Everything Candlepin

Bogey Lanes in East Brookfield, MA hosted the WNECA tour on Sunday, January 6.  A total of 15 bowlers took the field this time around, and by golly, there wasn’t a single withdrawal!

Here’s a look at the top 5 qualifiers:

1. Brian Mayer – 658
2. Rich Bober – 648
3. Rich Myrick – 642
4. Korey Packard – 640
5. Scott Caddell – 618

-Notable Scores-
Jason Gauthier – 612
Steve Renaud, Sr. – 609
Dave Dupuis – 606
Steve Vadney – 602

-Whoa-
Steven Renaud, Jr. – 532

The first knockout match between Scott Caddell and Korey Packard was close the entire string.  Caddell made the 3-5-6 late in the match for a spare while Packard left himself the 5-6-10 with little to no help.  Packard was unable to convert the shot, allowing Caddell to seal up the match, 114-112.

After a ton of warm-up boxes, I took on Scott Caddell.  There was absolutely nothing to see here for 6 boxes, as we were even at 63 apiece going into the 7th. Caddell threw back to back spread eagles in the 7th and 8th, and I put a few spares together to win 141-114.

The term ‘flat as a pancake’ gets thrown around less and less these days, and that’s probably a good thing, but I was pancake-flat against Bober.  His hot start of 9-drop, spare, strike had me on the ropes from the first ball forward.  Bober cruised to an easy 129-100 win and advanced to the finals against top seed Brian Mayer.

The term ‘flat as a pancake’ gets thrown around more and more these days, and while my breakfast came with syrup, Mayer’s came with a punch in the face.  Bober put 4 marks together in the first half and Brian had so many splits I thought the automated scoreboard was going to run out of red marks.  Bober going away, 144-103.

That’s 2 out of 3 for Rich Bober, defeating Mayer both times in the finals.  He is an early favorite for bowler of the year, but there are still 3 more events.  The next WNECA pro tour event is at Canal Lanes, Sunday February 3, at 12 pm. Walk-ins are welcome for $75, we hope to see you there!

French King Entertainment Center in Erving, MA was the place to be December 2nd as a field of 19 rocked their bodies to the left for a shot at a WNECA title.

I led qualifying with 659.  Aaron Spiller and his 641 edged Dave Dupuis by a pin for the #2 seed, and there was a 4-bowler battle going into the final game for the #4 and #5 seeds.

Glenn “Oscar” Ares ended up finishing 4th with 606, while Ed Tringale snuck by Brian Mayer for the #5 seed.  Brian threw a strike in the 50th frame of qualifying, but punched through twice for 5 on the fill, missing the cut by a single pin, 601-600.  Fun Time event winner Rich Bober finished with 595.

Keeping with the theme of the day, Tringale crept by Oscar in the first knockout match by (guess what) a single pin, 122-121.  From there, no one was beating Eddie T.

Tringale  140-136  Dupuis
Tringale  120-105  Spiller
Tringale  120-110  Myrick

Running the ladder is rare, but Ed has now done it twice over the last two seasons.  Its difficult to roll 35-40 quality boxes in just as many minutes against 4 separate opponents. Congrats to Ed on his 2nd WNECA victory!

Coverage of the much more recent WNECA tour at Bogey Lanes from Sunday will be posted soon! How soon? Well that remains to be seen.

The 2012-2013 WNECA Pro Tour is off and running, with Rich Bober laying claim to the opener in impressive fashion.

With many familiar faces not in attendance, a field of 15 took to Fun Time Lanes in Holyoke, MA for the 5-string qualifying round.  There was not a lot of noise being made early on, with just one 400 series belonging to Steve Renaud, Sr. after the 3rd string.

After a tough 4th game from Renaud, a nice 150 string vaulted Brian Mayer and his obnoxious purple USA East shirt (sorry, I had to) to the #1 seed, which he sealed up nicely in the 5th game.  The rest of the seeding came down to the final half, with most of the field in contention for the last 4 seeds.  Here were the top 5 qualifying scores and notables who were just a mark away.

