Long Island Summer Bowling Tour!

"When i rang the dime in the 11th, i had conceded the match in my mind. however, i have been around for a long time and i knew i still had a chance. he (Barton) wasnt in a gimme situation."  

Pete Bohleber

Westhampton, NY

The Long Island Summer Bowling Tour visited Westhampton Bowl on Friday August 3, 2001.  a field of 52 bowlers hit the lanes in hopes of becoming one of four champions. In addition, history repeats itself as 10th frame problems continue to haunt LISBT bowlers and the efforts of one bowler keeps it "All in the family".  

In the junior hdcp division, Louis Dalessio, Sound beach, continues to make impressive showings on the LISBT. for the second time in three weeks, the young and talented young man dominated play in the 4-game qualifying round. dalessio jumped out of the gate in game one with a 243 scratch and never looked back en route to a +193 w/hdcp. Shawn ethier, East Quogue, APPEARED to have second place locked up after game 3, however, the 185 average bowler struggled in game 4 and rolled a 153 (193 w/hdcp). Ed Barton, East Moriches, Buried in the #7 seed and trailing ethier by exactly 100 pins after 3, stormed back with a 247 scratch (293 w/hdcp) and forced a 1-game roll off vs. ethier. the winner of the roll off would advance to the championship game vs. dalessio. 

in the roll off game, barton was not able to carry his momentum forward and ethier, regrouping in a hurry, easily defeated him 251-197 w/hdcp and earned his way to meet dalessio for the championship. 

dalessio won the junior handicap event on july 20th at port jeff bowl and was seeking a second championship on the LISBT. in the final game, dalessio opened in the first frame and ethier took full advantage. ethier threw strikes early and often and watched as dalessio never really got untracked. although dalessio bowled a very respectable 193 scratch, he was well off the mark to win vs his opponent. ethier rolled a 245 scratch and defeated dalessio 285-249 w/hdcp to take home the crown.   

The junior scratch division featured some unbelievable scores. amanda beck, oakdale, set the pace with a sizzling 4-game qualifier of +130. what made beck's scores even more impressive, is she rolled a 184 in her second game. even with the 184, she shot a 684 front 3 and a 686 back 3. however, kevin bandrowski, speonk, was right on her tail through game 3. bandrowski, was at 677 for the front 3 and in the hunt for the top spot. beck however, finished with a 246 while bandrowski rolled a 203 to finish at +80. finishing a distant 3rd, tim modavis, sound beach, +42. 

the championship match saw beck and bandrowski go at it one final time. through frame five, each bowler had opened once, beck in frame 1 and bandrowski in frame 5. however, beck started throwing strikes in frame 2 and did not stop throwing them till frame 8. bandrowski on the other hand was having problems throwing consecutive strikes. although he threw enough strikes to finish at 212, beck coupled her string of strikes and staying clean the rest of the way and shot a 233 to earn the title. beck is the first female competitor on the LISBT to win either scratch division, adult or junior.  

in the adult scratch division, 9 of the 14 entries were on the plus slide of the ledger for the 4-game qualifier. leading the way was steve tisman, manorville at +152. tisman sparkled in game 3 (278) and game 4 (245) to jump from the #4 spot to the #1 spot. trailing tisman were Scott Teitler, patchogue at +80 and dan peirce, patchogue at +75. finishing 4th was george mottern, westhampton at +46. 

the semi final match featured the two patchogue residents in teitler and peirce. both bowlers are very familiar with each other. they compete year round at sayville bowl in the same leagues. for a good part of the semi final game, teitler and peirce stayed close. it wasn't until teitler opened up in frame 8 that Peirce slammed the door shut on him. Peirce threw timely strikes in frame 7, 8 and 9 and never looked back en route to the 222-177 victory. that set the stage for Peirce vs. tisman. 

tisman and Peirce came out swinging. matching strikes and spares early, it was Peirce who was to dictate the tempo. but little did he know he was to change the tempo as well. Peirce appeared locked in and was in the drivers seat. tisman looked to be in trouble. however, tisman was on the receiving end of the mother of all breaks. Peirce, on a double and up in frame 6, fouled on his first shot. Peirce however regrouped and strung together strikes in frames 7 and 8 and incredibly remained in contention. tisman however, stayed tough on his own and threw strikes in frames 8 and 9. Peirce actually threw enough strikes in the match that would force tisman to get count and mark in the 10th. tisman patiently got up in the 10th and flushed the first shot in the 10th and followed up with two more and went on to defeat Peirce 247-218 to take home the crown. 

in the adult handicap division, the top 3 bowlers to qualify all went over the 1000 mark. pete bohleber, miller place set the pace with a 1029 w/hdcp while norman tyte jr, east quogue was second at 1013 and april mccoy, southhampton came in at 1004. also advancing to the next round were sheilla parrish, riverhead at 999 and chris barton, east moriches, 997. earning a 6th place check was jim luke, miller place at 990. eryn cully, medford was a distant 7th at 947. 

in the brackets eliminator, parrish defeated mccoy 249-230 w/hdcp while barton defeated tyte jr, 259-235 w/hdcp. 

in the semifinal game, barton was to be too much for parrish, as he defeated her 258-232 w/hdcp. barton would go on to face bohleber in the finals. 

the championship game resulted in more twists and turns imaginable. country roads do not have as many turns as this match would produce. first it was bohleber who would establish the tempo. throwing strikes in frames 1 and 2 and marking in frame 3, barton found himself in an early hole as he went strike, spare and open. exchanging strikes in frames 4 and 5, barton threw an extra strike in frame 6. still it was bohleber who was in control. then came turn #1. bohleber "just completely lost the ball off of my thumb", went Way wide and left the 1-2-3-4-5 pins on his first ball in the 7th. unable to convert the spare (leaving the 5 pin), barton then went spare, strike, strike in frames 7-9. however, bohleber was still in a position to put barton in an uncomfortable position if he were to finish strong. bohleber, finishing first, marked in frame 9. he then went flush on his first strike in the 10th. then came turn #2. Bohleber, perhaps throwing his best shot of the night, rang the dime in frame 11 and settled for a 211.  

that set up barton in the 10th. he only needed to go 9, spare, 9 to win the game. introducing turn #3.    

what has become a bad habit to break over the last few weeks on the LISBT, barton joins the ranks of a few fellow LISBT bowlers as he failed to deliver the crucial blow in the 10th frame. "As bad as you can pull a shot" said barton, he went straight through the headpin and left the 3-6-10. at that point, spare or no spare, barton was finished and he knew it. final score, 238-223 w/hdcp bohleber. barton explained his misfortune, "I didn't get it done. when i threw the shot, i was looking for a break. I knew what i needed. what can i tell you. my fault. game over. the break i needed, i got. when pete left the 10 that pretty much left it all up to me". Bohleber on the other hand is a veteran of the game and offered his view on things. "When i rang the dime in the 11th, i had conceded the match in my mind. however, i have been around for a long time and i knew i still had a chance. he (Barton) wasnt in a gimme situation."  

with the win, bohleber joins his sister Amy bohleber, as champions of the LISBT! Ironically, amy won the Junior handicap division at Westhampton on june 22, 2001. Perhaps they should invest in the bowling center?   

great job by all bowlers who competed!   

A total of 52 entries participated in the event. Next on tap? South Levittown Lanes, August 10 at 8:45pm. Hope to see you there! 

Thanx for all the support. 

Final Standings after Qualifying

Payout