NORTH CANTON — When Larry Verble was asked what led to his pairing with doubles partner Don Herrington, he had a one-word answer.
Fate.
The pair, who bowled with different partners during the 2022 PBA50-PBA60 Doubles Park Centre Lanes Central Open, didn’t team up until last Monday.
It worked out well as the pair led qualifying from start to finish Saturday at Park Centre Lanes.
Herrington and Verble finished with 3,579 total pinfall, an average of 223.69 per man, to take a 77-pin lead into Sunday’s eight-game round-robin match play.
Verble and Herrington were the only players in the 26-team field to shoot 700 over the first three games on the PBA Aulby 39 old pattern, finishing with 719 and 700, respectively.
Standing second is the team of Glenn Smith and Don Hogue with 3,502, followed by Richard Strath and David Mandlowich Jr. (3,488) and Jeff Zaffino and Eddie Graham (3,484).
“My regular partner (Charlie Tapp) had a hiatal hernia. He called me two weeks ago and said he couldn’t bowl,” said Verble, a 58-year-old Mason, Mich., right-hander who missed the 2022 cut with Tapp by 32 pins. “I looked around and happened upon Don’s name, so I called him up.”
Herrington’s 2022 partner, Ryan Shafer, chose to bowl in a PBA junior regional event in New York (he made the cut there) so he had plans to go to Spartanburg, S.C., to bowl in a PBA60 event.
“Well let’s see, I could save $500 on hotel rooms and travel and most importantly bowl with Larry,” the 61-year-old Ballston Lake, N.Y., right-hander and bowling center owner said. “That will work.”
Verble finished second overall individually by averaging 228.75, while Herrington was ninth overall, averaging 218.63.
“We communicated and we had a real good look in practice (Friday). It wasn’t that much different today,” Verble said. “We just communicated back and forth and we fortunately just kept repeating shots.”
“It helps that we see the lanes similarly,” Herrington said. “He has a few more revs of course, but we see it the same way.”
But the use of urethane equipment on the shorter oil pattern was noticed by both players.
“After Game 5, it was very noticeable. It was what I call land mines at the back end of the lane,” Verble said. “I’d throw a shot that I thought was a real good move and it would back off. There was one 10th frame where I thought I threw it really good and stoned a 5-pin. I don’t think I’ve done that since the plastic days.
“You just have to maneuver around it. I tried to get it further right and bring it back from there.”
Herrington, who had just one game over 200 during his final four games after not shooting below 222 his first four, felt he played the lanes wrong late.
“Instead of going around it, I tried to go straighter through it,” Herrington said. “It just created three or four bad shots a game. That’s something I’ve got to change (Sunday) because there will probably be more urethane out.”
TEAMMATES RETURN
Smith and Hogue didn’t bowl in the event a year ago due to the latter’s commitment to Team Canada in the PANAM games.
“We met on tour and I helped him out with some layouts. We started talking and became friends,” Hogue, a 54-year-old Akron right-hander who operates North Star Pro Shop, said.
Hogue finished third individually after averaging 223.13, despite having games of 182 and 189 during Games 5 and 7. Smith, a 63-year-old New York right-hander who made one show on the PBA50 Tour this season, was 15th overall with a 214.4 average.
“We kept out of trouble and kept bouncing ideas off of each other,” Smith said. “That adds up to success.”
Hogue remarked his wife, Kim, is “teaching me how to communicate better.”
“It’s been working,” Hogue added. “Now I get to try it on different people.”
Hogue is coming off a successful PBA50 Tour season.
“I’m progressing. Every year, I do a little better so it’s going in the right direction,” Hogue added. “I learned a lot about bowling balls, what to go to and when, which balls work and which don’t and which layouts work.”
What will be the key during today’s match-play round with only eight teams remaining?
“You have to be aware that urethane will be a factor and make adjustments,” Verble said. “I’ll have one or two pieces ready in case they get messed up down lane.”
“We have to keep it in play, make your spares and get the ball on the lane as quick as possible and try not to hit it,” Hogue added. “Let the lane and the ball do the work.”
NOTEBOOK: Darryl Bower and Troy Lint were the final cut spot in eighth place with 3,421, with the former shooting 267 and the latter 214 the final game to earn the spot by just 23 pins over Streetsboro’s John Kertis and Bedford’s Chris Osborne. Kertis and Osborne also finished 10th a year ago, missing the cut by 53 pins. … There were no 300 games thrown during qualifying, with David Show throwing the high game of 299 in Game 4. … Among the final eight teams are four left-handers, including Lint, the PBA50 Player of the Year, and Michael Haggitt, who led all individuals by averaging 241.63, including shooting 269 and 279 his final two games to propel he and partner Michael Tryniski into match play with a seventh-place finish. The other lefties are John Marsala, who teamed with Show, and Strath. … Brad Angelo and Bo Goergen, who won this event in 2021 and also finished second previously, finished 21st. Angelo finished second with partner Tom Adcock a year ago. Lint and Bower won the title in 2020 and finished third a year ago. … Zaffino and Graham led qualifying a year ago but finished fourth overall, the same place they will start Sunday. … Former North Canton resident Tim Elsass and Hartville’s Mark Herdlick finished 22nd with 3,220, while Strasburg’s Steve Easterday and Washington, Va., righty Robert Easterday finished 25th with 2,989.
See complete results here: