Los Banos may host City Championships

During the last association meeting that I attended, our President said that he was considering having our City Championship doubles and singles at the new Aqua Entertainment Center in Los Banos.

In the past our association even raised the entry fee to try to entice bowlers to roll in it, but it didn’t work. Only the top bowlers were rolling in it, not the regular league bowlers. USBC has mandated that we have women’s tournament during the City Championships.

In the last several years we have had only about three to four women’s teams rolling. Not good. We have to wait and see what happens. Personally, I think it would be great to have it in Los Banos if they have added sponsor money to the prize fund to attract bowlers.

Remember, some of the Los Banos bowlers are members of the Merced County USBC Association and the Madera USBC Association.

Shooting stars

Tim Grimes 277, Sean Kucius 243, Mike Robins 256, Lauren Lucchesi 190, Audrey Slocum 175, Gary Wescott 244, Jay Cairncross 218, Trisha Folkner 165, Matt Mazon 236, Char Jolly 190, Shane Hinman 199, Margaret Herzog 198, Jeff Stout 678, and Bryan Rivas 712.

Behind the Curtain No-Tap

The curtains are coming up at Bellevue Bowl for the annual Behind the Curtain No-Tap tournament set for Sunday, Aug. 20 at 1:30 p.m. The tourney is open to all USBC members and is limited to the first 80 paid entries with separate divisions for men and women.

The curtains hide the arrows and the pin from view. The tournament is hosted by the Merced/Atwater Women’s 500 Club and is a 9-pin handicap no-tap event with an entry fee of $24 per bowler. Entries close on Friday, Aug. 18 at 6 p.m. You can get your entry form at Bellevue Bowl now. Your entering averages will be the highest of 2016-17 composite average found on Bowl.com. It is always a fun tournament, sign-up soon.

McHenry No-Tap on Friday

This Friday is the regular 9-pin senior no-tap at McHenry Bowl in Modesto with a 1 p.m. start. At noon, the bowl has a pot-luck lunch and sign-ups at 12:30 p.m. Entry fee is only $15 and there are handicap divisions for men women in the high game pot and overall series.

It looks like Ed “Slick” Huddleston rolled a high game and series, Janie Schropp a high series at Black Oak Lanes monthly senior no-tap last Friday. Putting on a show was LaDonna Stone with a no-tap game of 290 scratch for cash in the high game pot. They were the only local bowlers bring home some cash.

National Bowling Stadium

According to the lane monitors at the National Bowling Stadium there are plans for remodeling the stadium in 2020. The improvements will be adding over 50 feet of space by extending seating area that has been a problem since the stadium was built. The approach now reaches the seating area and there is no room for bowlers with their bowling bags or extra balls.

Peach ends its run

The 68th Annual Peach Classic Singles ended its run recently with a couple of locals placing on the leader board. The main prize list paid $100 down to 100th place. Merced’s Eric Hickman was in a tie for 81st and cashed in the main prize list. Atwater’s Mike Giordano was in tie for 14th with six other bowlers with a 279. No prize money was listed for Giordano. The above results were unofficial from McHenry Bowl’s web page.

Remember when

During May and June of 1963 at the Los Banos Bowl had Mel Soares hosting the Second Annual El Pacheco Singles. The tourney was open to all men and women with a guaranteed prize fund. It was ABC & WIBC sanctioned and had a special invitation to all Merced bowlers. There were seven squad times during the weekends starting at 10 a.m. and ending with a 11 p.m. squad.

This story was originally published August 9, 2017 at 4:14 PM with the headline "Los Banos may host City Championships."