Things remained pretty much the same for those precocious little Sifrit kids as they won another tournament and headed back to 20th Century and for. As for the likes of Myles Aldrich he returned to Westgate Lanes off his LBA Doubles title but for many of the high school bowlers in our area the transition is well underway as the West Ohio High School Bowling Conference season is upon us following somewhat of an exhibition this past week at a fine little diner in Minster.
Now before there is any confusion, I am very well aware that Community Lanes is a bowling alley, in my eyes a revered bowling alley but we will get to that in a minute. But let me tell you the food there is amazing, like in no reason for WOHSBC bowlers to eat anywhere else, and the service of Paula Vanderhorst on this visit was even better. She actually talked my out of my typical mushroom swiss burger and into the Philly cheese sub. All I can say is wow. She was amazing and the Philly was out of this world, or visa versa, I am really not sure.
Back to the revered lanes … One of the things that I have always loved about Community Lanes is that the scores are never handed to the bowlers. It can be and again on Saturday was a very humbling house. The youth really had to work for what they got with nobody hustling off to check any record books. It also clearly a singles event, with coaches scurrying from one end of the house to the other, to keep up with their bowlers.
When they did they found out that more than a handful of bowlers from the Lima area did quite well. In the format of the event the 70 plus lady bowlers and the 80 or so young men rolled two initial games, mirroring what they will be doing beginning this weekend. The respective fields were then cut in half for one more game with the final four going to the brackets for the concluding matches.
It was at this point that the word transition began to be very noticed.
Generally the word transition in this sport is in reference to how the lanes change as the as the lane conditioner spreads down the lane through the friction caused by the bowling balls. That was very much the case on Saturday as Gabe Dilallo, who led the event up to his final match, shared after his day on the lanes.
In this case however transition meant one maybe two other things. The more I watched the young ladies and then the young men roll the more I found myself wondering just how many strong bowlers did we lose from this league this past year? What will the team makeup look like in the weeks to come? Has there been a shift in power from the relative dominance of the Coldwater and Wapak squads? Time will tell!
As mentioned Dilallo of Temple Christian, led the tournament from game one, when he opened with a 238. He stretched the league going into match games and then hung on for dear life in his opening match with Dalton Ballinger of Coldwater, 175-172.
Meanwhile Skylar Briggs of Shawnee was squeezing out a win over Cole Cisco of Celina.
The Dilallo and Briggs match was not pretty but it was indeed competitive! Suffice it to say, the wear and tear of the day got to both of them and each would say it is not about the number it is about the W.
“Gabe just could not get a break, the pocket 7-10 really hurt him! I am lucky to have the win. I saw that big trophy last season and I wanted to win this tournament!” stated a tired but happy Briggs.
He did continue, “I think I pulled a muscle early in the tournament so I am really happy to have still had the chance to win. I was really nervous the second half of the match I really happy with the win!”
Madison Doseck of Wapak has been waiting for a chance to bowl in this league for quite awhile and she broke made quite an entrance with a clutch win over Lorrie Decker of Van Wert. Decker is the younger sister of former WOHSBC star Torrie Decker and she seems to be more than capable of picking up where her sister left off.
Allie Meeker of Shawnee and Hannah Riepenhoff of LCC finished third and fourth in the event. It was almost deja vue all over again as Hannah made a great run at repeating the championship of her cousin Cecilia from last season. Meeker made a great late run after struggling early in the tourney.
“I am really happy that I won but I was really nervous. I was even more nervous, later determined to be anxious, after I threw the winning shot.”
So where did the nerves come from Maddie?
“This is a really big tournament and initially I had to accept that I could get beat. I did not want to lose. I really hope that our team can make run to the state. That is my next goal.”
Great food, great kids and a great season lies ahead … what more could we want?
God Speed Bernice Boyed …
My mother always spoke with great respect of Bernice Boyed as did anybody whoever brought up her name to me. She was loved and perhaps even more notably respected in our bowling world.
Today she is with her husband Bill and many of her friends and family in heaven. She will be missed to all who walked this earth with her.
Don and Ray you have the love and the support of the bowling world, she will be missed.
.neFileBlock {
margin-bottom: 20px;
}
.neFileBlock p {
margin: 0px 0px 0px 0px;
}
.neFileBlock .neFile {
border-bottom: 1px dotted #aaa;
padding-bottom: 5px;
padding-top: 10px;
}
.neFileBlock .neCaption {
font-size: 85%;
}
