By BILL SNIER
AKRON — Sunday’s Spins Bowl Akron Doubles Sweeper provided a few firsts for the 15-team field:
- One competitor threw back-to-back 300 games to begin qualifying before finishing with 30 in a row (a 10-pin spoiled the run).
- There were back-to-back winners with teams involving women.
- The title match had to go overtime to produce a champion.
With Notre Dame College graduate Hannah Klein turning in her high game of the day in the title match and rolling a key double during a ninth and 10th frame rolloff, her and partner Kyle Kalinowski earned the win during Sunday’s sweeper over Teen Masters runner-up Josh Maslanich and Highland High School bowling coach Brian Scott Esterle.
The two teams tied at 491 following the title match, leading to the two-frame rolloff, with Kalinowski and Klein gaining a 94-87 victory.
“It was just a normal day at Wickliffe (Lanes) and I just asked her if she wanted to bowl a sweeper,” said Malinowski, a 19-year-old Euclid two-handed right-hander who now is active on the PBA Central Region Tour.
Malinowski had teamed with Oscar Krofcheck to finish third in the March sweeper and fell to Esterle 268-227 in a January singles event — both at Spins Bowl-Akron.
Klein, a 21-year-old Ravenna right-hander who bowled on the Falcons’ final women’s bowling team (the college has since closed), graduated in May and then went on to obtain her emergency medical technician basic certification from Cuyahoga Community College, graduating July 19.
“This just feels great,” Klein said, “especially under the circumstances.”
ROLLING TO TOP SEED
Maslanich came out of the gates with the first 30 strikes in a row and the pair held a 73-pin lead heading into the final game of qualifying.
“That’s something I’ve never done before,” said the 19-year-old North Royalton two-handed righty who also is a sophomore to be at the University of Pikeville (Ky.) and owns 23 career 300 games.
This was the first time Esterle, a 53-year-old Wadsworth right-hander, and Maslanich had teamed up.
“I’ve known his son (Dylan) since youth bowling,” said Maslanich, who also made the top 16 in the USBC U22 Championships and plans to bowl in this week’s PBA Central Region event at AMF Riviera Lanes.
“He asked me to bowl a couple of weeks ago and I decided, why not? I wanted to test it out. It’s just been a great summer so far.”
Maslanich finished with a tourney-high 1,080 during qualifying (270 average) while Esterle had 942 as the pair teamed for 2,022 to take the top seed by 19 pins over left-handers Kevin Cowper and Les Mann.
Esterle bowled a Senior Singles Open event in the Detroit area Saturday, which included 10 games, before bowling Sunday.
“I took a nap this afternoon before I came here,” Esterle said.
EARLIER MATCHES
Kalinowski and Klein finished as the No. 4 seed after qualifying with 1,806, taking the final spot by 53 pins. Kalinowski finished with 909 for the four games, with Klein adding 897.
Their opening match came against No. 3 seed Matt Frock and Jeff Alford, who also teamed to finish fourth in the February doubles sweeper.
Kalinowski got on a roll early, striking on his first nine shots before leaving a 1-3-4-6-10 washout in the 10th for 259 while Klein (192) had a string of three strikes and a double despite a pair of open frames, including a 4-9 split in the first, en route to a 451-413 win.
Frock had just two doubles in the match and Alford had three in a row and a double. But disaster struck the pair in the seventh frame with splits — both leaving the identical 4-6-7-9-10.
In the semifinals, Kalinowski and Klein took on No. 2 seed Cowper and Mann, who had finished with 2,033. Cowper, a 43-year-old Brunswick lefty who had been in Detroit all week watching his sons bowl the Junior Gold Championships, was the only other player to shoot over 1,000 (1,011) while Mann, a 53-year-old Doylestown lefty and operator of Bowlers Sanctuary at Kent Lanes with his wife, Kim, finished with 992. The two teamed for 535 the final game to hold their position.
Mann and Cowper combined for 14 strikes in the semifinal match, with the former leaving a pocket 7-10 split in the seventh.
But Klein gave an indication of what was to come in the title match, throwing a pair of four-strike strings separated by a 7-10 split in the eighth frame. Kalinowski started with four strikes in a row and finished with three as the pair combined for a 445-421 win to set up the dramatic title match.
DOWN TO THE WIRE
In the title match, Maslanich and Esterle both started with three strikes. But latter would not strike again until the ninth, when he managed to run three more before leaving a 4-10 split on his final ball.
