CANTON — Were there a lot of strikes thrown Sunday during the 31st annual John Klonowski Memorial Scratch Singles at Eastbury Bowling :Center?
Consider:
- There were five 300s on the day and one 299, with three of the 300s coming during the second round of match play after the cut to 10 players.
- Thirty-seven of the 92 players in the field shot 700 for their first three games, with a high of 790.
- A bowler had to average at least 240.4 for five games to make the cut to the top 20 — and 236.6 to cash among the top 24.
And when the dust had settled after 8 1/2 hours of action, 33-year-old Canton left-hander Mike Thewes had his first major title, a pair of 300 games and an 806 series during a three-game match to highlight Stark County’s longest running major bowling event.
Despite battling pain in his left forearm near the elbow area, Thewes ran off the final nine strikes in the title match to stop top-seeded Jason Johnson 270-190 for the win.
“It was in the sixth frame of the first match when I felt the twinge in the arm. I was just grinding through it after that,” said Thewes, the No. 2 seed who topped Akron left-hander Viktor Varner 233-214 in the semifinal match. “I don’t know what I did or how it happened.”
Using a Radical Pandemonium Pearl during both matches, the injury made Thewes adjust from where he started against Varner.
“Every shot after the sixth frame when I got to the bottom of the swing I felt it,” said Thewes, who bowls just one league a week at AMF Hall of Fame. “I would lose speed. So after getting used to it the first couple of frames I moved a couple boards left and just straightened it out. It worked out.”
Johnson, a 39-year-old Macedonia right-hander who also is battling a torn meniscus in his left knee, stayed with Thewes until the fifth frame when he left a 2-4-5-8 “bucket” and missed the conversion following three strikes.
“It was a little bit of nerves and getting amped up with my ball speed. I got a little quick, and quick and in is a bad combination. With my low rev rate, the ball never sees the mid-lane,” said Johnson, an Ace Mitchell Bowlers Mart employee who admitted he has thrown about 18 practice games since May 2022 due to the injury.
“I don’t think I’ve ever made the bucket in my life, so I was not real confident I was going to be in good shape there. But he had a great look and bowled well. He made shots when he had to.”
Johnson gained the final qualifying spot in the top 20 for match play with a 245 his final game to edge Eric Randazzo by just eight pins with 1,202 total pinfall.
He then stopped No. 1 seed James Nolan 782-654 in his opening three-game match and Tyler Meredith 732-691 to earn the top seed for the finals.
Asked how he coped with the knee pain, Johnson said “a good knee brace and good Excedrin.”
“I need to get some competitive bowling in before we go to nationals in late April,” Johnson said of the USBC Open Championships in Reno, Nev. “Until last year (when he finished fourth), I had never made the cut here before so I’m happy finishing second with the amount of bowling I’ve done.”
Johnson used the Roto Grip Exotic Gem most of the day before switching to the 900 Global Reality Check for the finals.
“I found a better look on this side and threw some skid-flip stuff that read the lane pretty well,” Johnson said.
THEWES’ DAY
Thewes’ day did not start well with a 196 in Game 1 and 214 in Game 2 putting him 75th in the field.
“I started with the Pandemonium solid and switched to the Pearl, but still didn’t have what I wanted,” Thewes said.
He again changed to a Radical Bonus Solid — and produced his first 300 of the day in Game 3.
“When I shot that after making a big ball change, it put me back into it. Then it was just a matter of grinding it out with 240s the rest of the way,” said Thewes, who ended up qualifying 19th, just one pin ahead of Johnson. “Without that 300, I’m not even close to making the cut. I needed every bit of it.”
Thewes then shot 685 to stop Adam Barta (652) in his opening match before recording his second 300 of the day in Game 1 of his second match against Branden Ball en route to an 806-660 win.
“Not a chance did I ever think of rolling 800 there, plus getting two 300s in the same day,” Thewes added. “Everything just seemed to click at the end … including my arm.”
Varner, an Akron left-hander, remained in the hunt against Thewes in the stepladder semifinal before leaving a 2-4-6-10 split in the seventh frame and a 3-6-10 spare in the eighth.
“That pair had a lot of over-under. The first game it looked all right, but it got a little squirrelly so I went to a strong symmetrical ball,” said Varner, who had won at Eastbury two weeks prior with a strong performance in a College Bowl Tournaments singles event.
“I thought I had a good shot with it. But on the split, I just threw it slow and the ball went sideways. I can’t hang my head though. I have been on a hot streak lately and making a top five in a big tourney like this … I’m all right with that.”
