Sunday, October 5, 2025 – CENTRAL LANES BOWLING CENTER, Tamuning, Guam
Story by Rick Torres
Another episode of Tagle vs Ponce 2025 was on display Sunday afternoon at the Central Lanes Bowling Center. The result was a narrow 212-182 victory for Manny Tagle over Zaldy Ponce, making it his third title this year in a tournament he was not expected to participate. Before the tournament, a no-show resulted in a call for the reserves. It was the no-show of the last qualifier and the first qualified reserve that allowed Tagle to enter the tournament.
The fortunate circumstance was followed by Tagle taking 10% of the $2,700 Last Man Standing prize fund. Then what followed was his epic climb from the 16th slot to the title, starting with the bracket qualifiers. Tagle and 12th seed David Cruz outlasted 14th seed Yvonne Acda, 9th seed Jess Muya, 7th seed Nixon Caasi, and 5th seed Jesse Eyoel in the A bracket. The B bracket winners were 15th seed Sheila Bangs and 10th seed Ponce over 13th seed Rick Torres, 11th seed John Abad, 8th seed Jim Pinaula, and 6th seed Tony Sobrevilla.
The quarterfinal round resulted in the 3rd seed Alex Santiago, and 12th seed Cruz being eliminated by Tagle to head into the semifinals. In similar fashion Ponce stopped Bangs and pulled the upset of 4th seed Frank San Agustin to advance.
The semi-finals were more dramatic as Ponce took down top seed Cris Leal in two straight matches. The 3rd seed Gomez Martinez proved to be a more difficult match as Tagle had to come back after losing first match to tie it up with a win in the second game and force a roll-off which he won advancing him to the championship.
The championship match had good luck running with Tagle all through the game as he marked the first four frames while Ponce opened in the second, fourth, and sixth frames. Tagle faltered in the fifth frame with a split that he failed to convert. But spares in the sixth and seventh frame and strikes in the eighth and ninth frame snuffed out Ponce’s rally with the remaining frames to concede.
The victory was a bit nostalgic for the veteran Tagle, who decided to bring his Storm IQ U78 urethane ball, which had won him previous tournament titles, out of storage to give it another roll of the dice, and his instincts proved him right.
Qualifiers for the November tournament are still ongoing. For details, see Joey Miranda, Jim Pinaula, or Manny Tagle at the Pin Point Pro Shop in Central Lanes Bowling Center.
Guam Bowling 