CANTON — Brad Angelo had a specific game plan for the stepladder finals of the PBA50 Central Region Strike Zone Classic.
“My strategy was not to move my feet or eyes. Just change my hand position and acceleration and rotation,” said Angelo, who added surface to his ball after each of his three matches.
It was all about preparing to battle tournament leader Eugene McCune in the title match Sunday at Strike Zone Lanes.
The strategy paid off as Angelo stopped McCune 280-209 in the championship match.
Using an old Roto Grip Show Off ball on Sunday (which he resurfaced after each game), the 53-year-old Lockport, N.Y., right-hander was able to rise from the No. 4 seed to claim the title.
“I brought that ball in this morning and had 270 the first game, but once it got a little lane shine on it, it didn’t look nearly as good,” said Angelo, who won $3,000 for the win. “I was really fortunate to make this stepladder because I could hit it before each game.
“Getting the ball to read before the end of that pattern was so crucial the entire week because there was so much volume in the front.”
Angelo felt fortunate to make it to Sunday’s cashiers rounds after shooting 278 in his final game to sit 16th after the opening eight-game qualifying round Saturday.
He was 12th after Sunday’s opening four-game cashers round for the final 33 players before reaching the top eight in the second round of three games by 56 pins after the field had been cut to 16.
“I was very fortunate that people ahead of me that I had to chase down ran into some struggles and didn’t keep up their end of the scoring pace,” Angelo said. “I was on the outside looking in for virtually every round. I was extremely fortunate.”
In the final round to determine the four stepladder finalists, Angelo shot 216, but was able to move up to the fourth spot when Rick Galpal opened the 10th frame for 178 and Tom Adcock failed to double in the 10th for a 215. He earned the spot by just five pins.
“There were so many situations that could have played out where I already would be halfway home,” Angelo said. “A win is a win, but this one feels like, gosh, thank you.”
RUNNING THE LADDER
Using his strategy on a fresh-oil pair, Angelo rolled strikes in bunches during the stepladder finals.
He started off with seven in row en route to a 267-204 win over No. 3 seed John Marsala, a 60-year-old St. Louis left-hander. Then, after a pair of early spares, he ran off seven in a row again during a 256-236 win over 58-year-old Indianapolis right-hander Mark Sullivan.
That set up the title battle with McCune, who averaged 240.53 over 17 tournament games to earn the No. 1 seed by 163 pins.
It gave Angelo the opportunity to see if his strategy would pay off.
“My plan was if I was fortunate enough to get to Eugene, I wanted to make sure there was enough of a burn spot there that he was going to have to deal with,” Angelo said.
McCune, who tweaked his groin muscle on his first shot in the title match, started with three strikes. But the 54-year-old right-hander left a 3-9-10 split in the fourth and failed to convert.
Meanwhile, after leaving a 10-pin in the second frame following a strike, Angelo struck on his final 10 shots.
McCune left spares in the sixth (9-pin) and seventh (3-6-10) to end his chances.
“This pair hooked five more boards than anything I’d seen all day. When I throw hard, I really don’t like moving,” said McCune, who was hitting between 18 and 19 mph. “I didn’t think it was hooking that bad the first couple of shots, but then all of a sudden, it hooked.
“With Brad sanding the ball, it was taking a lot of oil off where I was laying it down. That’s what I was seeing.”
As for the groin injury, McCune said it wasn’t a factor.
“It really wasn’t as bad as it looked,” said McCune, who won this event in 2021. “When I lifted my leg it would start to tingle, but it was just for a minute or so.”
Angelo has been on the other side of the situation.
“You lead a regional or a tournament and then lose in the title match … I’ve been there,” Angelo said. “Obviously, he bowled the best of any of us all weekend. It just sucks that it comes down to one game.
“But I executed very well. In the stepladder, the strategy was there and the execution was there.”
COMING NEXT
It was an Ohio win for Angelo, coming just two weeks before he competes in the PBA Tournament of Champions at AMF Riviera Lanes in Fairlawn and coming off a disappointing September loss with partner Tom Adcock to Parker Bohn III and Sam Maccarone in a PBA50-60 doubles event at Park Centre Lanes.
In that event, Angelo left an 8-10 split in the 10th frame of the final position-round match as his team fell short by just 15 pins to finish second.
“That tournament still haunts me,” Angelo said, adding he took several months off from tournament bowling before resuming just last week. “When you bowl a doubles tournament and you and your partner are bowling so hard and it comes down to you and you don’t get the job done … that is what it is.
“But today was the whole other end of the spectrum.”