Brian Mayer – 645
Rich Bober – 630
Steve Renaud, Sr. – 627
Aaron Spiller – 615
Steve Vadney – 609

Gary Santora – 601
Dave Dupuis – 601
Ed Tringale – 600

The first knockout match featured #5 Vadney versus #4 Spiller.  This was a clinic in candlepins by Aaron Spiller.  After *just* sneaking by a single in the opening box, Aaron put together 7 straight marks, including a double strike you probably could have heard across town.  Needing another pair of strikes in the 10th for a chance at 200, he chopped through and settled for a 183-101 victory over the Hall of Famer Vadney.

Spiller cooled off a bit early in the next match against the #3 seed Renaud, but managed a spare at the half.  Meanwhile, Steve Renaud couldn’t buy a break.  After putting a great ball on the cluster of 5 (3-5-6-9-10 pins) and leaving the 9 pin wiggling to finish off the half, it was clear that this wasn’t his match.  Spiller, who will be bowling with Renaud and Extreme TNT this year at the Worlds in Bangor, had a pair of early second half marks to put this one on ice, 118-108.

The match of the day by far was the semifinal affair between Spiller and another Extreme TNT teammate, #2 seed Rich Bober.  Spiller started big again and was up nearly 20 at the half.  Bober was not to be denied though, as he ran off 4 consecutive spares with big fills while Spiller was held to 9s and 10s.  When Spiller was unable to make a mark in the final frame, Bober pinned out to win a 135-132 come-from-behind thriller.

The final match was all Bober from the beginning as he posted early consecutive marks. The #1 seed Brian Mayer never found the rhythm until he finally spared in the 10th box, of course to a nice mock cheer from his friends and fellow bowlers. Bober took home this one 132-102 to win the opening event.

Despite having just 15 bowlers at this event, Rich Bober will receive a nice check for $400. Looks like his season is paid for!  All other ladder participants will also receive checks.  $25 will also be given to the bowler with the high single out of the money.  All payouts are tentative based on turnout, so obviously the more people the bigger the prizes!

There will be no WNECA Pro Tour event in November.  Instead, the next event will be December 2nd at French King Entertainment Center in Erving, MA.  The Tour will also be bowling at Bogey Lanes, North Star Bowl, and Canal Lanes.  There is the potential for an event at either Agawam or Diamond Junction to round out the schedule, details to follow.  WNECA is hoping to see those familiar faces back next month at French King!

The Western New England Candlepin Association Pro Bowlers Tour leads off their 2012-2013 season at 12 pm this Sunday, October 14 at Fun Time Lanes in Holyoke, MA.

Dave Dupuis will be looking to defend his Bowler of the Year title from last season as big guns Steve Vadney, Brian Mayer, and the Renauds look to post some equally big numbers early on.

Each WNECA Pro Tour event consists of a 5-string qualifying round, with the top 5 qualifiers advancing to a head-to-head knockout ladder with one-string matches. The 5th place qualifier bowls the 4 seed, with the winner advancing to bowl the 3-seed, and so on until a champion is crowned.

The tour is open to anyone! A full membership covers all 6 events and costs $400 (plus a tentative $25 fee which goes directly to the final event), or you can walk-in for $100 for any of the first 5 events. The 6th and final event is exclusive to members only.

The WNECA is hoping to generate some new faces and bring back some old ones this year, and will be giving $500 directly to the members-only event as a nice incentive to join up for the full season.

Another incentive for those who are on the fence about joining is the ‘2nd-chance’ format of the members-only event. Any member who doesn’t cash during the season will bowl in their own head-to-head tournament for cash prizes! No one goes away empty-handed. There are Bowler of the Year points, some nice hardware to take home, maybe even a buck or two!

The Tour generally runs on the first Sunday of each month at 12 pm. The bowlers will discuss dates and times for the remaining stops at the first event, including the November stop as the usual date conflicts with the Worlds.

If you’d like to join the WNECA Pro Tour this season, simply show up to the first event, or call Canal Lanes at 413-527-3492. Owner Joan Yamilkoski is the tournament director.

We’ll have full written coverage of this Sunday’s event, and every event, all season long!

Oh yeah! Not that you needed another incentive to come bowl or watch, but Fun Time has been known to provide an obscene amount of pizza for the bowlers and spectators after the event…just saying!