CANTON — The Northeast Ohio Travel League held its 34th annual draft Saturday night at Eastbury Bowling Center.
But the real story was not who was selected; rather it was the record number who didn’t.
“With the strength of the applicants, we knew there was going to be a number of applicants who didn’t get selected,” NEOTL president Joe Altimore III said. “But with 18 left out … I’m not happy about that. But there wasn’t much we could do at this point.”
The league remains at 16 three-person teams. There were discussions about raising the number of teams to 20 and/or going to four-person teams this season. But due to time constraints and potential center restrictions, neither could be done this season.
The 18 people who were not selected — a record for the league — will be placed on the substitute list if they wish.
The league still will bowl Thursday evenings, with starting times between 8:30 and 9:30 p.m., with seven houses currently hosting, including three in Stark County — Eastbury, Park Centre and AMF Hall of Fame.
The centers could change or remain the same.
“We are reaching out to the centers to check on availability and if we have options,” Altimore said.
Team sponsors will be announced at a later date. But here are the teams for the 2022-23 NEOTL following the draft, with captains listed first:
Team No. 1: Matt Frock, J.D. Jones, Mandi Testa
Team No. 2: Jeff DiMarzio, Richard Elliott II, Scott Vandegrift
Team No. 3: Michael Emerick, Eric Long, Jonathan Adkins
Team No. 4: Eric Randazzo, Jason Bogavich, Adam Kutz
Team No. 5: Gary Liber, Joe Bailey, Ryan Trowbridge
Team No. 6: Bill Reese, John Randolph, Austin Reese
Team No. 7: Mark Suchan, Taylor Suchan, Taylor Sturm
Team No. 8: Jeff Mowls, Don Sprout, Bill Dunn
Team No. 9: Rich Stoffer, Scott McIntire, Chris Miller
Team No. 10: Dustin Dingler, Joe Stauffer, Rob Weary
Team No. 11: Doug Rich, Sean Rich, Andy Lillo
Team No. 12: Josh Haddad, Alex McCourry, Branden Ball
Team No. 13: Jim Fellows, Curtis Duffield, Tim Ring
Team No. 14: Joe Altimore III, T.J. Charles, Kevin Schott
Team No. 15: Brett McCourry, Justin McIlvain, Troy Wilt
Team No. 16: Tony Confalone, Frank Testa, David McLaughlin