By BILL SNIER
CUYAHOGA FALLS — The last time Kevin Oravecz was in a similar situation, he was stopped by a 1-2-4-10 “washout” in the 10th frame of the Hit Dem Pockets’ third annual Scratch Open title match at AMF Riviera Lanes.
It cost him in a 246-195 loss to Joe Hostetler.
Sunday, Oravecz faced two such washouts at Clutch Lanes and Sports Center in a two-game title match. He made both — and threw in a four-strike run and a pair of doubles to aid his cause.
They resulted in Oravecz claiming his first major singles title with a 403-343 win over Jason Johnson in the 11th annual March Madness Tournament.
Oravecz, a 29-year-old Mentor right-hander, follows his brother, Matthew, who won the 2023 event at Clutch. Sunday also was Matthew’s 21st birthday.
“I didn’t bowl badly (at Riviera), but it happened. This is just amazing,” Oravecz said. “It’s my brother’s birthday and he won here last year. I shot my first 300 on my dad’s birthday, so this is pretty special.”
In the unique format, the full field of 64 players bowled three qualifying games to determine their seeds into four divisions. From there, each player bowled two-game matches by seed — rounds of 64, 32, 16, 8 and final four — before reaching the title match. Both of the remaining players bowled 15 games on the day.
“I usually bowl six games a week tops,” Oravecz said. “But I’m kind of used to it because I use to endurance bowl a lot, bowling 16 games a day. I’ve been working out a lot so that helps.”
The “semi-retired” Johnson, however, doesn’t bowl league play, and just resumed practicing in January. Usually, it’s in preparation for the USBC Open Championships, but he will not be going this season.
“I’ve been practicing about once or twice a week. I was going to bowl the (John) Klonowski (Memorial), but I got sick,” said Johnson, a 40-year-old right-hander, who also bowled with Dale Csuhta in the College Bowl Tournaments under-50/over-50 doubles event at Eastbury Bowling Center. “The last couple of weekends there hasn’t been anything, so I got a couple of balls drilled to bowl with Mike Clark in the PBA regional doubles next week.
“I didn’t decide to enter this until late and I was on the waiting list. I didn’t find out until Thursday that I was in.”
As high school players have learned during recent postseason play, spares are important — and they were huge during Sunday’s event bowled on the 2022 Junior Gold oil pattern.
But you need to mix in a few strikes, and that was the difference. Oravecz finished with 11 over two games in the title match, including a four-bagger.
Johnson never threw a strike in the match until the seventh frame of Game 2 — and finished with three.
ORAVECZ’S RUN
Oravecz shot 574 during the qualifying round to sit at the No. 13 seed heading into match play.
“I got left of everyone today … I was in to sixth arrow for most of my matches because that was the only part of the lane that had any oil in the front part,” said Oravevz, who used a sanded Brunswick Mindset during qualifying.
“That allowed my ball to get down the lane without overhooking. I think getting left of everyone did wonders for me.”
After stopping Curtis Duffield 468-361 in the Round of 64, Oravecz faced Mark Suchan, which he later admitted “was my toughest match of the day.” He earned a 406-393 win.
“We were on (lanes) 3 and 4, and they weren’t as nice as they were later,” Oravecz said “He had three or four Brooklyns (strikes) and there was nothing you could do about it. I had my most stress in that one.”
From there, he topped Paul Thorne (478-387) and Scott Hensley (414-392) to set up a semifinal match against 53-year-old Vermillion right-hander Brad Cunningham,. Oravecz had five strikes in a row in Game 1 to build a 252-179 cushion en route to a 471-339 win.
“I used the Hammer Envy Tour throughout match play. It was the ball of the day,” said Oravecz, who fell in the round of 16 to Tyler Meredith a year ago despite shooting 460.
JOHNSON’S RUN
Johnson had games of 209, 224 and 190 for 623 to rank second during qualifying and earn one of the No. 1 seeds for a division.
“I was able to bowl pretty well on a hard pattern,” said Johnson, an Ace Mitchell Bowlers Mart employee.
He opened the round of 64 with a 420-322 win over Carl Jones, taking a 219-129 lead after Game 1. It helped in the long run.
“I got a bit of a break in that first match because he didn’t have much of a look,” Johnson said. “I was able to move around and try some different stuff for a game, which was beneficial.”
He then topped Eric Long (421-367), Brian Moreno (354-337) and Richard Yates (444-387) before facing Tyler Meredith in the semifinals.
