By BILL SNIER
CANTON — Hendrick Livengood admitted his first shift during the Stark County USBC Junior-Adult Scholarship Tournament “wasn’t great.”
The 15-year-old Hoover High School sophomore to be “shot about 170 every game the first shift” while bowling with his father, Brandon.
But with a new partner and a solid start on the second shift, Livengood and Lewis Stansbury claimed the title in the 15U division during Sunday’s 35-team event at AMF Hall of Fame Lanes.
“I threw the ball about the same both shifts,” said Livengood, who shot 584 the second shift with a 234 opener. “But my transition game was really bad.”
But Stansbury, who started with 228 in Game 1, finished with 279 for a 706 series to give the pair 1,491 total pinfall (including handicap), finishing just three pins ahead of the Uniontown pair of Payton and Joe Taylor (1,488).
The Carrollton team of Warriors senior Zoey Elliott and Tucker Robbins topped the 18U division with 1,498.
RIGHT SYNERGY
“I had a throw-away game in the middle with a 199,” said Stansbury, a 43-year-old Alliance right-hander whose cousin, Alan Leasure, is Brandon Livengood’s best friend, leading to the pairing. “I put one through the face in the ninth frame and left the ‘big four’ (4-6-7-10 split) so I kind of gave that one away.
“But he carried me Game 1. He was playing to the right so I felt I could play around the urethane that was in play the entire set. I even went farther right to play off of him and was able to complement him. That last game I was just throwing pellets with the (Track) Tundra Fire, so the synergy between us was there.”
Livengood threw a different ball each game — Summit Peak, Phaze II and finishing with the Theorem. Stansbury, staying in the same mode, started with the Archetype and finished with the Tundra Fire.
“I should have gotten out of the Archetype earlier, but where I was in Game 2 it was too late and it led to that split,” Stansbury said. “But I was able to play off him with the Tundra Fire.”
Stansbury was not surprised by the higher scores in the second shift.
“It was warmer in there and the shot broke down a little more so you could hook the lane with better vision,” Stansbury said. “That was especially true for the the people who returned after the first shift. They already had a good look at it.”
It was the second tourney win for the 15-year-old Livengood, who also teamed with fellow Hoover sophomore-to-be Aiden Chetto to capture the Stark County USBC Mini-City doubles title in March at Park Centre Lanes.
Payton Taylor shot 600 and Joe Taylor added 609 en route to the runner-up finish. The Brooklyn team of Alex Cowper and lefty Kevin Cowper took third with 1,471 as Alex shot 707 with 279 his final game and Kevin added 668.
18U RUN
Elliott was the key to this team’s run, shooting 655, including a 274 the final game with nine strikes in a row at one point until leaving a five-cound on her second ball in the 10th frame. Robbins, after starting with 203, shot 258 and 238 for the final total.
Elliott, who shot 529 during the OHSAA Division II State Girls Championships to help the Warriors to an eighth-place finish, will be attending Kent State-Tuscarawas Campus in the fall.
The team of Brooklyn sophomore Adam Cowper and Stow-Monroe Falls boys coach Al Petrrosino took second with 1,479, just 19 pins behind Elliott and Robbins.
Cowper also shot 279 in Game 3 — the same as his brother — en route to a 719 series while Petrosino had 667. Cowper was an All-Ohio selection this season after finishing in the top eight at the OHSAA Division II State Boys Championships.
The team of Jenna Higgins and Jerry Higgins of Norton finished third with 1,450 as the former shot 545 and the latter had 495.
NOTEBOOK: Results remain unofficial, pending verification of handicaps. Handicaps were based of of 85 percent of 440 combined for the team. … The top five teams in the 18U division received scholarship payments to their SMART accounts; the top four in the 15U division also received payments. … There were 19 entries in the 15U division and 17 in the 18U division, with none in the 12U division. … Our thanks to Stark USBC officials Sue Vukmanovich, Taylor Sturm and Matt McCourry for their assistance with this report.