Perhaps it was meant to come down to this — in the Capital District Youth Scholarship Tour’s 50th tournament, the tour’s “Bowler of the Year” was beaten by this season’s final “Record Bowler of the Week” 210-194.
Chad Sutliff of Valatie won five consecutive matches to top Jonathan Bowman of Peru to win the CDYST Masters tournament at Town ‘n Country Lanes on Saturday, May 10.
Following a six-game qualifying round, the top-16 bowlers competed in single-game matches within a double-elimination format. In Round 4, Sutliff remained unbeaten when he defeated Zachery Porter of Rotterdam 210-158 to earn a berth into the Championship Round. In Round 5, Porter def. Christopher Radliff of Schenectady 157-136 and Bowman def. Jay Hadcock of Johnstown 203-151. Bowman then def. Porter 237-201 to set up the Championship Round.
CHAMPIONSHIP RECAP: Since he was undefeated, Sufliff had to win one match in the Championship Round to earn the title while Bowman had to win two. Bowman began with a spare, followed by three strikes to open up a 22-pin lead. Sutliff responded with four straight strikes (frames 3-6) to close to within three pins. In the ninth, a spare by Bowman was followed by two strikes in the tenth by Sutliff to clinch his second CDYST title.
SCHOLARSHIPS: The invitational CDYST Masters was the final event of the fourth season and 50th tournament overall. A total of 39 bowlers competed for a record scholarship fund of $4,350; the top-23 earned prizes of at least $40. Throughout the season, the youth bowlers earned a record $19,520 in scholarships and CDYST has now surpassed $50,000 in scholarship awards since the first event in May 2010.
With the win, Sutliff earned $1,000 scholarship; Bowman won a $600 scholarship as runner-up; Porter’s third place got him a $400 scholarship; Radliff and Hadcock earned $250 scholarships for finishing fourth and fifth, respectively. Lawrence Lang (Rhinebeck) earned a $100 scholarship for leading the qualifying round with a 1,324 series. Patrick DeVoe (Delmar) won a $50 scholarship for being the second highest qualifier. AJ Indovina (Colonie) earned an entry into the 2014 USBC Junior Gold Championships to be held in Buffalo.
Bowman capped off the most dominant season in CDYST history to earn “Bowler of the Year” by 140 points over runner-up Ricky Rovelli (Colonie), also a Record Bowler of the Week, and 155 points over Sutliff. It also marked the first year the award was clinched prior to the CDYST Masters. In 12 tournaments this season, Bowman won three titles and finished second three other times.
The top eight bowlers in the final Bowler of the Year standings will represent the CDYST in the 2014 USBC Youth Open Championships to be held in Buffalo in July. The bowlers will form two four-bowler teams as well as four doubles teams, prior to competing in singles and all-events competitions.
NEXT: The fifth season will begin in early fall. For more information about these events and the CDYST, please visit their website at www.cdystbowling.com, e-mail tournament directors Mark Taylor and Steve Fawcett at CDYSTinfo@aol.com, or call 518-982-0035. The CDYST can also be found on Facebook.
Here are a few of the records and milestones reached this CDYST season:
Aggregate Records:
•14 tournaments/43 avg. entries per event. There were 59 entries at Sportsman’s Bowl on March 22, 2014.
•117 bowlers competing at least once/88 total members
•$19,520 in scholarships awarded this season
•$4,350 at the CDYST Masters (including the first $1,000 top prize)
•18 bowlers qualified for Junior Gold (approximately 25 CDYST players will be competing)
Individual Records
•Perfect games: 3 (5 honor scores total)
•Total titles: 3 (Bowman and Rovelli)
•Avg. 200+: 4
In addition to those bowlers competing in Junior Gold, the top-8 bowlers in points will compete in the USBC Youth Open Championships as two four-bowler teams, four doubles teams, and the singles and all-events competitions right before Junior Gold.
BALLSTON SPA MERCHANTS BOWLING LEAGUE: At Tippy Bowl on April 30, “Gil’s Garage” sewed it up as league champs. They beat AamTrust Mortgage by eight. And, after joining the league back in 1973, Mike Eddy Gnip is stepping down as Secretary/Treasurer after 34 years. He began that job in Sept. 1979 after serving as President (1978-79) the season before. Midway through this season, the league had to move back to Tippy Bowl because of the fire that destroyed Burnt Hills Lanes in January. The league was one of the original of about three at Tippy Bowl.
“We were welcomed back to Ballston Spa Tippy Bowl to finish off our bowling season,” said Gnip. At their banquet this year, the majority of the Ballston Spa Merchants voted to move to Saratoga Strike Zone and the leagues new Secretary/Treasurer will be Michael Miller.
FINAL RESULTS
1: GIL’S GARAGE – 121
2: AaMTRUST MORTGAGE – 113
3: HAWK DRILLING CO. – 126
4: B & L CONTROL – 120
5: STREEVER AGENCY – 108
6: BUHRMASTER ENERGY GROUP – 105
7: CHAMPAGNE BUILDERS – 102
8: TIM’S HOME MAINTENANCE – 100
9: LEE’S PARK CAMPGROUND – 97
10: GNIP SURVEYING – 93
HIGH-3 Bowlers (roll-off between Gil’s Garage & Aamtrust Mortgage)
1. James Nobile 180-155-161—496
2. James Flaws 205-147-128—480
3. Andy Harpine 124-188-156—468