AKRON — He referred to himself as “just a bowler from Cleveland who came from family-owned bowling alleys and became a bowler.”
His opening opponent, Chad Roberts, referred to his arm swing as “Jakob Butturff-like, except right-handed … he kind of gets it sideways and up and through it with good drive. When it goes through the pins, it’s not going to miss very often.”
But 42-year-old Cleveland right-hander Michael Menge also referred to himself as “a three-game a week league bowler” who now bowls out of Strike Out Lanes in Wellington.
Menge, who admittedly hasn’t bowled many tournaments in the past, stood 18th after Saturday’s qualifying round, moved up to third after the casher’s round and earned the No. 3 seed for Sunday’s Akron Open stepladder finals at Station 300 Akron.
But it didn’t come without pain.
Menge, whose uncles Tom and Tim Menge — a pair of former Professional Bowlers Association players — owned the former Twin Lanes in Cleveland before selling it a year ago, admittedly had “not thrown that many games in a long time” and his hand took a beating.
“My hand is so swelled up I can barely get it in the ball,” said Menge, who was able to win his first two stepladder matches before falling to eventual champion Cassidy Schaub 247-225 in the semifinals.
“I’m just dead tired right now. My hand started swelling this morning and my fingers are about to start bleeding.”
Asked about his unorthodox arm swing, Menge said he’s been around bowling “forever … I’ve been doing it this way since I was a little kid. It’s the way I learned.”
In the quarterfinal match against Roberts, he fell behind early by leaving 10-pin spares in the second and fourth frames. He didn’t miss again en route to a 260-248 win.
In the semifinal against Schaub, Menge struck on five of his first six shots before leaving a 3-10 baby split and covering it in the seventh. But he struck just one more time the rest of the way while Schaub ran off six strikes in a row for the win.
“I had to throw my Motive Accent … it was the only ball I could get my hand into right now,” said Menge, who now has time to bowl after working “80 hours a week at the bowling alley.”
“I can’t complain. There were 260 bowlers here and I made it to the end. I’m not going anywhere … I’ll be around.”
ROBERTS MISSES MOVE
Roberts, the No. 5 seed after reaching the top five by eight pins, opened the stepladder with a 219-185 win over qualifying leader Shawn Curtis.
Three strikes in a row late and staying clean throughout the game were key as neither right-hander could run big strings. But Roberts admitted he missed a move in the fourth frame against Menge.
“The heads here go pretty quickly. When I was bowling with more people, I was moving every second or third shot on a lane. In this, I had to move every four,” said Roberts, a 36-year-old Westerville right-hander. “But the right lane went quicker than the left and I missed that.
“It tricked me. The back-to-back 4-pins (fourth and fifth frames) were because I was behind the moves.”
Roberts admitted he needed to put pressure on the inexperienced Menge early. He started with three strikes, but then didn’t get hot again until running off the last six. But that was when Menge had started his run of eight strikes in a row, including a pair of trip 4-pins.
“I had to put the pressure on, but after missing twice, he got hot and it was a bit tough after that,” Roberts said.
QUALIFYING LEADER FALLS
Qualifying leader Curtis, a 27-year-old Burgettstown, Pa., right-hander held the lead until Game 13 of the Round of 24, when Kyle Mayberry shot 279 to move into the top spot.
“I think I had a high game of 250 (258 in Game 3) and a low of 199 (Game 10) today. I didn’t put up anything crazy the whole day, but just stayed around 220,” said Curtis, who was the No. 4 seed for the finals. “It was good enough after the scoring I did (Saturday).”
But in the opening match against Roberts, Curtis finished with just five strikes and missed a 6-10 spare conversion in the eighth frame.
“I just made bad shots. I was just not focusing good enough,” Curtis said. “I get up there and throw a bad shot when you know you need it and threw it even worse at the 6-10. I was trying to chase the next shot and not focusing on that one.”
But in only his second Akron Open appearance, Curtis will be back.
“I just had a lot of fun,” Curtis said. “I starting to see some things pay off and I’m going in the right direction. So I will be around more.”
RETURNING IN 2024
Tournament promoter Jody Boyd said he has signed on to continue the event Aug. 24-26 in 2024 at Station 300 Akron.
“They are excited about bringing us back. They feel they can get us more sponsors for next season with more time to work on it,” added Boyd, with House of LaRose and Poling Painting being the two 2023 sponsors. “Also, we’re looking forward to having new lanes and new scoring in for next year’s event here.”
Boyd said one change will be holding the entries down for next year’s doubles sweeper to put no more than four teams on a pair. This season with a 22-team increase, there were five teams on a pair resulting in slower play with an 8 a.m. first singles shift Saturday.
Boyd said new pins also were put in close to the tournament, but that the house shot has changed under new ownership, resulting in a lower scoring pace. The cut to the top 52 for the casher’s round was a 3,016 this season; in 2023, it was at 3,180.
NOTEBOOK
SAYING THANKS: To tournament director Dawn Altimore-Eckenrode, Kim Ellis Hogue, McKenna Boyd and Renae Shafer a big thank you for a smoothly run event and providing this writer with all the information he needed to inform my readers of the results as they happened. No one does it better than this group.
RACE TO TOP 24: The final game determined a lot during the casher’s round as Graham Fach and Frank Snodgrass were on the cut line, defending champion Michael Martell was three spots out and Adam Barta was in 42nd place in the 52-player round. Fach (276) and Snodgrass (280) jumped into the top 10, while Martell (267) and Barta (290) advanced to the Round of 24, Barta making it by just nine pins. Kevin Oravecz, sitting 25th after Game 4, took the final spot with 227 the final game, making the cut by just five pins with 2,462 total pinfall.
NOTEBOOK: Martell finished 15th overall, 142 pins out of the cut. He joined Mayberry as the only past champions to make the cut to the top 52. … After only one 300 being thrown by the 260-player field Saturday during qualifying, two were thrown Sunday — one each during the casher’s round and the Round of 24 by senior player Brant Schurr and Menge, respectively. … Roberts shot 227 in Game 5 of the Round of 24 to take the final stepladder spot by eight pins after being one pin out of the cut after Game 4. Of the remaining top four, Menge was the only one who was not in that position following the casher’s round. … In all, eight left-handers reached the final 24, with two in the top five on the house oil pattern. The first two shifts were bowled on the same pattern, with fresh oil being applied for the stepladder finals. … There were five women in the field overall, with HDP Queens winner Trisha Reid being the top finisher at 86th (1,270). … Lake High School junior Zachary Abbott was the lone youth bowler in the event, finishing 141st (1,214).
