Dramatic Finish Concludes City Tournament

It was a wild final weekend to an already high scoring tournament. The team scratch title and the Division 2 Team championship each changed hands twice. The Budweiser League Challenge leaders fell to fourth place. And four perfect games were thrown on the final day, where just one had been rolled (Joe Braatz) through 14 squads. One more 11-in-a-row was added the final day, a 299 by Jay Heinzelman, for a tournament total of 11 near misses. Or is it near makes. I don’t know…

In their first game of doubles on Squad 15, Nate Sime and Casey Gibney were both perfect – a rare 600 game listed just twice on the record page of the Ten Pin Journal newspaper. To do it in the opening game of an Association Championship tournament is simply incredible. The duo finished with 1493, good for second in the scratch division, just eight pins behind Eric Pederson and Jay Heinzelman. Sime totaled 2236 to earn the All Events Scratch Title.

In other doubles action, Don Aslakson and Bill Aaberg fired a 1413 scratch score to finish 249 pins over average – claiming the top spot in Division 2 Doubles. Aaberg contributed 752 with games of 235, 279, and 238. The 173 average Aslakson pitched a 661 with a pair of 244 closing games.

As if all that wasn’t enough, the coveted Team Scratch Title came down to the final frame for not one, but TWO teams on the final squad of the tournament. 4 Scratch 1 Handicap had been holding the lead with 3544 since Squad 7 of the second weekend. Sonny’s Bar and Grill finished their set with a 1256 game for a 3552 total to nudge them out of first place in the Team Scratch Division. Gibbons struck out for 278 in the final game, and Swenson had 288. They held the Team Scratch Title for roughly ten minutes.

For the second consecutive year, a Division 1 Team will take home the title for highest scratch total in the tournament. This year, Macadilla Killa (it’s a kind of pizza) headed into their 10th frame with sights on the scratch title and a target of 3544. When Sonny’s Bar and Grill raised that bar to 3552, the team responded with a flurry of punch outs for a 1245 game. Lead-off bowler Rollie Truehl contributed a 258, Shawn Mitchell 278, and Kevin Thompson 279. The team knew they were close and mental math was blazing when anchor bowler Tom Howery began his 10th frame. His ball hit the pocket well enough, leaving a 10 pin standing. Another pin tipped out of the gutter, leaned on the 10, and slid it a few inches off spot. As it turned out, nine was plenty – and Macadilla Killa earns the title with a 3579 score, as well as first place in the Budweiser League Challenge.

The Division 2 Team lead was taken over by Badger Pro Shop from Waunakee. Waun-A-Bowl is on a hot streak in the City Tournament, having produced the Division 2 Team and Division 2 All Events champions last year. For Badger Pro Shop, Chad Churchill led the barrage with a 740 series on games of 255, 248, and 237, followed by Scott Pliner with 697. The team finished at +290, which will also earn them second place in the Budweiser League Challenge.

Bill Bugiyne of the Mixed Nuts league at Bowl-A-Vard took over the Division 2 All Events lead with an amazing +356 over average effort, eclipsing previous leader Joe Johnson by 27 pins. The 177 average Bugiyne bowled all nine games the final day, rolling 723 in doubles, 603 in singles, and 623 in team. Tony Scialabba held his lead in Division 1 All Events.

Dan Swenson fired an 813 series with a 300 game during Squad 15 to wrest the Scratch Singles Division Championship from Derek Eoff, who had held the top spot with 783 since the first weekend. Scialabba takes the Singles Scratch Title out of Singles Division 1 with his 827 series. John Burr maintained his lead in Division 2 Singles.

All results are unofficial, pending average verification, Budweiser League Challenge qualifications, and other details. Complete unofficial final standings are here: Final Standings.