Sunday, June 1, 2025 – CENTRAL LANES BOWLING CENTER, Tamuning, Guam
Manny Tagle has been on a tear this year in the Pin Point Senior Monthly Challenge. The wily and very experienced lane veteran won his second title in four championship final appearances over the last six months beating Yvonne Acda 292-208 with handicap and bonus points for the June bowling crown. This certainly puts him in the pole position for the grand finals in December.
Jesse Eyoel started the day by winning the Last Man Standing competition that has the prize fund hovering over $1,700 dollars and climbing. Jesse went for the higher stakes with his usual “no guts no glory” attempt to go for it all but fell short when he drew the “have to strike” ball marker and failed. This only raises the stakes in this progressive tournament to possibly over $2,000 in July.
The opening quarterfinals had “A” bracket winners Zaldy Ponce (5th seed) and Liz Langas (14th seed) beating out May winner Sheila Bangs (16th seed), Jesse Eyoel (12th seed), Jess Meno (9th seed), and Gina San Nicolas (7th seed). The “B” bracket winners were Henry Abasta (15th seed) and Acda (13th seed) outpointing Tony Sobrevilla (11th seed), Nixon Caasi (10th seed), Mike Duenas (8th seed), and Virgil Toledo (6th seed).
Third seed Joe Murphy narrowly escaped the semi-final qualifier beating out Ponce and Langas to advance against second seed Tagle. Acda had equally good fortune upsetting forth seed Alex Santiago and Abasta to take on top seed Mike Gumataotao in the other semifinal match.
Petite Acda used her new ball from Pin Point to continue her title attempt by using her handicap advantage to stave off Gumataotao’s last frame surge to advance to
the finals in two straight games. Tagle had a much easier time using his very reliable urethane bowl to take two straight matches over Murphy to advance to the championship.
The finals then took on a comical atmosphere as the sparse crowd was rooting for the height challenged but feisty Acda, secretary of the Friday Night Senior League, to do a little bit of trash talking by informing Tagle she would shave off his goatee if she won. The ever jovial Tagle promptly replied “You’re ON!!” to delight of this writer and the crowd cheering for an upset. Thus, Tagle proceeded to roll an errorless game capped off by strikes from the fifth to the ninth frames to seal the win and end the drama. That still did not keep Acda from continuing her drama chat with Tagle by telling him jokingly that she wants only herself in the championship picture and not the usual top four finalists.
While the remarks did not faze Tagle, it certainly delighted the crowd who still cheered her on despite her open frames in the final match. But Acda responded by marking out from the sixth to tenth frame to end her game. The two laughingly embraced afterwards while the crowd clapped with laughter as well for their efforts. It was certainly a very entertaining championship final.
The July qualifiers are currently ongoing throughout the various leagues till the end of June. Interested senior bowlers aged 50 and over can check with the bowling counter or the Pin Point Pro Shop at Central Lanes for more qualifying rules and tournament details. Ask for Joey Miranda, Jim Pinaula, or Manny Tagle for tournament rules and event information.
Guam Bowling 