Surdich on Bowling: Area turnout down for Department of Defense tournament

Twenty teams of four took the lanes for the annual Department of Defense Columbus weekend tournament at Rancho Bowl in Santa Maria recently.

Attendance was sparse from our Atwater-Merced area this year. Only 16 bowlers rolled, the worst showing ever from our locals for years. Marie Herrera, Carol and Lee Almeida, Ed Rowen, J.D. Lawson, Kim and Bob Heller, Lisa Maples, Peggy and Keith Docherty, Gudi Ross and yours truly made a few bucks over the two-day weekend.

Our top local on the prize list was Kim Heller, who came home with $210 in her pocket. As usual, Rancho Bowl served the bowlers tri-tip, chicken and ribs on Saturday and Sunday during the awards. Peggy and Keith Docherty did an outstanding job running the brackets during the tournament.

DoD members also ran a 3-6-9 mini tourney during every game. You had to knock down a strike in the 3-6-9 frames of your game to win some bucks, normally $30. Another game during the tourney was a mystery pot. They had numbered tags from 101 to 300 that were pulled at the start of each game. For example, if 178, 210 or 164 were pulled and you rolled one of those scores, you won $25. Not bad for a $5 entry.

There was a 300 game rolled by Nathan Castro of the Bay Area on Sunday, his second career perfect game.

The only problem during the weekend was the sound system didn’t work. Last year, the system was creaking and cracking during the announcement of the winners. This year, they handed the presenters a bull-horn. And, you know, if it is pointed your way, you can hear it; in another direction, you could not hear it. It’s my opinion that Rancho Bowl could have taken care of its sound system, a poor system for a group that has been packing the center with bowlers from Southern California, the Bay Area and our area to Rancho Bowl for several years.

DoD directors Walt Morris and Auto Wagner praised our very own Dee and Johnel Maryland for their support and contributions over the years with the club in Santa Maria and Las Vegas events. Johnel is still recovering from an automobile accident.

500 Club Invitational – The 43rd annual Invitational Singles 9-pin No-Tap Tournament, hosted by the Merced/Atwater Women’s 500 Club, is scheduled for Nov. 1 at 1 p.m at Bellevue Bowl. The first 70 entries will receive a tote bag, and first-place winners in each division are guaranteed $100.

Divisions, according to average: A, 160 and above; B, 148-159; and C, 147 and below. Entry fee is $25 per bowler, which includes a buffet lunch. The club will have raffles, 50/50 drawings and door prizes. Entry forms are available at the desk at Bellevue. Entries close Oct. 30.

Bellevue pumping out 700 series – Seven-hundred series have been flying out of Bellevue at a record pace the last week or so, including Gene Broussard with a 769, Marty Daniel 752, Dennis Gray 746, Ryan Sziraki 732, Larry Valenti Jr. 748 and 728, and Jess Ramirez 723.

Black Oak coordinator retiring – Sandy Taylor, the league coordinator at Black Oak Lanes in Tuolumne, is retiring.

I know Sandy for holding a senior 9-pin no-tap on the first Friday of the month. She would come out with her portable microphone, stand behind lanes 7 and 8 and announce the high-game winners after every game. She would hand you an envelope containing your cash. At the end of the tournament, she would pay out the men’s and women’s series winners.

In March, she would hold her annual senior 9-pin no-tap with several squads that always filled up. In October of every year, she helped with the Battle at Black Oak, a PBA West Regional hosted by the casino. Her last day at the lanes will be Oct. 30, and she’ll bowl in her final no-tap tournament.

McHenry Bowl brings a bus load for its Halloween no-tap party on Oct. 30. The cost is $18. If you want to send off Taylor in style, call Terry at McHenry at 209-571-2695 for a spot.

Valley loses a bowling friend – Modesto’s Pam Marksman, who started her bowling career at Yosemite Lanes, then moved on to Divine Gardens in Turlock and Sacramento’s Sunset Lanes as a manager, died Oct. 10.

Later, she and the family moved to Oakhurst to manage the center in the mountains. In 1998, she returned to Modesto and managed McHenry Bowl. She was an active member of the past Modesto Women’s Bowling Association and the current Modesto USBC, serving as a director and then as association manager.

I will always remember her sitting on the concourse at McHenry during the annual New Year in Paris no-tap tournament in December. She would hand out quarters during the day for bowlers who knocked down a strike with a colored head pin. I met her in Reno years ago during the yearly West Coast Bowling Convention in October. The Valley will miss her; I know Modesto will.

This story was originally published October 21, 2015 at 5:06 PM with the headline "Surdich on Bowling: Area turnout down for Department of Defense tournament."