By BILL SNIER
PARMA — How difficult was the 2019 PBA Scorpion oil pattern for players during Saturday’s qualifying rounds of the Hit Dem Pockets Scratch Masters?
“To put it liberally,” said 2024 Furbay Electric Open champion Dean Vargo, “they were not fun at all.”
A field of 33 players took on Saturday’s challenge over 10 games — divided into two sesssions, one hour apart — at Rollhouse Parma.
Only three — Vargo, who sits third, and co-leaders Antonio Palangio and William Schumacher — averaged over 200. All were just short of a 207 average for the day.
“In my opinion, during the morning shift you were seeing more friction to the right, so you could feed it a little more,” said Palangio, a 33-year-old Pittsburgh right-hander who finished at 2,065 total pinfall to tie Schumacher.
“But as soon as we started bowling the second shift, it was 100 percent evident that miss right were going to hang.”
Palangio and Schumacher, a 31-year-old Mayfield Heights two-handed left-hander, were the only players to shoot over 1,000 on both shifts.
“It just seemed like the lanes were a little bit tighter the second set,” Schumacher said. “I wasn’t able to go full speed accurately, so speed control was a really big deal the second set. It helped alleviate the pain.”
Palangio and Schumacher shot 203 and 227, respectively, the final game to earn the tie. Vargo, who shot 243 and 258 earlier in the second set, finished with 197 to finish three pins behind the pair. Matt Zitnik was fourth, 64 pins behind Vargo.
“I just made a change in tactical strategy,” said Vargo, a 25-year-old Willowick right-hander who was 11th after the opening five-game set, while averaging just over 194. “I was getting around the ball little more in that block and getting a bit deeper. I used the same kinds of bowling balls, but I just changed my zone.”
Jesse Smith, who led by 46 pins after the initial five-game block by averaging 225.6, shot just 823 over the final five games to fall to a tie for 10th overall with 1,951.
In fact, nine players averaged 202 or higher during the opening set.
Massillon two-handed righty Jesse Gonzales, who shot 226 his final qualifying game, was the cut spot with 1,941 (a 194.1 average),, finishing just 39 pins ahead Akron left-hander Vicktor Varner (1,902). Gonzales was 16 pins out of the cut after the opening set.
The top 12 players will return at 10 a.m. Sunday for a five-game advancers’ round before the final cut to the top six for match play. All pinfalls from Saturday’s 10 qualifying games carry over.
“I really prefer this kind of shot,” Vargo said. “When you realize you don’t need to strike on every ball, you tend to relax a bit more and it’s easier to make shots.”
Palangio was visiting his wife’s family in Alliance and decided to bowl because the event was just one hour away.
“With the way the second shift was, it automatically gets you tense because you couldn’t miss right,” Palangio said. “So you end up missing left every shot because you’re afraid of missing right.
“(Sunday) I’ll just try to find a spot where you can miss a little left with it because that’s my natural miss. Just try to keep the angles in front of you and keep them straight. Don’t try to wheel the lane because it’s probably not going to be there.”
Schumacher said it was time to “get some rest and get some ibuprofen in me.”
“I think I have the right balls in my bag,” Schumacher said. “It’s just about staying calm and releasing the ball straight ahead of me.”
That was a key with Game 1 of the second set for the lefty when he shot 248 — the only 200 in that game — which was Game 6 overall for the day.
“It was the first game out and no one had messed with the surface yet and the ball still had full surface,” Schumacher said. “I could go back to my usual speed and keep it right in front of me.
“After that, it was about throwing it a smidge slower, still keeping it in front of me and leaving makable spares if I wasn’t striking.”
The game plan today for the top three? Vargo summed it up best.
“Hopefully,” Vargo said, “do the same thing and keep the ball in play.”
DOUBLES RECAP
The team of Dell Ray and Casey Cohagan topped the HDP Scratch Doubles kickoff to the Masters weekend Friday night at Rollhouse Parma.
The pair finished with 2,319, with Ray shooting 729, including 270 the final game, and Cohagan shooting 590 for a 1,319 total. The event was bowled on the same pattern used during the Masters main event.
The pair finished just 25 pins ahead of Ty McKinney and Ryan Ashby (1,294), with Tim Voytko and Eric Bator taking third (1,282). Teams bowled three-game sets to determine the winner.
There were 24 teams in the field, with first place paying $1,200 to the team.
Only Ray among the top three doubles teams bowled the Masters. He made the cut, sitting sixth with 1,981.
See complete results below:
NOTEBOOK
FIRST SHIFT RECAP: Smith led the first shift with 1,128 (an average of 225.6), with a high game of 257 in Game 1. … Josh Truman had the high game with 277 in Game 2, but dropped to seventh by the end of the shift. … Amanda Morrow was the lone woman in the field, sitting 21st after the first shift with 906. The 2023 HDP Queens runner-up eventually finished 18th overall with 1,827. … Lanes for the first shift were oiled at 1:30 a.m. Saturday, according to center management. Lanes were re-oiled for the second shift and used less than an hour later.
SUNDAY’S FORMAT: The top 12 return for today’s Advancers’ Round beginning at 10 a.m., with Saturday’s pinfalls carrying over. They will bowl five more games with the top six then advancing to match play. Match play will be two-game matches by seed, with winners then advancing to the three-bowler stepladder finals to determine the champion. First place overall will pay $1,500, with $750 going to the runner-up. All individuals making match play will cash.
NOTEBOOK: George Trapletti had the high game of the second shift with 266 in Game 7. He did not make the cut, missing the final spot by 58 pins. … High series of the second shift was by Vargo with 1,088, followed by Eric James with 1,066. Six players shot at least 1,000 on the second shift after nine did the same during the opening block. … Low game of the day was 117, while Truman’s 277 was high overall.
