11th Frame
By Bill Ryan
Tour Trials league kicks off with 10 teams
ASD I Remodeling Tour Trials league kicked off on Sunday using the 35-foot PBA Cheetah pattern. Jon Myers recorded the top individual effort with his 677 including games of 231 and 234. The top team effort was turned in by the Wammes team as the trio of bowlers recorded series of 672 for Mickey Higham, 670 by Kyle Waynick and 669 by Bill Wammes. Wammes used a 267 middle game to boost his total; while Higham had a similar high of 267 in the first game; while Waynick finished with 231 and 245 in his set. The team had a high game of 713 and 2,011 total
Despite the consistent balanced scoring, the team only finished in second place after the first league session at 11-4. The VanDeVelde team amassed a 14-1 record and leads the league after the first week.
Other top individual efforts included a 246 game and 668 series by Mike Leese and a 252 game by Austin Reno.
The Cheetah pattern used was the same as what the Professional Bowler’s Association PBA50 tournament used when the senior bowlers appeared and competed on in August. The next test for the league will be the 38-foot 2016 USBC team pattern on Oct. 1.
NWO travel league
The Northwest Ohio traveling league also kicked off last weekend featuring 10 teams from nine cities in the area. In addition to Bowling Green’s team, there are two teams from Lima as well as teams from Bluffton, Coldwater, Delphos, Fostoria, Kenton, Napoleon and Ottawa.
The first week, the league bowled on a 40-foot oil pattern.
Jay Samelak led the BG team and the league on the first week with games of 245 and 248 in his 672 series. Kyle Waynick added a 637. Like the Tour Trials league, this event features challenging lane conditions as well. Pancha Melendrez bowled a 224 high game in her 563 set. Rick Stevenson and Ron Steinman completed the team scoring.
On the Ball
Mickey Higham is an accomplished bowler and assists with the pro shop at Al-Mar. He is authoring a regular Pro Shop column which Al-Mar will post on its Facebook page and otherwise circulate called “On the Ball.”
For those who may not know, Hiigham was the first bowler to record an 800 series in the American Bowling Congress tournament (now the United States Bowling Congress) His 801 dame in the singles event in the 1977 tournament earning him a prestigious Eagle Award as the singles champion. He has also recorded several other top 10 finishes in the national event. He has a USBC lifetime average of 205 over 44 years.
Higham has also won state and regional championships over the years in Missouri, Colorado, North Carolina and Georgia.
Other leagues
Starting with the younger generation. The Rally’s Junior All Starts is led by Team 5 with a perfect 14-0 record. On Saturday Conner Main led the league with his 122 game and 319 series. Lucas Lilly had a 105 game and 298 series. For the girls Kyleigh Leu shot a 93 high game and 229 series.
Brandon Knell shot a high of 186 in his 481 set.
In the Bobcat 2 a Days league, Avery Latta paced all the bowlers with his 244 game and 587 series. Brandon Knell was second high with his 481 average and his high game of 186. Clayton Genson also rolled a 186 game. Team 5 leads the league with its 12-2 record.
In the Ladies Major league both division leaders have 12-2 records entering the third week. Beckett’s leads Division 1 with Or’s Sunoco leading Division 2.
Pancha Melendrez led the league last week with her 247 high game and 644 series. Yogi Wammes was close behind with her 227 and 602. Krissy Anderson missed a 600 set by five pins on the strength of her 210 game.
Team 5 has a 9-1 record to lead the Tuesday Coffee League. Gloria Richards at 311 and Sally Amos with 310 led the league last week. Amos had a 190 game and Linda Damron recorded a 169 game.
Mills Jewelry has a 12-point lead in the East division of the Elks 818 League. They have a 64-17 record after three weeks. Wittkamp Insurance is second in the division at 52-29. In the West Division Franks Sales leads at 48-33 and has a one game lead over JLS.
Gary Wachter averaged better than 250 last Tuesday as he paced the league with his 267 and 754. Brent Norris shot a 660 set with Bill Wammes notching 656 and Kent Vollmar, 653.
For the women in the league, Sam Wiley paced the group with her 215 game and 611 series. Mallory Fritz added a high of 202 for her 587 series.
In the Wednesday American League, three teams are tied at 14-7 atop the East Division. They are Modern Woodmen, Thayer Ford-Nissan and Or’s Sunoco. South River Mechanical and Al Smith Chrysler are tied atop the West at 12-9.
Ryan Spangenberg had the high series last Wednesday at 691, with Gene VanDeVelde close behind at 686 on the strength of a 267 game. Brad Kratzer’s 275 was the high game of the night.
In Thursday’s Eagles league, Ryan’s Steak House sits atop the East division at 16-5 followed closely by Frisch’s Big Boy N. Main at 15-6. Pendleton and Sons have a half-game lead over Naugle in the West at 14.5-6.5.
Last Thursday Pancha Melendrez shot the high game of 277; while Ron Steinman shot a 254 high game in his balanced 745 series. Melendrez finished with a 663 set. Gary Wachter shot 687 and Ken North 668. Terry Leek had a 254 game.
And in the Randy Miller Memorial league Mitchell-Otte sit atop the 47.4-12.5 record with Crusa-Miller at 42-18.
Kris Kolk knocked down 916 pins in his four games to pace the league with Jeff Sayre, just two pins back at 914. Kolk had the high game of 270 with Bill Wammes close behind at 266 in his 889 set. Denise Miller led the women with her 863 total.
On the horizon, etc.
The popular inter-league Surviving the Game will be starting soon. The feature of this game is to not be among the most below your average for any week. As those bowlers are eliminated each week.
Also the World Series of Baseball featuring 3-person trio teams will be held at 10 a.m. Oct. 29. Get your teams together now. The event uses the special BaseBowl scoring system.
There are still a few bowlers needed in the mixed league which bowls 15 weeks every other Sunday. It is for four-person handicap team and can be any combination of men and women including all women or all men. It is just a mixed league.