AKRON — Former Akron Open champion Darrel Ratliff was in the running for the doubles version of the event back in the “old” days.
“I finished second one year with Frank Testa,” said Ratliff, who was the youngest singles champion in the event’s history as a 21-year-old right-hander in the Colonial Village Lanes days. “But I left a bucket (2-4-5-8) to lose it.”
He doesn’t remember the year nor who defeated the pair for the win. Just that his shot cost his team.
He wasn’t going to let it happen again.
Ratliff, now 43 and living in Monroe, N.C., made the long journey back to Summit County again for the fifth reincarnation of the venerable singles tournament, which begins Saturday.
This time, he and partner Nick Christy’s nine-hour journey North paid off with a win.
Ratliff and Christy, a 30-year-old Columbia, S.C., right-hander, combined for 1,895 total pinfall to capture Friday’s four-game Akron Open doubles sweeper at Station 300 Akron (formerly Stonehedge Family Fun Center). It marked the pair’s third appearance in that event after finishing fifth three years ago.
Ratliff has returned to Summit County each year for the new Akron Open, which tournament director Jody Boyd brought back in 2019, while Christy will be making his third appearance.
The pair shot 440 in Game 4 to hold off the left-handed pair of Northfield’s Ryan Liederbach and Akron’s Viktor Varner, who shot 463 in Game 4 to move from third to second with 1,849, 46 pins behind the champions, who earned $2,000.
“We left at about 5 o’clock (Thursday) and got here at about 3 a.m.,” Ratliff said. “We started at Cedar Point this morning. We had to drive through the storms and everything on the way up and it was a long trip. But it was worth it.”
Christy shot 953 during the event while Ratliff came in with 942. Christy got the pair off to a solid start with 278 in Game 1 — the second highest game of the night behind Eli Cox’s lone 300 in Game 3 — while Ratliff had 236.
“He shot 270 and I was riding his coattails. Then he started riding mine and then we grinded it out at the end,” Ratliff said as the team sat second after Game 1 after a 514.
Both were surprised after shooting 481 in Game 2 that they had jumped into the lead.
“After shooting 480 we actually did pretty good compared to the rest of the house,” Christy said. “We felt like we had lost some ground, but we actually saved it with both of us striking out that game.”
Holding a 55-pin lead heading into Game 4 with a 460 in Game 3, the pair really didn’t have a number in mind.
“We just knew we had to stay clean,” Ratliff said. “We knew people would have to bowl real well to beat us.”
“We just didn’t want to give anything back,” Christy said.
But after leaving a 7-pin on his shot in the eighth frame of the final game, Christy admittedly “got kind of mad.”
“I was not going to let it happen (fall in standings again) so I struck out the last four,” Christy said. “I figured that 450 with a 50-pin lead would be solid enough. If (Varner and LIederbach) shot 500 with the way the scoring was going, they deserved to win.”
Ratliff admitted he was nervous after leaving a 10-pin on his first shot in the 10th frame of the final game after a strike in the ninth.
“Yeah, I was a little worried,” Ratliff said “I just wanted that first one for the double. I thought with one there, that would lock it up for us.”
LEFTIES MAKE RUN
Liederbach and Varner shot 439 out of the gate and didn’t enter the top five until Game 3 when they shot 472 to jump into third. The former had 215 in Game 1 while Varner had 224.
“With the nature of Stonehedge, this is usually a carry-fest,” said Varner, a 43-year-old Akron lefty. “Honestly, it seemed like there was less friction on the outsides and the insides were hooking more.”
“It just seemed like there was a little more over-under later,” added Liederbach, a 26-year-old Northfield two-handed lefty who earlier this season won Boyd’s MEGA singles in Columbus. “The middle just seemed to get more burnt as the day went on.”
Both had shots they wanted to take back in Game 4 when they made a run at Ratliff and Christy before falling short.
“I left a 7-pin after a five-bagger, another nine-count and then a seven-count,” Varner said. “I knew we needed to punch out to beat them. I just wanted it a little too much and gave it a little more.”
