LEXINGTON — It was close for about the first 18 games. But that’s when Brian Waliczek’s team took over.
Racing to the No. 1 seed during Saturday’s Reggie Shaw Lex Lanes Baker 5 Man tournament at Lex Lanes, Waliczek’s group kept rolling into the title match to defeat team Tyler Slaubaugh in the two-game stepladder final. 501-436.
In Game 1 of the title match, Waliczek was the one player who failed to strike on his two shots en route to 259. In the other game, (Adam) Barta failed to connect twice for 242.
Slaubaugh had games of 232 and 204.
“No one struck every time, but we bowled pretty well as a group so when the scores went down the last six games, we gained about 300 pins on the field,” Waliczek said, adding laughing, “I didn’t strike in that first game, and Barta threw a really, really bad shot in Game 2.”
It resulted in a 37-pin lead after Game 1 that led to the victory.
Other members of the team included Ronnie Sparks Jr., Andres Gonzalez and Jean Perez.
“I bowl with a conglomerate of players I’ve bowled with for a long time,” Waliczek said. “Ronnie is one of my best buds, I bowl nationals with Barta and bowl doubles with Andre. We needed a fill-in at the last minute and we heard that Jean was a great left-hander, so …”
The tournament format included 30 Baker System games, including a final-game position round, with the field then being cut to the top five teams for the stepladder finals. Each stepladder match was two games, with the high total pins advancing.
Slaubaugh’s team, captained by Ron Holliday, was the No. 2 seed entering the stepladder finals. The team included four left-handers, with leadoff Brett Shepherd being the only righty. Other team members included Trent Marner, Joe Ray, and Slaubaugh. Holliday, a former Cincinnati resident who now lives in Louisville, Ky., had players from Kentucky, Indiana and Ohio on his roster.
“We’ve been bowling stuff together for a long time,” said Holliday, whose team also finished second in this event a year ago. “I think this is like the fifth one of these we have bowled in a row and we’ve been in the top three in all of them.
“They had it going well. In a two-game match like that, a couple of hits here and there with a trip 4-pin or a sweeping 10 can make the difference.”
Holliday felt using four left-handers was an advantage in the tournament, which was bowled on a house oil pattern.
“The left side is a little bit of an advantage here. We struggled for about the first 10 games, but then averaged about 250 for the next six,” Holliday said. “Then we started struggling a bit again, but turned it around again by averaging about 250 for the last 10.”
Slaubaugh’s team advanced to the finals with a 465-440 win over team Charles Easton. Easton’s team included Easton, Chad Roberts, Dan Higgins, Cassidy Schaub and Jeremy Dixson.
After falling behind 237-209 after Game 1, Slaubaugh’s team struck on eight of its first nine shots in Game 2 en route to a 256 to earn the win after Easton’s team had 203.
Easton’s team, the No. 3 seed, stopped team Kyle Lewis King (Justin Neiman, Lewis King, John Kelley, Dan Pollak and Charles Brown II) 467-415 in the quarterfinals.
In the opening match, Lewis King’s team stopped team Paul Brown (Brown, Billy Conner, Newt McClellan, Jordan Blair and Kim Bolleby) 485-461.
Brown’s team defeated team Tony Carson 227-217 in the final position-round match to earn a stepladder spot by just 16 pins. In addition to total pinfall, teams earned bonus pins for a match win (30) or tie (15). Brown’s team trailed by 28 pins heading into Game 30.
Waliczek’s team did make a change during the course of the day. Barta had served as anchor bowler, but was moved up in the lineup later in the day and into the stepladder finals.
“When the lanes started getting squirrely, we decided to put our two lefties at the bottom,” Waliczek said. “The rest of the day, we were all clicking.”
All the way to the championship match.
NOTEBOOK: The tournament had a 30-team full field, but due to a serious auto accident in the Dayton area that restricted travel, three teams became two. To compensate, tournament director Jody Boyd added a blind for each team, with bonus pins being given for a win. …“What makes this tournament unique is the bonus pins. You bowl every team once, but the bonus pins can change everything,” said Boyd, who added teams followed a 30-team schedule across the 32-lane center. … This was the seventh annual event overall, with the tournament now named in honor of Shaw, a Lexington area bowler popular among Lex Lanes customers who died after a bout with cancer. … The tournament included four 300 Baker System games, including two by area teams (team Carson and team J.D. Jones). … Waliczek’s team led qualifying with 7,635 total pinfall, including 585 bonus pins — high for the day. Teams captained by Slaubaugh, Easton, Lewis King and Matt Molzan (which finished seventh) had 570 bonus pins each. Brown’s team was the cut at 7,286 total pinfall.
FINAL RESULTS
Match 1: Team Kyle Lewis King (208-277) d. Team Paul Brown 485-461. Brown wins $2,000
Match 2: Team Charles Easton (225-242) d. Lewis King 467-415. Lewis King wins $2,500
March 3: Team Tyler Slaubaugh (209-256) d. Easton (237-203) 465-440. Easton wins $3,500.
Championship: Team Brian Waliczek (259-242) d. Slaubaugh (232-204) 501-446. Waliczek wins $7,000; Slaubaugh wins $4,500
Other cashers
6, Team Tony Carson 7,270 total pinfall, $1,000 earnings.