 

Adolph outlasts the field

Pat Adolph averaged 240 over two days and 16 games to qualify in the first position in the finals of the 2012 Portage County Masters Tournament, and then overcame an opening frame split to beat Steve Waters 222-202 to win the $1500 first prize at Kent Lanes.

Matt Tennant, President of the Portage County USBC BA, presided over the finals and wrote this: 

"After 16 games 4 competitors had outlasted the field of 48 and found themselves in the finals of the 2012 edition of the Portage County Masters. One hometown bowler, Patrick Adolph, led the field going into the finals and needed only one victory to secure that the title stayed inside of county lines for the 2^nd straight year. And after a grueling 12 games of qualifying and 4 more in the semi’s, Adolph wouldn’t be denied.

Adolph was joined in the finals by 2^nd place qualifier Steve Waters who bowls out of Summit and Stark counties, 3^rd place Greg Martha from Newton Falls and Bobby Sense Jr., also from Stark County rounded out the top 4. In the first match Sense Jr. squared off against Martha in a match that was tightly contested and could’ve gone either way until the 8^th frame when Sense Jr. struck, sending a pin hurdling across the deck to tackle the ten pin. Martha would succumb to a bad break in his half of the 8^th, when the pesky 8 pin was still standing after a solid shot. His next two shots also appeared to be worthy of striking but he left a 4 pin and a 7 pin in the ninth and tenth and Sense Jr finished with the last 7 strikes to defeat Martha 258-224.

Sense moved on to face the young two handed phenom, Waters. Both bowlers encountered problems on the right lane and the high scores from game 1 were a thing of the past. Sense Jr. bowled 4 times on the right lane before he finally struck in the 9^th to keep himself in the match. Waters, whose style and delivery had the fans in awe all tournament long, delivered on his reputation early on in the match. He was undeterred after a bad break split resulted in an open in the third frame, as he would double and had the potential to slam the door shut, but Waters’ troubles on the right lane started in frame 6. He came up light and left a 2-10 and his struggles on that lane would follow him the rest of the night. After Sense Jr. opened in the 10^th Waters spared in the 10^th and moved on to the finals, where Kent native Pat Adolph was waiting, with a 199-169 victory.

The championship match started off in favor of the 2-hander but ultimately the right lane and his opponent got the better of him. Adolph opened in the 1^st frame leaving a nasty split, but would recover quickly to double in the 2^nd and 3^rd but would again split and open in the 4^th. Waters struck in the 2^nd and 4^th on the left lane but would stone two 10-pins in 1^st and 3^rd. His next trip to the right lane in the 5^th resulted in the same 10 pin standing, but in even more excruciating fashion as another pin banged across the deck and flew right in front of the corner pin without bothering to knock it down. The frustration carried over as the next three frames for Waters resulted in 1 pin spares before he finally struck on his bad lane in the 9^th. But it was too little too late as Adolph had punched a 5 bagger after pulverizing the 1-3 pocket from the 5^th to the 9^th frame. Adolph only needed 6 pins to clinch his first Master’s title by the time it was his turn in the 10^th frame. He got nine. Then he spared, and then struck one more time for show. And what a good show it was, put on by Adolph and Waters from Game 1 to Game 16 and on into the Championship match, as all weekend they flip flopped between 1^st and 2^nd as well as distanced themselves from the field. But in the end, it was the Portage County boy who was the Portage County Master."

Dave Caplinger shot an 800	Shawn Stevens shot a 300	Tim Popson shot  a 296	Steve Waters took second place

Prize List

To see all the scores, click  here.

Carden and Stevens Repeat

Denny Carden again teamed up with his cousin, Tim Stevens and won the Handicap Doubles Tournament for the second year in a row.  Forty-four two-man teams took on AMF Twin Star Lanes early in the morning on January 29 to compete for the title and four teams qualified for the two game finals. 

Three of the four final duos were made up of relatives:  Ronnie and Eric Lewis qualified second, and Adam and Andrew Stokes qualified fourth.  Only the team of DJ Madden and Jim Palmer, who qualified third, are not blood relatives.

Ryan Gierke started the tournament with a perfect 300 game, the only perfecto in the tournament.  The highest actual series was tossed by DJ Madden with a four game total of 1021 including a 289 and a 268.  Dave Routh tossed a 278, Sean Berry a 279, Robert Whitt a 276, and Tim Stevens a 275.  Stevens also had the top handicap total in the qualifying round of 1062.

In the  two game finals Carden and Stevens finished on top (sharing  $880) followed by Madden and Palmer ($440),  Stokes and Stokes ($220) and Lewis and Lewis ($200).

Finishing in the money but not making the finals were Craig Lewis and Kevin Kommel ($140), Harry Illner and Ryan Schott ($100), Geno Kitakis and Dave Routh ($90), Lewis Monti and Rick Benko ($80), and Ryan Livergood and Bryan Fishback ($70).

