AKRON — Michael Martell had bowled so badly during Friday night’s doubles event that he jokingly told his partner that he was considering going to a casino rather than bowling the fourth annual Akron Open singles event Saturday at Stonehedge Family Fun Center.
But the 24-year-old West Babylon, N.Y., left-hander also was seven hours from home, even though the casino was 30 minutes closer.
“I bowled really bad. I went though 10 different balls and nothing struck,” said Martell, who finished 49th with his partner, Quentin Collins. “But I figured now that we’re here, I’m going to try and find it.”
After qualifying 29th with 1,420 total pinfall for his first six games, an average of 236.7, Martell found the answer midway through Saturday’s B squad and then expanded it during the two casher’s rounds Sunday.
After making the cut to the top 24 by just 26 pins, the lefty shot 803 for his first three games of the next round en route to the high five-game block of 1,286 to earn the No. 5 seed for the stepladder finals by just seven pins.
Martell then ran the stepladder before stopping No. 1 seed Graham Fach, a five-time Professional Bowlers Association Central Region champion this season, 223-179 to earn the title in his first Akron appearance.
“This is just huge for me. The beginning of the summer was really good for me, but the last few weeks have been hard,” said Martell, who earned $4,000 for the win. “I’m talented enough to make balls do the right thing, and I had enough with me. After Friday night, the balls I didn’t try were the ones that got me through.”
Martell, using a 900 Global Reality Check after the third game of qualifying Saturday and most of the day Sunday, opened his stepladder run against No. 4 seed Anthony Kennard, a 28-year-old Wapakoneta right-hander.
Kennard left only a 2-4-5-8 bucket in the fourth frame and a 10-pin to close the game. But Martell ran off the first nine strikes before solid 8-pins on his two shots in the 10th frame en route to a 278-275 win.
It was more of the same for Martell in the quarterfinals against 38-year-old Ashland two-handed lefty Cassidy Schaub. While the former struck on nine of his first 11 shots, Schaub left a swisher 5-pin on a light hit in the fifth and solid 7-pins in the fifth and 10th frames to fall 268-256.
Second-seeded Samuel DeWitt III was next up for Martell, who left 7-pin and 2-4-7 spares in the first and third frames before stringing six straight strikes en route to a 248-223 win, setting up a showdown with Fach.
“I bowled three games on that pair and I was using a ball with a big engine and big core that had little surface on it. It really transitioned the pair for me,” Martell said. “But I hadn’t hit the same pair twice all day and, with so many shots going down this pair, it forced me to go further right than I would have liked to be.
“I could play as deep as I wanted on the right lane, but I didn’t want to go in front of the ball return on the left.”
While Fach, a 30-year-old Urbana left-hander, had strikes on three of his first four shots, Martell left 7-pin spares on three of his first four shots. His lone strike came on a messenger pin going across the deck and taking out the 7-pin in the third frame.
Martell then decided to make a ball change that almost cost him.
In the fifth frame, he left a 2-4-6-10 split after switching. But in the key shot of the match, he covered the split to not lose valuable count.
“I didn’t expect that ball to be as responsive as it was. I just didn’t think I would leave what I did,” Martell said. “That told me that I needed to go with the ball that got me there … that it was the one I had to fight it with.”
While Fach left three straight 7-pins in the fifth through seventh frames, missing one of them for an open in the seventh, Martell was able to double.
“Sometimes, it’s tough to come to a pair you haven’t bowled on while your opponent has bowled a couple of games and knows how the pair has transitioned,” Fach said. “I chose equipment I thought was best, but I couldn’t get the 7-pin out. The 7-pin is one I seem to miss in title matches.”
But the key shot came in the ninth frame for Fach, who left a swisher 4-10 split to open the door for Martell.
“It was really a bad break, and you can’t come back from that really,” said Fach, who used the Ebonite Polaris Hybrid on the left lane and the Hammer Scorpion Sting on the right. “I haven’t seen that result on that hit all weekend from me or anyone else. That came out of nowhere, and it ultimately was the deciding factor,
“I used the ball on the right lane because I thought it was hooking a little more so I wanted a weaker ball. The other lane was hooking less. Maybe I could do a better job picking equipment, but it’s user error, too.”