After dropping Game 1 213-204, Johnson started Game 2 with the first six strikes in a row en route to 236 and a 440-386 win.
The strikes stopped there for Johnson.
CHAMPIONSHIP
The two finalists bowled the title match on Lanes 5 and 6, which had not been bowled on since the Round of 64.
“I shot 224 on that pair in qualifying, but I was playing a lot farther to the right then,” Johnson said. “I tried three different balls and just didn’t have one that matched up.
“It’s tough to win when you’re shooting a lot of corner pins. Lane 5 had more of a hang spot than Lane 6 and it took me half the game to figure that out. I just didn’t know what ball to throw.”
Johnson left a 6-7-10 split in the third frame of Game 1 on Lane 5 and covered a 1-2-4-10 washout in the seventh. He had just the one open, but no strikes.
Oravecz saw the problems in practice.
“The backends were nonexistent. There was nothing burned into the lane for me to hook in the middle,” said Oravecz, who earned $2,000 for the win. “So I moved 12 boards right with my feet on that pair from Lanes 3 and 4 (semifinals). I was 20 to 21 (board) at the arrows and 13 to 14 down lane, keeping it tight.
“I was just trying to get up the back of the ball sooner.”
Oravecz opened with a strike, left an open in the second frame, but then covered the 1-2-4-10 washout in the third. He remained clean until a double in the seventh and eighth frames to take a 194-173 lead after Game 1.
He started Game 2 by missing a 10-pin spare and followed that with a 1-2-10 washout in the third, but converted it. Then came the four strikes in a row before a 4-6-7-10 split ended that run.
Johnson failed to convert a 1-2-8 spare in the second, but then missed a 4-pin spare in the fourth and a 3-10 split in the fifth. During the match, he left four 10-pins and 10 total one-pin spares with just three strikes.
After his first strike in the seventh frame of Game 2, he raised his arms in celebration.
“Can I start over?” he asked.
“I just didn’t have a good look and I kept chasing it the whole match,” said Johnson, who now has finished second three times in this event, including last year to Matthew Oravecz. “I just ran out of gas. I’m good at getting to the championship, but finishing the job is another story.”
But for Oravecz, it was a big moment in his career with the first major win.
“Lane 5 was going longer than Lane 6 and I was fortunate to make two washouts on that lane,” said Oravecz, a tool maker by trade. “I had a chance last year. But I got through it this time. It feels amazing.”
NOTEBOOK: Kreative Touch Property Services was title sponsor for the event, which was in its third year at Clutch Lanes after an eight-year run at the former Sto-Kent Lanes. … The top four qualifiers received $100 bonuses for being the No. 1 seed in each division. … Vinny Bellar was the top overall qualifier with 629 as just six 600 series were rolled. Joining Bellar as top seeds were Johnson, Ryan Liederbach (617) and Paul Thorne (608). … High game of the day came during match play from Don Hogue with 279 in the round of 32. No bowler shot three 200 games in qualifying, with Liederbach posting the high game of 243. … Bellar fell in the Round of 64 to Joe Bailey 398-389. …Matthew Oravecz was eliminated in the Round of 32 by Scott Hopkins, 369-337. … Our thanks also to Eric Randazzo, Les Mann, Kim Mann, Gina Stupp and Ashley Staley for their assistance with this report.
MARCH MADNESS
(Sunday, at Clutch Lanes and Sports Center, Cuyahoga Falls)
Round of 16
(Losers each receive $130)
Don Hogue d. Joe Bailey 422-402; Brad Cunningham d. Scott Hopkins 411-248; Kevin Oravecz d. Paul thorne 478-387; Scott Hensley d. Ryan Trowbridge 471-440; Jason Johnson d. Brian Moreno 354-337; Richard Yates d. Mike Hoffman 344-321; DJ Assaff d. Ryan Liederbach 471-441; Tyler Meredith d. Joe Hostetler 453-407.
Round of 8
(Losers each receive $250)
Meredith d. Assaff 450-421; Johnson d. Yates 444-387; Oravez d. Hensley 414-392; Cunningham d. Hogue 385-382.
Semifinals
(Losers each receive $500)
Oravecz d. Cunningham 471-339; Johnson d. Meredith 440-386
Championship
(Winner receives $2,000; loser receives $1,000)
Oravecz d. Johnson 403-343.