Great Scoring in Grand Finals Tournament

 Out of the 79 SISBA members eligible to participate in the Grand Finals, 71 made it to Tough Guy Lanes in Pocatello. And the scores were well worth the trek. It took a five game series of 1043 to qualify for the playoffs.

  The high qualifier and the high Super Senior qualifier both had over 1200 pins - Don Winter of Kearns, Utah, with 1240 and Den Fernandez of Taylorsville, Utah, had 1218. Nine bowlers were over 1100 and 23 were over 1000.

  The STORM 300 Game Pot was raided, too, not by just one bowler, but had to be split two ways. John Bertolina of Henderson, Nevada, struck first by rolling out the perfect game in his second game of qualifying, followed closely by Ben Fulton of Ogden, Utah who shot his 300 in the fifth game. Both received half the pot - $314.50 each. The STORM 300 Game Pot will roll into the 2005-2006 season with $100.

  The two game roll-offs were just about as exciting as Bertolina almost hit another 300, settling for a super 279 game and a 512 series, which put him as number one going into the one-game match. But he was passed up for the number one seed in the stepladder finals when Fernandez rolled out a 258 game to eliminate Max Shellabarger of Roy, Utah, who had a great 244 game.

  But it was in the stepladder finals where something that rarely happens happened: fourth seed Randy Milspaugh of Kuna, Idaho won the match against fifth seed Larry Wasson of Idaho Falls, Idaho, whose 224 game could not best Milspaugh's 236 game. Then third seed Winter took out Milspaugh 248 to 211, but could not hold off second seed Bertolina with games 238 to 141. In the end, Bertolina's 214 game was no match for first seed Fernandez who rolled out a 265 game to take first place. See tournament results. 

NON-CASHER'S TOURNAMENT

  There were 46 SISBA members eligible for the Non-Casher's Tournament which is held in conjunction with the regular grand finals. It is based on the score of the first four games. Randy Milspaugh of Kuna, Idaho took first place with a score of 958. The tournament paid six places with a first place payoff of $450. See at bottom of tournament results. 

MEMBERSHIP MEETING

  At the meeting of the SISBA membership, several items were addressed and ballots were passed out as the members registered and drew for lanes:

1. Should the tournament be opened up to divisional play with three divisions: Age 44 and under, 45 to 60, 61 and above. There were two option on the ballot - to have two tournaments open or four tournaments open. The results of the votes were almost even between two and four tournaments. It was decided that there should be divisional tournament in the larger bowling centers at the discretion of the directors.

2.  J.D. Merrill of Desert Paradise Lanes in Elko, Nevada, presented a bid for the 2006 Grand Finals in Elko. He proposed a Swiss Tournament to be held on Friday night, qualifying rounds on Saturday with the playoffs on Sunday morning. He gave a proposed prize list based on added money and entries.

     Steve Young of Tough Guy Lanes in Pocatello, Idaho, also gave a presentation saying Pocatello was a centralized location for all members of SISBA and had a guaranteed $500 added to the Grand Finals prize fund and thought there would probably be at least $1000 added.

  The final vote was for Tough Guy Lanes.

3.  Should the Saturday squad be continued? The final vote was that there should be a Saturday squad only in the Elko, Nevada tournament and in smaller houses.

END OF SEASON AWARDS

  At the end of each season, all the bowlers who have participated in at least six squads have their games, series and wins tallied to determine the Bowler of the Year and the Super Senior Bowler of the Year awards. The are awarded three points for high game, high series, and number of showings in the stepladder finals, two points for second high game, series, and number of showings in the stepladder finals, and one point for third in those categories. There is only one award per person. Based on importance of Bowler of the Year, high series and high game, if one bowler is first in all three categories, the next person in high series/game will get the award, etc.

  This year, in the Super Senior (age 60 and over) category, Ed Pullman of Boise, Idaho had the high game of the year with 288, Ed Strommen of Anaconda, Montana shot the high series of the year of 1135, after Orville Edwards, of Pocatello, Idaho with 1176 and Pullman's 1163. High average was won by Den Fernandez of Taylorsville, Utah with a 205.13, after Edward's 206.31. And the Super Senior Bowler of the Year was Orville Edwards with 8.5 points.

  In the regular division, Steve Bordley of Roy, Utah had high series with 1177, and Don Winter of Kearns, Utah had high game, but a tie with Max Shellabarger of Roy, Utah, of 277. and Jay Aono of Boise, Idaho rolled a high average of 204.9, just under Shellabarger's 216.43. The Bowler of the Year, however, was Max Shellabarger with 9.5 points.

  Normally, bowling balls purchased from STORM are given away as prizes. However, we were unable to negotiate a deal with STORM this year so cash prizes of $100 each (around the prize we have paid for the balls in the past) were awarded to the recipients of the end of the year prizes.

  The first tournament of the 2005-2006 will be held at Westy's Lanes in Boise, Idaho. We will also return to Missoula, Montana in October. The rest of the schedule is under construction and will be posted on the web site ASAP with the final schedule mailed out to the membership in the August mailings.

SO!! Who's Winning the Pots?