Surdich on Bowling: Central Valley seniors get rolling in debut tournament

The Central Valley Senior Bowling Club will make history by hosting its first handicap singles tournament at McHenry Bowl in Modesto this Saturday at 1 p.m.

A few years back, the Nor-Cal Senior Tour club was at Yosemite Lanes and Bellevue Bowl in Atwater. They were from the Bay Area and came to the Valley, led by longtime pro Ed Bourdase of San Jose.

The new club will host singles and doubles tournaments at nine centers from Harvest Park Bowl in Brentwood to Bellevue Bowl in Atwater.

The cost is $20 to join and $40 to roll in a tournament. Age minimums are 55 for men and 50 for women. Membership and entry forms are available at Bellevue. Take the short drive to McHenry and compete and have fun.

League highlights – Bryan Wenger has a work schedule that prohibits him from rolling every Wednesday night in the Commercial Classic. He made up for it last week by stringing strikes galore and rolled a super 290 game with a 637 series. Roger Ross was next with a 286 game.

Cal State Seniors Open – Gina Moura, tournament director, contacted me about the 47th annual California State Seniors Open Championships and said this year’s tournament is filling fast and she added Friday afternoons and a 7 p.m. squad to the schedule. The five-weekend tourney runs from Oct. 22 to Nov. 20.

More than 300 entries have been received. If you have a team or your doubles and singles are set to go, now is the time to get your entry in for your date. You can download an entry at www.cssba.net or call Moura at 925-757-2695 for more information.

The team event will be at Steve Cook’s Fireside Lanes in Citrus Heights and the doubles and singles at AMF Rocklin Lanes. Entry fee is $28 per event with $6 for all-events.

Worth noting – Members of the Tuesday Bellevue Seniors voted on a 50/50 money raffle before league start-up. Every Tuesday, one lucky person wins a few bucks, and the balance goes into the league’s prize fund, to be given out to members at the end of the season.

Last Tuesday, the league was asked to donate its 50/50 raffle money to the travel fund for the Bellevue junior bowlers, who are going to the Pepsi tournament in Modesto. The winner of last week’s 50/50 was Marge Casaletto, who in turn gave her winnings back to the juniors. She even threw in an extra $5 for a total of $60. A class act by a classy lady.

City Championships in March – Get your team and doubles partners ready – the 70th annual Merced County USBC Championship Tournament will be on March 5-6.

There is a women’s division and an open division, all with four-person teams. The open division can be mixed or men only. Entrants will use their 2014-15 highest average for the USBC-certified tournament.

Entry fees are $25 per event and $10 for all-events scratch or handicap. The prize fund will pay one of five in team, doubles and singles. One of 10 will cash in all-events. Entry forms are available at Bellevue.

An 899 in Modesto – How about averaging 244 before you roll in your Friday Majors league at Yosemite Lanes in Modesto, then you roll an 899 series. Rich Custer, 45, a lefty, has had the top men’s average at Yosemite for the past four seasons.

On Fridays, Custer rolls with his son, who is 17 years old. Custer left the 10 pin in his first game on his final ball for a 299, then followed with 300-300.

Custer has bowled several 300 games and 800 series. His top series until Friday was an 857.

This story was originally published February 17, 2016 at 5:43 PM with the headline "Surdich on Bowling: Central Valley seniors get rolling in debut tournament."