Surdich on Bowling: Monacelli defeats Weber twice for Senior Masters title

Amleto Monacelli defeated Pete Weber twice in the finals to win his third PBA50 major championship and fourth overall Senior Masters title.

Monacelli defeated Weber 192-190 and 254-243 in Green Bay, Wis. Weber was in the running for the title, but a pocket 7-10 stopped him.

“To beat Pete Weber twice for the title, especially with the way he bowled all week, was incredible,” Monacelli, who won $16,000, said to PBA.com.

Weber, who earned $8,000, was undefeated in match play and was the top seed in the stepladder finals. Monacelli shot a 300 that lifted him to the No. 3 seed.

In the first stepladder match, No. 4 seed Rick Steelsmith defeated fifth-seeded Walter Ray Williams Jr. 217-186. Steelsmith then met Monacelli and lost a close match 179-173.

On the way to the championship match, Monacelli struck six times in the first seven frames against No. 2 qualifier Brian Voss and cruised to a 238-204 victory.

Voss finished third for $6,000. Steelsmith earned $4,000 and Williams $3,000.

Mother Lode Behind the Curtain – The Mother Lode Women’s 500 Club reported a successful Behind the Curtain tournament at Black Oak Lanes in Tuolumne. Women from Jackson, Mariposa, Concord, Salinas, Madera, Fresno and Turlock produced a great turnout, and bowlers had to be turned away.

Castle Lanes alumni in New York – Noel Vega now lives in Queens, N.Y., and is bowling up a storm. He’s in sixth place in points in the PBA East Region. In May, he placed second for $1,300 in the Eastern Challenge in York, Pa. In another regional, he finished 13th for $630.

I know bowlers in the High Rollers’ Friday night league at Castle Lanes remember Vega, who rolled in the league for more than two years. At that time, the High Rollers was one of the best leagues in the Valley because of its high payout.

Gonzales does it again – Last month, Ronnie Gonzales and Jess Ramirez won a doubles event at Valley Bowl in Madera. This time, it was Gonzales alone, as he took first place, worth $325, in a singles event in Madera. John Lema of Atwater finished in sixth place for $125.

Next month it will be a doubles event. Entry fee is $60, and the tournament is handicap.

Willie Taylor Memorial 6-gamer – The 10th Willie Taylor Memorial scratch 6-gamer is set for this Sunday at noon at Yosemite Lanes in Modesto. Entry fee is $70, with $10 going into the Willie Taylor Scholarship fund.

A minimum of $500 has been added to the prize fund. The event offers optional brackets, side pots, last-game pot, and senior (50 and older) insurance will be available. You will roll on the Yosemite Lanes house shot, just the way Willie would have wanted it.

Local bowler passes away – Bowling lost a good friend and a great bowler last week when Lee Shepherd passed away suddenly, two days before his 65th birthday. He rolled in the Friday Night Merchants league at Bellevue Bowl for years.

I used to cover the league for my column, and I would always see him and joke around with him. Shepherd was a longtime MRI technologist in Merced and, most recently, in Fresno.

Shepherd bowled for the Club Mercedes team with Richard Tweed, Roger Ross and Barry Kutz, and let me tell you, they had a ball. He was a great bowler, rolling three perfect games in his career – two in 2006. Another 300 game in 2007 was part of an 800 series. He competed in many Mexican-American Bowling Organization tournaments in California.

Local bowler Gudi Ross remembers Shepherd applying for the radiography program at Merced College, where she worked, in the early 1980s. Later on he was rolling with her husband, Roger on Friday night.

Shepherd served in the United States Air Force and was a member of American Legion Post 83 in Merced. Burial was held Tuesday at the San Joaquin Valley National Cemetery in Santa Nella.

This story was originally published August 5, 2015 at 6:00 PM with the headline "Surdich on Bowling: Monacelli defeats Weber twice for Senior Masters title."