OTHER STEPLADDER MATCHES
In the opening match, No. 5 seed Dylan Rinella, a 28-year-old Akron two-handed right-hander, topped 49-year-old Elyria right-hander John Gregory 205-204 with a strike on his final ball being the difference. It was only his second strike on the lane.
Rinella missed a 2-7-8 split in the sixth frame, but Gregory failed to convert 7- and 10-pin spares, the latter coming in the ninth, before striking out.
“I haven’t thrown this many games in a month,” Gregory said. “My thumb ripped just before that and I had to put on new skin plus put tape in the ball. I just lost it on the 10-pin shot.”
In the quarterfinals, Varner struck on six of his first seven shots to top Rinella 235-214. After Rinella had struck every time on the left lane in his opening match, he failed to strike on it against Varner.
“The left lane got so cliffed for me. I should have made a ball change, but I decided to move left instead,” said Rinella, who struck six times in the match. “When I finally went to lofting, it was a little better.”
For Thewes, it marked his first major win and first of any type since a singles title during a College Bowl Tournaments event four years ago.
“I just love this tournament … I think I’ve bowled it every year that I’ve been eligible,” said Thewes, whose best previous finish was second two years ago to Kenny Maley.
One of his co-workers, One Haralovic, showed up to cheer on his friend wearing a shirt with Thewes’ picture on it.
“I guess I’ll have to autograph it now,” Thewes said, laughing.
NOTEBOOK: Thewes and lefty Michael Leggett had the lone 300s during qualifying, with Ryan Trowbridge also having a 299 in Game 3 and Meredith having 290. The other 300 games — another by Thewes, Kevin Schott and John Gregory — came in the second round of match play. … Nolan led qualifying with 1,279 total pinfall, an average of 255.8, and just three pins ahead of Adam Barta and 10 ahead of Gregory. … Three ninth and 10th frame rolloffs had to be held at the end of qualifying due to two-way ties for sixth (Schott, Brandon Clifford) and 14th (Rinella, Scott Vandegrift) and a four-way tie for 16th (Alex McCourry, Alan Hoover, Jesse Gonzales, Thewes). The tiebreakers were needed to determine match-play pairings for the first round. … With the win, Thewes receives a free entry into next year’s event along with $1,600. … Austin Reese earned the final cash spot with 1,183, one pin behind Eric Long and two pins ahead of former champion Jim Fellows. … Defending champion Tim Voytko, who was plagued by a shoulder injury, finished 17th overall after dropping his first-round match to Meredith. … The late John Klonowski’s son, Joe Klonowski, was on hand to present checks to the stepladder finalists.
JOHN KLONOWSKI MEMOIAL SCRATCH SINGLES
(Sunday at Eastbury Bowling Center, Canton)
Stepladder finals
Match 1: Dylan Rinella d. John Gregory 205-204; Gregory wins $350
Match 2: Viktor Varner d. Rinella 235-184; Rinella wins $400
Match 3: Mike Thewes d. Varner 233-214; Varner wins $500
Championship: Thewes d. Jason Johnson 270-190; Thewes wins $1,600, Johnson wins $850.
Match play
First round: Johnson d. James Nolen 782-665; Thewes d. Adam Barta 685-652; Gregory d. Jesse Gonzales 696-667; Brian Ball d. Alan Hoover 645-623; Branden Ball d. Jack Lenhart 669-574; Varner d. Troy Wilt 747-687; Ryan Liederbach d. Alex McCourry 637-579; Kevin Schott d. Scott Vandegrift 662-626; Rinella d. Brandon Clifford 689-561; Tyler Meredith d. Tim Voytko 630-607.
Second round: Johnson d. Meredith 732-691; Varner d. Liederbach 700-604; Gregory d. Brian Ball 731-721; Rinella d. Schott 713-702; Themse d. Branden Ball 806-660
Match-play cashers: 6, Brian Ball 1,366, $320; 7, Kevin Schott 1,364, $300; 8, Branden Ball 1,329, $280; 9, Tyler Meredith 1,321, $260; 10, Ryan Liederbach 1,241, $240; 11, Troy Wilt 687, $220; 12, Jesse Gonzales 667, $210; 13, James Nolen 665, $200; 14, Adam Barta 652, $190; 15, Scott Vandegrift 626, $180; 16, Alan Hoover 623, $170; 17, Tim Voytko 607, $160; 18, Alex McCourry 579, $150; 19 Jack Lenhart 574, $140; 20, Brandon Clifford 561, $130
Other cashers
(with five-game pinfalls)
21, Eric Randazzo 1,194, $120; 22, Kyle Drazil 1,185, $115; 23, Eric Long 1,184, $110; 24, Austin Reese 1,183, $110
