Cal claims December women’s crown

Ron Cal says her win in the women’s division of last Monday’s Pepsi King of the Lanes Tenpin Bowling Tournament had more to do with the fortunate turn of events more than anything else.

“You could say ‘Luck’ is my middle name. I’ve finished third so many times this year that I almost gave up wining this tournament. But thanks to good old luck I could celebrate the New Year on a high note,” said the right-hander.

The 10-year veteran started the competition on the right foot Sunday, knocking down 190 pins on her first trip to the maple lanes of the Capitol Bowling Center.

Cal continued to lead the division despite bowling a 167 on her second game. She, however, would temporarily surrender the helm to multiple monthly winner Emi Williams in the third game; but came back strong with a 206 in the fourth and final game to annex the December championship.

She wound up with a four-game series of 727 pinfalls, which was good for a 181.75 game average.

Williams finished 48 pins behind Cal with 684 pinfalls or a 171-pins per game average. She kicked off her campaign Monday with a pedestrian 152, but slowly worked her way up the leader board with games of 190 and 189. She, however, kissed her December title aspirations goodbye when she limped towards the finish line with a low 153 in the fourth game.

Elena Sol, who rolled-off, Monday was just two pins shy of equaling Williams and had to settle for third place with a score of 682. The petite bowler rolled games in the upper 170s in three of four games (177, 175, 152, and 178) to average 170.5 for the tournament.

Cora Muna and Vicky Cepeda close out the Top 5 with pinfall totals of 603 and 590, respectively. Muna bowled a series of 158, 130, 173, and 142 to average 150.75, while Cepeda had games of 126, 182, 134, and 148 to norm 147.5.

The rest of the Top 10 in the women’s division, with their scores in parenthesis, are as follows: J.C Vales (587); Lynn Santos (586); Lala Taitano (580); Mishel Pacheco (579); and Carol McKenzie (551).

The December Pepsi King of the Lanes Tournament attracted a total of 75 entries. The monthly bowling competition is organized by the Saipan Bowling Association and sponsored by Pacific Trading Co. It culminates with a season-ending championship tournament next month.