AKRON — For the qualifying leaders during the Akron Open, it came down to making the right choices at the right times.
“I honestly just stuck with the process. I just kept chasing the oil left,” 27-year-old Burgettstown, Pa., right-hander Shawn Curtis, the leader after six qualifying games, said. “I saw the friction right and had a little hold left so I kept chasing it. It was just one of those days.”
Making the proper ball choices was part of that.
For Curtis, who finished with 1,516 total pinfall during Saturday’s A squad to hold a 50-pin lead heading into Sunday’s 9 a.m. casher’s round, it was using the Storm Summit for all six games after not bowling during Friday’s doubles sweeper.
“Everyone was telling me they hooked a lot,” said Curtis, who attended a county fair demolition derby Friday night to take his mind off bowling for a day.
“But I threw the first couple of shots and they didn’t hook as much as I thought.”
Indianapolis right-hander Jean Perez also saw different conditions Saturday when he hit the lanes for B squad.
“I started with the (Storm) Pitch Black, but I knew by the second game it just wasn’t the right ball,” the 44-year-old left-handed native of Puerto Rico said. “The third game, I decided to make a switch to the Storm Fate.
“It seemed like the shot was more consistent than yesterday. I moved right six (boards) and looked farther down the lane. It worked.”
After starting 234-209 the first two games of the afternoon shift, Perez had games of 274 and 278 after the ball change to finish with 1,466 and lead the squad, finishing second overall behind Curtis.
The remainder of the top five include Cleveland Heights lefty Teroy Wade 1,455, Cuyahoga Falls right-hander Brandon Fleming 1,452 and Shelby Township, Mich., two-handed lefty Andre Gonzales 1,451.
In all, 18 of the remaining 52 players are left-handers.
The top one-fifth of the 260-player field advanced to the five-game casher’s round. After that round, the field again will be cut to the top 24 for five more games before the final five advance to the stepladder finals. Pinfall carries over for Sunday’s casher’s and semifinal rounds.
FLEMING’S JOURNEY
Fleming had taken three months off from the lanes during the summer “just to get my head reset … I had done a bunch of leagues and tournaments during the season and I needed to get myself back into it.”
After starting strong with 265-269, Fleming ran into problems in Games 4 and 5 with 215-203. That’s when he decided to make a change.
“Today, I started in the same spot (as Friday),” said Fleming, a 26-year-old right-hander who bowled during Friday’s doubles sweeper. “But Friday night, the transition came a lot quicker. I was able to stay in the same area for three games where last night, it lasted about one and a half.”
Fleming admitted when he got to Game 5 at the low end of the center, he assumed his ball reaction would be like Friday. He was wrong.
“I thought they would be hooking more, and it was completely opposite,” Fleming added. “It was very tight so I had to go left of where I started. I assume there was a lot of urethane thrown and the oil got pushed down. So I had to make an adjustment and grind it out.”
Then he made the switch to the Roto Grip Hustle Camo for his final game, a ball he had thrown for just two 10th-frame fill balls all night. It resulted in a 277 in Game 6 to jump him into the top five.
“I made a big move left, switched balls, trusted my gut and it ended up working out,” Fleming said.
Also making a big jump up the ladder was defending champion Michael Martell, who shot 754 over his final three games after another ball change to move into ninth place overall.
Perez plans to use a similar game plan Sunday — with the Fate this time.
“Hopefully, I can keep doing what I’m doing,” Perez said.
Curtis also plans to go with the basics. “I just want to keep things simple. I’ll probably have a decent lead, so I just need to keep it clean,” Curtis said. “I need a little better execution on spares. I struck a lot and, hopefully, that continues (Sunday).”
NOTEBOOK: The cut to the top 52 was at 1,316, with Jeremy Saccone and Jesse Smith tying at that number. The former shot 245 his final game after a 196 to earn the spot. They finished just one pin ahead of Sean Johnson and Marcus Bell in a tight race to advance. … Curtis shot the lone 300 during qualifying on A squad, with no one shooting above 279 on B squad. … Past champions Martell (2022) and Kyle Mayberry (2020) made the cut while Joshua Jones (2019) and Darrel Ratliff did not. Ratliff won his title in the event when it was held at the former Colonial Village Lanes. … Trent Marner received a $120 bonus for being the high senior or woman who failed to qualify for the casher’s round. He finished 83rd with 1,275. … In all , 31 of the final 52 qualifiers came off of A squad, including the final eight spots.