Carden Wins Big

Denny Carden poured it on in the finals of the Handicap Singles Tournament at Twin Star Lanes on Jan 15 to earn the championship for 2012.  Denny shot 279-213 in the two game final set to beat his closest competitor, Don Morrow, by 56 pins.  Also in the final foursome were Ron Lewis Sr. and Harry Illner who finished 106 and 107 pins behind respectively.

Carden also had the high total in the four game qualifying round with 1040, followed by Lewis with 1010, Morrow with 1003, and Illner with 978.  Also cashing, but not making the finals were Matt Koneval, Andrew Stokes, and Greg Brandner.  Bradner earned money for 7th place by beating Tim Stevens by one pin in a ninth and tenth frame shoot-out after the qualifying round.

Good scores for the tournament were a pair of 268's for Carden, 268-257 for Rich Moore, 266 by Craig Lewis, 267-256 for Mike Umstead, 257 by Steve Retherford, 257 for Mason Preston, 255 for Troy Damicone, and 254 by Adam Stokes.

Payouts:

Garrettsville Trio Wins

Jeff Pesecky, Russ Renkel and James Bailey outscored the field in the Baker games of the Junior-Senior tournament to win it all.  They trailed the team of Mike Ring, Joey Ault, and Butch George by 2080 to 2071, but scored a tournament high 1363 for the 6 baker games and a total of 3434 while Ring, Ault and George scored 1243 in the Baker for a total of 3323 to finish in 5th and out of the money.

The team of Joe Cherny, Kevin Piorkowski, and Ken Piorkowski finished second with a total of 3381; Tim Stevens, Willie Harris, and Denny Carden were third at 3375; and D,J. Madden, Dennis Madden, and Dan Madden landed in 4th with 3345.

The best scores were recorded by Denny Carden 288, Joey Ault 279, Bryan Adolph 278, and Shawn Stevens 270.  The best actual series were scored by Mike Zerucha 737, Bill Flachbart 715, and Shawn Stevens 713.  The best baker games was 363 by the team of Bill Mazan, John Haynes, and Tom Schlupe.

Sixteen teams competed in the tournament which was double the number of teams from last year.

The team payouts were:

First place        $398

Second place   $199

Third place        $135

Fourth place      $  63

Mixed Tournament Results

The BMR Pro Shop team of Mike and Kim Zukowski and Scott and Angela Smith scored 2752 in the last squad of the tournament to win the 2011 Mixed Tournament at Kent Lanes on November 13.  The same team won this tournament with a score of 2759 in 2007, also at Kent Kanes.  The second place team of Mike Smelko, LIz Smelko, Cheryl Tennant, and Denny Tennant scored 2619.  The Tennants took second place in 2007 with different partners.

Doubles champs were the team of Barb Deakins and Jim Bailey.  Barb and Jim were recruited by Herb Hamilton to bowl with him and his daughter, Mistine Wensel, in the team event.  Although Barb and Jim knew each other, they had never bowled together before Saturday.  Their score of 1435 topped Herb and Mistine's 1335, who had to settle for second place.

Bailey was the Men's All-Events champ with a total of 1469, while Kim Zukowski won the Women's All-Events with 1390.

YOUTH Tournament Results

Jen Flachbart sent results from the YOUTH tournament at Sky Lanes on Oct 6.  You can view her report here.  Our hats go off to the hard working people who do so much for the young bowlers in Portage County.

Scratch Doubles Results

The team of Bill Flachbart and Jim Dukes outlasted the duo of Frank Testa and Tony Carson in the finals to claim championship status on October 23 at Kent Lanes in the annual Scratch Doubles Tournament sponsored by the Portage County USBC BA.  Testa and Carson had qualified in the top position for the stepladder finals with a total of 2473 for the five game set, followed by Flachbart and Dukes with 2316, Troy Damicone and Brian Walker with 2307, and Joey Ault and Shawn Stevens with 2294 in the fourteen team field.

In the first game of the  finals Damicone and Walker were topped by Ault and Stevens 439-403, before Flachbart and Dukes outscored Stevens and Ault in a close match 479-468.   Then in the final game Flachbart tossed a 246 with a turkey in the final frame to lead his side to a 436-421 victory.

The winners shared $500, second place $250, third place $150, and fourth place $126.

Makan Tops Field in Scratch Singles

Brian Makan led all qualifiers, averaging 253, in the Scratch Singles Tournament held at Kent Lanes on October 9 and went on to win the $450 first place prize.  Makan , who throws two-handed from the left side, tossed 10 strikes in the last game of the step-ladder finals to post 278 against Chad Akins ($225) who scored 241.

In the first game of the finals Matt Tennant bested last year's winner, Austin Smith, 194-176, and then was defeated by Akins  227-197.  Tennant pocketed $110 and Smith $85.

The highest score in the qualifying round was 279 by Makan, followed by 278 by Kody Ornousky.

Twenty-one bowlers got up early to bowl five games in the qualifying round in the ten o'clock tournament.  Then the field was cut to the top four for the step-ladder finals.

The Scratch Doubles Tournament will also be held at Kent Lanes  on October 23 at 10 AM.  You can get entry forms at any Portage County bowling center or on this web site on the Tournaments page.