Sobrevilla Becomes Third Two Time Senior Bowling Champion For 2019

Eighth seed Tony Sobrevilla ended the final senior monthly tournament for 2019 in the same manner as he did in the first: on top. Sobrevilla threw strikes with great frequency in all his matches including the big upset of top seed Jim Pinaula in two straight matches to become the Guam Senior Bowlers Association (GSBA) Senior Bowler of the Month for November.

The opening shootout rounds began with a no show that resulted in a bye for twelfth seed Christopher Norton over sixth seed Virgil Toledo in match one of the even number bracket. Sobrevilla opened the second match of the even number round with a narrow win over tenth seed Josie Catbagan 189-186. The odd number shootout round match one result saw eleventh seed Liz Salas with an eight pin win over fifth seed Alex Kloulubak 189-181 with handicap. Ninth seed Manny Tagle romped past seventh seed Ben Taimanglo 204-164 with handicap.

The lanes then started to open up as Sobrevilla followed up in the second round with a 242-128 win over Norton. Salas followed up with a convincing 220-146 upset of GSBA tournament chairperson Tagle, Salas continued by taking out third seed Rick Torres 187-159 in the quarterfinal round. Sobrevilla did likewise removing fourth seed John Villagomez from title contention with a huge 220-193 in a strike fest to head into the semifinal round.

Top seed Jim Pinaula got his hands full having to string strikes throughout his semi-final game to stop the hot handed Salas 264-234. The semi-final format had the lower seeds having to beat the higher seed twice in order to advance to the finals. Sobrevilla did just that with a 183-164 and 223-199 victory to oust second seed Manny Torre,

The championship round is a first to two wins in a three game format. This was quite a memorable match as Sobrevilla exchanged strikes with Pinaula like two sluggers in a boxing match with Sobrevilla taking the first game 246-221. The strike fest continued in the second game as Sobrevilla took advantage of a couple of miscues by Pinaula who had strikes in the other eight frames to finally fall to his barrage of strikes to claim the title with a 262-208 win. It was a great way to end the season for Sobrevilla who started the year as the champion in January.

Sobrevilla along with twenty-three other top senior bowlers that qualified through a point system, will compete in the 2019 GSBA Senior Bowler of the Year Grand Finals with the top prize of $1,200 to the champion, $1,000 cash prize to the runner-up and cash awards to fourteen other top finalists. The Grand Champion will have an invite slot to defend the title the following year provided they compete in a minimum of six tournaments in the following season. There is also a cash bonus round for full fledged members of the GSBA following the tournament in a $1,000 “winner take all” format with a special rule where the competitors shall bowl ten frames over six lanes with the highest score including handicap for age and gender to determine the winner.

The start of the 2020 GSBA Senior Monthly Tournament season is already underway with the January qualifiers having started this month. To be eligible to enter this senior event, bowlers who are fifty years of age and over must be in the Friday Night Senior Bowling League at Central Lanes. The tournament uses the league series scores based on a point system to determine the top twelve bowlers who will compete for the championship at the end of each month. There are at least four qualifiers prior to each tournament with a fee for each qualifier you enter.

The GSBA Senior Grand Finals will be held on Saturday, December 28 at 11AM with the top eight finalists drawing a bye while the other 16 bowlers will compete in a shootout with the top eight bowlers on Saturday to join the other eight bowlers who had a bye on Saturday for the Sunday championship. The championship on Sunday will begin at 9AM. For more information contact Manny Tagle, GSBA Tournament Chairperson.