Converting the split was huge for Martell.
“It’s why I won the match. If kept the pressure off of me to have to make perfect shots especially since he wasn’t stringing strikes,” Martell said. “If I would have missed it, it would have put me back three marks. I needed them all at that point
“That’s a split I’ve left a little too often, but I’ve gotten pretty good at making it.”
Martell threw strikes in both the seventh and ninth frames — “Two great shots,” he added — before adding two in the 10th frame for the final count after Fach left a 2-4-6-7-10 split on his second ball in the 10th frame following a strike.
“I made two really good shots on a move, and it paid off,” Martell said. “I kept my head really level the whole day, even when I thought I had missed the cut in both rounds. I didn’t know I advanced until they announced it.
“Graham just got an awful break. But things happen for a reason, and I’m glad I could sneak this one out after the great summer he’s had.”
For Fach, it’s on to next weekend’s BowlerX Ohio Masters in Lexington.
“I’ll get over it and get over this,” Fach added, “and get back to it next weekend.”
For Martell, who also finished sixth at the MEGA Singles in Columbus in June, it’s something to build on again.
“A small part of me didn’t want to bowl after Friday, but I know I can repeat shots as good as anyone else when I get comfortable and I start to not think,” Martell said. “But I had to find the ball reaction too make that happen. That ball did all the work for me.”
But user guidance certainly didn’t hurt.
FOURTH ANNUAL AKRON OPEN SINGLES
(At Stonehedge Family Fun Center, Akron)
Stepladder finals
Match 1: Michael Martell d. Anthony Kennard 278-275. Kennard wins $1,000
Match 2: Martell d. Cassidy Schaub 268-256. Schaub wins $1,200
Match 3: Martell d. Samuel DeWitt III 248-223. DeWitt wins $1,600
Championship: Martell d. Graham Fach 223-179. Martell wins $4,000; Fach wins $2,000
Round of 24 cashes
(With 16-game pinfalls, earnings)
6, Darrell Ratliff 3,898, $800; 7, Trent Knoop 3,889, $800; 8, Jason Bowles 3,886, $800; 9, Daniel Bright 3,850, $800; 10, Adam Barta 3,846, $800; 11, Chad Roberts 3,845, $550; 12, LeAndre Thomas 3,842, $550; 13, Patrick Dombrowski 3,821, $550; 14, Eric Emerson 3,817, $550; 15, Marcus Bell 3,774, $500; 16, Terry Wade 3,758, $500; 17, Kyle Mayberry 3,757, $500; 18, Jean Perez 3,739, $500; 19, Charles Easton 3,737, $500; 20, Chris Hankins 3,734, $500; 21, Nick Christy 3,715, $450; 22, Justin Godley 3,698, $450; 23, Ryan Liederbach 3,650, $450; 24, Andrew Kennedy 3,617, $450.
Round of 53 cashes
(With 11-game pinfalls, earnings)
25, Jared Thompson 2,593, $380; 26, Kyle King 2,590, $380; 27, Shawn Curtis, 2,585, $380; 28, Michael Mossbarger 2,570, $380; 29, Jody Boyd 2,564, $380; 30, (tie) Andre Gonzales and Ryan O’Hara 2,562, $380; 32, Brandon Runk 2,561, $380; 33, Jeffery Scott 2,560, $320; 34, Brandon White 2,555, $320; 35, Ryan Ashby 2,551, $320; 36, Paul Brown 2,541, $320; 37, Curtis Rasnic 3,538, $320; 38, Simon Mote 2,535, $320; 39, Tim Voytko 2,527, $280; 40, Brian Green 2,526, $280; 41, Dave Meadors 2,523, $280; 42, Joshua Vasquez 2,510, $280; 43, Brent Shroyer 2,509, $280; 44, Leon Lusane II 2,499, $280; 45, Joshua Jones 2,496, $280; 46, Korbin M. Wilson 2,487, $280; 47, Joey Bucci 2,485, $280; 48, Roger Adams 2,482, $280; 49, Dell Ray Jr. 2,447, $260; 50, Zach Collins 2,441, $260; 51, Joe Grondin 2,439, $260; 52, Howard Moore 2,420, $260; 53, Ronald Bradley, 1,381, $260.