New winners in SBA May roll-offs

Saipan Bowling Association’s Budweiser King and Queen of the Lanes Tournament for May produced first-time winners in Edward Baluyan and Tess Fabie.

May Budweiser King of the Lanes Edward Baluyan is flanked by runners-up Percy Omechelang, right, and M.J. Aldan, left, during the awards ceremony for the monthly roll-off last Monday at the Saipan Bowling Center. (Contributed Photo)

Baluyan lorded it over in the 19-player field to take his first King of the Lanes monthly plum and join the company of previous winners Raymond Angeles (January and February) and Robert Talavera (March and April). Baluyan collected 838 pinfalls in four games, built around his field-best 276 in Game 3 and 198, 176, and 188 in three other games, to run away with the May crown. He won by 52 pinfalls against Percy Omechelang and was the lone bowler to knock down at least 800 pins.

Omechelang was the Day 1 leader (last Sunday) of this month’s roll-offs with his four-game total of 786 pinfalls (232, 169, 198, and 187) before Baluyan came to play last Monday and grabbed the upper hand with his 209.50 average. Omechelang averaged 196.50 to settle for the runner-up honors, as his Day 2 total 738 (183, 184, 179, and 19) was not enough to bring him back to the top spot. Bowlers are allowed to compete on both days of the tournament, but only the higher scored is counted for the rankings.

Joining Omechelang and Baluyan in the Top 3 was former youth bowler M.J. Aldan, who only participated in the Sunday competition and netted 763 pinfalls (172, 200, 169, and 222).

Other bowlers who completed in the King of the Lanes roll-offs were Bernard Paraiso (757), Robert Talavera (753), Raul Dumapit (737), Raphael Zapanta (733), Ariel Dumapit (725), Simon Manacop (719), Angeles (718), Edgar Abalos (699), Ruselle Zapanta (699), Tony Verdaguer (692), Ador Dimaano (692), Jerry Kaneshi (687), Ramir De Leon (660), Lito Teodoro (655), Roger Vales (633), and Ronald Batac (588).

In the Queen of the Lanes, Fabie also stood out, as she was the only player in her field to post at least 700 pinfalls. She gained 715 and averaged 178.75 after tallying 166, 182, 179, and 188 in four games last Sunday and winning by 25 pinfalls against Percy’s wife and April winner Gloria.

Gloria, who also bowled last Sunday and registered only a third-best 658 pinfalls, returned to SBC last Monday, but failed to surpass Fabie’s Day 1 total. Omechelang recorded only 690 pinfalls, falling short in her bid to overtake Fabie after a so-so performance in the first two games (164 and 160). She had 187 and 179 in the last two for an average of 172.50.

Yho Villavicencio also joined last Monday’s contest and managed to save third place after logging 668 pinfalls (201, 132 162, and 173). Completing the May roll-offs participants were February and March winner Diana Camacho (667), Diana’s daughter Carrie (645), Janice Camacho (627), January winner Diane Chong (620), Ron Cal (611), Elena Soll (594), Gigi Zapanta (593), and Kathy Mersai (584).