Sunday, June 25, 2018 – CENTRAL LANES BOWLING CENTER, Tamuning, Guam
For the second straight month the Guam Senior Bowlers Association has a queen for a titleholder as second seed Patricia Roberto upset top seed and fellow team mate Jim Pinaula in a classic two out of three wins to take the June senior bowling title. The hard fought victory after many tries made this win a very special one.
Pinaula blistered through the opening four game qualifier with an 874 series with handicap to take the top spot followed by Roberto’s 834 series with handicap for second place. The shootout round opened with eight seed Nestor Valencia taking a narrow victory over last month’s second place winner and sixth seed, Jim McCoy 176-174 with handicap. Meantime, June winner and fifth seed Kathy Mandapat, swamped seventh seed tournament chairperson Rick Torres 201-175 with handicap to open her second straight title quest.
The quarterfinals ended in upsets as Valencia ran past third seed Art Gatmen 247-215 plus handicap to continue his shot at the title. Fourth seed Manny Torre was also knocked off by a streaking Mandapat 202-194 with handicap.
The semifinals had some drama with Roberto having to overcome a loss in the first semi-final game by stopping Mandapat in the second game 215-185 to advance to the championship final.
Pinaula had a little easier time as he stopped hard charging Nestor Valencia 227-167 to face Roberto for the championship.
In the epic final where the first bowler to win twice becomes champion, Roberto drew first blood with some timely strikes to take the first game 217-214. However Pinaula returned the favor and won the second game 216-174 to even the series. But a determined Roberto ended the deadlock in the third contest 194-162 with timely strikes in the latter frames plus a little luck via splits by Pinaula to seal her long awaited triumph.
The victory also qualified Roberto on the list for the December Grand Finals. The December championship for Senior Bowler of the Year shall be held after the Asia Senior Bowlers Championship in Okinawa Japan. Interested bowlers can still vie for one of the Senior Team Guam spots provided they are 50 years of age by December 31, 2018 and are members of the Guam Senior Bowlers Association. Additional requirements are listed in the qualifying rules posted at Central Lanes or contact any Guam Senior Bowler Association board member or tournament chairperson Rick Torres.
Guam Bowling 