“Normally, when I get forced that far left, my carry can sometimes be iffy,” said Esterle, who stayed clean en route to 232. “I had a good look.”
Maslanich missed just twice in the match, leaving a 4-pin in the fourth and a 2-pin in the sixth en route to 259.
Both Klein and Malinowski had open frames, with the former failing to convert a 10-pin spare in the fifth and the latter leaving a 6-7-9-10 split in the eighth, with the 4-pin falling late. It proved to be huge.
“I was trying to hit between 15 and 18 miles per out and just trying to get it out there,” said Malinowski, admitting he had to move 10 boards left from where he played the pair (Lanes 11-12) during qualifying. “One bad move and you go right through the face … that’s how it works.
“I threw it well, but just couldn’t get it out there.”
Esterle, going second with a strike up in the ninth, threw two more in the 10th before the split.
Kalinowski, also with a strike up in the ninth, was able to get a late trip of a 7-9 for one strike and tripped a 2-pin for another for three in a row before leaving a nine-count his final ball for 236.
Klein was the key, running off seven straight strikes into the 10th frame following her open frame. But she left a 4-7 on her final shot for 255 — producing the tie.
“I wish I had that fill ball to do over again. Obviously, I didn’t know what she would do,” Esterle said. “But I would have rather had the strike than that 8-count. I was watching the scores. When (Malinowski) had that nine-count on his final ball, I knew it would decrease them by one.”
“I knew it was close, but I thought I just needed eight to close it out,” Klein said. “I was a little surprised (by the tie).”
Klein, who used her 900 Global Eternity the whole tournament found something that gave her room during the stepladder finals.
“I actually had some miss room inside. I wasn’t trying to play that tight, but once I found some miss room, now I had wiggle room to miss out or in, and that’s what happened,” Klein said.
OVERTIME
With the tie, the teams had to bowl a ninth and 10th frame rolloff.
Esterle went first and left a 3-pin on his first shot before a double and a 4-6-7 on his final ball to put up 47. After a strike, Maslanich left a 10-pin on his first shot in the 10th.
“I got a little too much around it and it kind of floated,” Maslanich said. “It would have been nice if it had carried, but it was a good shot.”
Kalinowski, leading off and throwing the Roto Grip Attention Star during the stepladder after using the Xcel during qualifying, had back-to-back strikes before leaving a 6-10 and getting the spare. Klein, after striking in the ninth, knew what she had to do.
“I knew we needed more than one (strike), but I thought I had to do something else on the second shot in the 10th,” Klein said.
She didn’t
After a strike in the ninth, Klein followed with another in the 10th. She left a 4-7-10 split on her second shot, but the pair earned the win 94-87.
Kalinowski will be bowling the Showtime tournament this weekend at Wickliffe. Klein, who has bowled in two PWBA regionals, has her sights set on another.
“I want to do more regionals,” Klein said, “and Cleveland (Sept. 15) is coming up.”
NOTEBOOK: Tournament director Frank Dallas is planning to hold another doubles scratch sweeper for ages 50-and-older players Aug. 25 also at Spins Bowl-Akron. More details to come on that. … Besides Maslanich’s two 300 games, Mann and Alford had the next highest games with 268 each. … Esterle and Maslanich turned in the high team game of 559 in Game 1, with five being thrown overall. … Mike Menge and Alan Telling finished 53 pins out of the cut in fifth. … Klein was one of two women in the event along with Ashlee Gonzales. … Tim Voytko, who won last month’s sweeper with his wife and Ohio and HDP Queens champion Melissa Voytko, finished 15th with partner John Price (1,537).
DOUBLES SCRATCH SWEEPER
(Sunday, at Spins Bowl, Akron)
Match 1: Kyle Malinowski (259)-Hannah Klein (192) d. Matt Frock (198)-Jeff Alford (215) 451-413; Frock-Alford win $120.
Match 2: Kalinowski (221)-Klein (224) d. Les Mann (216)-Kevin Cowper (205) 445-421; Mann-Cowper win $160.
Championship: Kalinowski (236)-Klein (255) tied Josh Maslanich (259)-Brian Scott Esterle (232) 491-491 (Kalinowski-Klein win two-frame rolloff 94-87); Kalinowski-Klein win $660, Maslanich-Esterle win $320.
