Surdich on Bowling: Turkeys fly at McHenry Bowl

Several of our local bowlers came home with birds from last Friday’s Turkey Shoot, McHenry Bowl’s annual minitournament.

In the first game, you had to have a strike in the second, fourth and eighth frames to win a bird. The second game, it was a strike in the fourth and ninth frames. Thirty turkeys were given out during the afternoon.

Winning birds were Larry Valenti, Jerry McMillian, Lynnell DiFrancia and yours truly. Leo Gonzales made a few bucks in the men’s high-game pot, and so did McMillian. LaDonna Stone missed getting a bird by one, but she placed in the women’s high-game pot and series. Top winner was Janie Schropp, as she placed second in Game 1 with a 313, and second in Game 3 with a 321. The top women’s series was 859; Schropp came in with an 858. She earned $48.

Senior no-tap – Yosemite Lanes hosts its monthly senior 9-pin no-tap Friday starting at 1 p.m. with an entry fee of $13. They offer individual men’s and women’s high game pots and series. Check-in begins at 12:30 p.m.

Shooting stars – Shirley Hendricks in the Bellevue Seniors picked up the 6-7-10 split on Tuesday. In the Guys & Dolls, Jeff Stout had games of 190-191-191 for a 572. Eric Hickman of the Commercial Classic rolled a super 290 with a 698 set. Friday Handicap had Bill King with a strong 651. Jacob Pugliese rolled his first high game with a 199 at Aqua Fun Center in Los Banos.

BVL winners headed to Helen Duvall Championships – A total of 45 men, women and youth bowlers rolled in our annual Bowlers to Veterans Link tournament with the winners representing our association in the state finals. Here are the winners, according to their division: Men’s Classic had John Montoya with a 653, A division had Dave Egleston with a 613, D had Jesse Andrade with a 576, C had Dominic Pugliese with a 470, the D had Mike Avalos with a 407. Women’s Classic had Dawn Fernandez repeating as champion with a 549; B women was Verna Fellows with a 497; C women had Yolanda Walsh with a 559; the D women had a newcomer to leagues and the BVL tourney in Lynnell DiFrancia with a 456; and the E women had Leticia Andrade with a 415. The boys had Devin Cortinas taking the A division with a 495, and the D boys had Andrew Aiagi with a 271.

All the division winners will be rolling at the Manteca Bowl on March 25 in the California Helen Duvall Veterans BVL Championships.

Coming up next weekend – Get your partner for the annual Merced/Atwater Women’s 500 Club Crazy Holiday Doubles on Dec. 4 at Bellevue Bowl starting at 1 p.m Three crazy games, with the first being a 3-6-9 frames with strikes, second game will be a 9-pin no-tap, and the third game will be an 8-pin no-tap. This fun tournament is open to all bowlers who are current USBC members, and it is men, women or mixed. You do not have to be a 500 club member to bowl. Use your highest average from last year’s book. Entry fee is $22 per bowler. The club asks that you bring holiday treats to share with everyone. Entries close on Dec. 3 and forms are available at Bellevue Bowl.

Aqua Fun Center – The new bowling center in Los Banos has received USBC certification. Chris and Denise Pugliese said they are starting a couple of leagues with six four-bowler teams. These leagues are running during the day and will last eight weeks. If everything goes OK, they will start another league in March and also run a summer session, and possibly a Wednesday night league. Chris said that the response to the bowling center and its offerings has been tremendous. It sounds as if the Puglieses have been helping management get things off the ground. If anyone can do it, they can. Setting up the leagues, giving the kids lessons and working with the score sheets is a lot of work. But, they are bowlers. I think Los Banos has a little gold mine with only 10 lanes.

Note – To all my bowling friends and readers, I want to wish all of you a great Thanksgiving.

This story was originally published November 23, 2016 at 2:57 PM with the headline "Surdich on Bowling: Turkeys fly at McHenry Bowl."