Liederbach missed a 7-pin in the fifth frame and, after a run of strikes, left a split in the 10th frame. “Earlier in games, I was envisioning my shots on the approach, matching my eye and hand coordination,” Liederbach said. “I just rushed that last shot and didn’t give it what I wanted.”
Neither admitted to scoreboard watching, although Liederbach admitted he used to take photos of standings sheets to keep an eye on them.
“I still have ones from the Bradley on my phone,” said Liederbach, who has bowled doubles with Varner for about six years.
Varner said communication between the pair always has been the key. “We see one of us throw a ball and we can see what the other is doing … communicating like two lefties can,” Varner said. “We can always seem to figure it out. Everyone knows we’re coming.”
Ratliff and Christy certainly did.
Ratliff used his Roto Grip Hustle RIP all night while Christy went with the Columbia 300 Top Speed early and the Hammer Radioactive Vibe late.
“We had a good blueprint for each game,” Christy said.
Now, it’s on to the main event — and both Ratliff and Christy expect similar conditions
“I expect them to hook tomorrow,” Ratliff said.
“I don’t expect much difference,” Christy added, “except there will be less traffic on the pairs and it will hold up more.”
And the journey continues.
NOTEBOOK: There were 110 teams in the sweeper field, 22 more than a year ago. The amount of teams forced officials to put five teams on a pair, with the event not ending until 12:30 a.m. Saturday. … Cox had the lone 300, with no one else shooting higher than 278. … High two-man series was by TJ Charles and Eric Randazzo in Game 1 with 524 en route to the lead. They finished 14th overall. … Only five 500 doubles games were shot on the night, including none in Game 4 when 484 was the high. … Lefties Graham Fach and Kyle Mayberry made a run from out of the top five to third with 494 in Game 3 and 458 in Game 4 to finish third with 1,808. Tyler Ring and Alex Horton, who were sitting second going into Game 4, shot just 373 the final game to fall to sixth. But Jalen Mosely and Quentin Collins, who were in fourth entering Game 4, shot 329 and all to 20th. … Ulysses Rand Jr. and Zach Grove earned the final cash spot (1,708) by eight pins over Ronald Bradley and Leandre Thomas. … Dan Higgins, who won the doubles with Chad Roberts a year ago, and defending singles champion Michael Martell teamed up to finish fifth with 1,784. … Saturday’s singles shifts are at 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. with 132 bowlers slated for each shift and six bowlers per pair. After today’s play, the field will be cut to the top one-fifth of the field will move on to Sunday’s opening casher’s round.
AKRON OPEN DOUBLES SWEEPER
(Friday at Station 300 Akron, Akron)
Final standings (with four-game totals): 1, Nick Christy-Darrel Ratliff 1,895 total pinfall, $2,000 earnings; 2, Ryan Liederbach-Viktor Varner 1,849, $1,600; 3, Graham Fach-Kyle Mayberry 1,808, $1,200; 4, Brandon White-Mike King 1,787, $1,000; 5, Dan Higgins-Michael Martell 1,784, $800; 6, Tyler Ring-Alex Horton 1,776, $700; 7, Steve Pennington-Jimmy Cook 1,758, $650; 8 Sam Dewitt-Joe Grondin 1,755, $600; 9, Simon Mote-Eli Cox 1,748, $550; 10, Charles Easton-Cassidy Schaub 1,747, $500; 11, Richie Benninghoff-Cory Hersha 1,742, $450; 12, Dwayne Marshall-Jon McDowell 1,740,$400; 13, AJ Bigelow-Keith Schooler 1,735, $400; 14, TJ Charles-Eric Randazzo 1,733, $350; 15, Ty McKinney-Ryan Ashby 1,725, $350; 16, John Randolph-Pat Adolph 1,717, $350; 17, Timothy Lynch-Paul Ressler 1,717, $350; 18, Trent Marner-Scotty Kramer III 1,716, $300; 19, Robert Harvischak-Trent Pektas 1,713, $300; 20, Jalen Mosley-Quentin Collins 1,711, $300; 21, Roger Adams-Martez Walker 1,709, $300; 22, Ulysses Rand Jr.-Zach Grove 1,708, $300.
