JACKSON TWP. — Joe Hostetler and Dylan Rinella had planned to bowl another event in Akron on Saturday.
But after failing to find senior partners for the junior-senior doubles event, they decided to team up for the first time in the College Bowl Tournaments regular doubles at Park Centre Lanes.
It proved to be a profitable decision.
The pair didn’t shoot less than 500 as a team until Game 4 of qualifying, highlighted by Rinella’s 300 in Game 3, en route to claiming the title with a 473-441 win over Alex Lincoln and Adam Kutz in the championship match.
“He whacked them the first two games, and I whacked them the last two,” said Rinella, a 27-year-old Akron right-hander. “He was 160 over the first two, and i was the same the last two. That makes a difference in qualifying.”
Rinella and Hostetler finished 73 pins ahead of the field to gain the top seed for the finals in the eight-team field. Lincoln and Kutz took second after Game 1 of the four=game qualifier, then shot 516 the final game to gain the No. 2 spot by 77 pins.
In the title match, it was Lincoln and Kutz who took the early lead as the latter ran off five strikes in a row and the former had a double. The problem was the Lincoln struck just one other time after the third frame.
“I was leaving makable stuff and picking them up,” said Lincoln, 26-year-old Jackson Township resident who serves as Perry High School’s boys bowling coach. “But when the other team is going 220s and 240s, clean 200s just doesn’t do it.”
Rinella started with four strikes in the first five frames, while Hostetler was having problems early with two strikes and two spares through four frames. A ball change made the difference for the latter.
“It was kind of an all or nothing situation. I was starting to get a lot of over-under in third and fourth games of qualifying, so I went to the Zen Master and it kind of blended it out somewhat,” Hostetler said.
“But on this pair, when I got it in I bucketed and when I missed right it went through the face. I thought changing hand position would work, but I didn’t like it. So I went to the regular Zen. I’m just glad it worked out.”
After the ball change, Hostetler struck out from the fifth frame on, finishing with 248 to Rinella’s 225.
“I thought I was going to shoot 290 on that pair. I had a great look, but it got away from me,” Rinella said. “I left a couple of weird 10-pins and unfortunately missed one to cut it close.
“I thought we had the match in hand, and I about gave it away. Fortunately, I had one of the best players in Ohio bowling with me.”
Lincoln finished with 202 while Kutz missed on only three shots en route to 239.
“I made some bad shots, but they were my fault so I can’t complain,” said Kutz, a 30-year-old Louisville right-hander who served has his teammate’s freshman coach at Perry.
It was just the second time the Perry graduates had teamed up in doubles.
“Obviously, second is pretty good for us,” Lincoln said. “It won’t be the last.”
NOTEBOOK: The event, the second on the College Bowl Tournaments schedule, drew just eight teams. … Hostetler also added 290 in Game 1. … The next event is at 10 a.m. Nov. 20 at AMF Hall of Fame Lanes. It is a singles tourney. … First place paid $500, with second place earning $260.
FINAL RESULTS
Title match: Hostetler-Rinella d. Lincoln-Kutz 473-441.
Other qualifying
3, Brett McCourry-Brian Ball 1,888; 4, Branden Ball-Alex McCourry 1,867; 5, Scott Vandegrift-J.D. Jones 1,824; 6, Ryan Trowbridge-Matt Coffelt 1,815; Tony Confalone-Michael Emerick 1,814; Elliott-Jeff DiMarzio 1,781.
Very interesting and informative. Looking forward to future writings
Great job on the bowling news coverage, looking forward to reading more thanks again for your report