Ponce Slips Past Nalundasan for July Bowling Title

Sunday, June 29, 2025 – CENTRAL LANES BOWLING CENTER, Tamuning, Guam

Second seed Zaldy Ponce who is a frequent final four qualifier mustered enough marks to overcome several open frames to nip top seed Edgar Nalundasan’s equally frustrating final game effort and capture the July Pin Point Pro Shop Senior Monthly Challenge 168-155 with handicap making it the lowest score for a championship game this season. This was due in part to the lane conditions, which broke down quickly and suddenly made it very difficult to score effectively.

Cris Leal’s two-handed style led him to the winner’s slot in the Last Man Standing competition, which has built up to nearly $2,000 in the pot. However, he played it safe by taking the guaranteed 5% which made him $100 richer than when he walked in that morning. Leal’s gut instinct was confirmed as he pulled a “must strike” marker from the bucket when asked to pull just to see what it would have been if he went to the next money level.

Opening elimination rounds in the two brackets followed with 16^th seed Henry Abasta and 5^th seed Alex Santiago emerging from the A bracket. They both advanced over 14^th seed Virgil Toledo, 12^th seed Tony Sobrevilla, 9^th seed Rosita Tosco, and 7^th seed Leal.

The B bracket winners who advanced into the next round was 10^th seed Mike Duenas and 8^th seed and June second-place finisher Yvonne Acda. The pair outlasted 15^th seed Gina San Nicolas, 13^th seed Manny Torre, 11^th seed Rick Torres, and 6^th seed Jess Meno who Duenas beat out by 5 pins in bonus points to advance into the quarterfinals.

Acda and Duenas fell to 4^th seed John Abad in the quarterfinals as the lane transition made conditions ugly for this round. But that wasn’t the case in the other bracket as 3^rd seed and June champion Manny Tagle overtook Santiago by two marks and Abasta to move into the semi-finals.

In the race to two two-win semifinals, Abad was bested by Nalundasan in two straight games. Top seed Ponce, however, was pushed to the best ball scenario after Tagle evened up the match at a win apiece. Both fierce competitors buried their shots in the pocket with Ponce taking out all ten pins while Tagle ended up facing a solid ten pin that kept him in the third place position.

The championship final turned into the question of who wanted it more as both Ponce and Nalundasan struggled with the broken down lane pattern. The match turned into a back-and-forth lead change with Nalundasan getting the worst of it as he pulled five straight open frames filled with washouts after opening with three straight spares. Ponce, on the other hand, opened with three out of four frames with a mark before he pulled three straight open frames and a split conversion that got him some hope to get past the usually consistent Nalundasan. He marked out from there to lay claim to the championship. Both players embraced each other afterwards, both wondering what the heck happened in the middle frames with all the splits and misses that led to the low-scoring but nonetheless nail-biting result.

The August qualifiers are currently ongoing throughout the various leagues till around the third week of July. 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.