Tight battles in Budweiser roll-offs

Budweiser January King of the Lanes Robert Talavera is flanked by Queen of the Lanes co-winners Diana Camacho, left, and Kathy Mersai during last week?s awards ceremony at the Saipan Bowling Center. (ROSELYN B. MONROYO)

Stiff competition marked Saipan Bowling Association’s season-opening Budweiser King and Queen of the Lanes Tournament held last week at the Saipan Bowling Center.

In the January King of the Lanes contest, the winner was decided by only two pinfalls with Robert Talavera earning 833 pinfalls against the 831 of 2013 King of the Lanes Raymond Zapanta.

Talavera pulled off the close win after collecting 199 pinfalls in Game 4. He tallied 220, 193, and 221 in the first three games to fall behind by 44 pinfalls against Zapanta, 634-678. Zapanta, who logged 191, 248, and 239 in the first three games of last Monday’s roll-off, then collapsed in the last game, as he recorded 153 and averaged 207.75, allowing Talavera to keep the January title.
Before his neck-and-neck battle versus Zapanta in Monday’s competition, Talavera participated in the Sunday roll-off and took the early lead with his 807 pinfalls (212, 176, 236, and 183).

Bowlers are allowed to compete on both days of the monthly event, but only the higher score is counted.

Fourteen others joined the two-day event, including third place Ador Dimaano, who racked up 827 pinfalls. He had the best single game score (251 in Game 3) in the tournament to go with his 204, 183, and 189 in the three other games for an average of 206.75 pitfalls.

Lito Teodora missed the 200-pinfall average with his 198 and 792 four-game total and settled for fourth place. John Jimeno came in at fifth with his 777 pinfalls, followed by Percy Omechelang (766), Simon Manacop (756), Raymond Angeles (739), Paul Panglinan (721), Yong Woon Lee 9715), Raul Dumapit (662), Ronald Batac (660), Edward Baluyan (635), Jae Yong Kim (618), and Roger Vales (544).

Meanwhile, in the Queen of the Lanes, there was a tie for first place between Diana Camacho and Kathy Mersai.

Diana Camacho registered 676 pinfalls in Day 1 of the roll-offs, after tallying 190, 149, 158, and 179 in four games while Mersai had the same total in Day 2 of the monthly tournament to share the January honors with the former. Diana Camacho also participated in Day 2 of the season-opening competition, but her 670 pinfalls (160, 188, 133, and 189) was only good for fourth place. Mersai, on the other hand, forced a tie after showing her best form in Game 3, earning a field best 224 pinfalls. She had 123, 196, and 133 in the three other games.

Completing the Top 3 finish in the women’s division were Diana’s daughter Carrie and Gina Sablan. Carrie competed in both days of the tournament and her Day 2 score of 670 (195, 193, 137, and 145) won her the second spot, while Sablan notched 658 pinfalls (159, 190, 172, and 137) to make the podium finish.

Other female keglers who joined last week’s event were Gloria Omechelang (631), Mel Regis (629), Elena Soll (618), Ron Cal (615), Yho Villavicencio (577), May Alegre (568), and Gigi Zapanta (541).