By BILL SNIER
NORTH CANTON — “Hit a house,” “six doing its job” and “shim.”
Just a few of the comments made by Michael Clark Jr. after his doubles partner, Dean Billings, released shots Sunday.
“This is just so much fun,” Clark said during the Baker System match-play finals of the PBA50-PBA60 Doubles Park Centre Central Open on Sunday at Park Centre Lanes.
Clark, a 52-year-old North Olmsted right-hander, and Billings, a 60-year-old Rootstown right-hander, were the No. 1 seed among the six remaining teams heading into the finals.
Seeds three through six began the day with two best-of-seven Baker System matches, with the two survivors meeting the top two seeds, who received first-round byes.
When the dust cleared in the final, Clark and Billings found themselves in the same place they were after Saturday’s eight-game qualifier — topping the leaderboard.
Clark and Billings stopped Charles “Butch” Ferrell and Dale Cshuta 4-1 in the title match to earn the $3,400 first-place check.
“I was just trying to stay loose,” said Clark, who earned his second regional title and first as a senior player (his other came in 2016). “Hit a house, things I was saying were designed to do that. We just wanted to keep it simple.
“We had a good mindset, but when we needed to get into each other, we got into each other. And when we needed to stay loose and throw good shots, we really did that well the last two sets. We played the lanes correctly.”
Billings, who also earned only his second regional title and first since 2014, said he just wanted to stay “out of Mike’s way.”
“The guy has been on a heater all year, winning a bunch of tournaments,” Billings said of Clark, who already has two Ohio Matchplay Tournament 50-and-older titles this season. “He’s throwing the ball really well and he’s a young senior.
“I felt real lucky and just tried not to train-wreck him. The last thing I want is a guy bowling on a heater bowling with me and he can’t win.”
The pair had topped the leaderboard after Saturday’s eight-game qualifying round with 3,564 total pins, just five pins ahead of Tom Adcock and Michael Haggitt, to earn the bye.
RUN TO FINALS
Cshuta and Ferrell, who were brought together through a text from fellow senior PBA pro John Shreve Jr., were sitting in 12th place in the 18-team field heading into Saturday’s final qualifying game. The pair then combined to shoot 531 — the high doubles score of the day — to secure the sixth spot for the finals by 33 pins.
Csuhta, who is due to have arthroscopic knee surgery in two weeks, was questioning whether to bowl after his 2023 partner, Brian Kretzer, had to pull out due to his own knee problems that will require replacement surgery.
“I probably shouldn’t have bowled, but I wanted to bowl,” said Cshuta, a 69-year-old Wadsworth right-hander with 10 regional titles. “I just didn’t want to screw up a partner.”
But Ferrell, a 54-year-old Painesville right-hander, was looking for a partner when he learned of Cshuta’s availability through a Shreve text. He was willing to take Csuhta on.
“For never bowling together before, we did a lot of talking and we did pretty well,” Ferrell said. “Obviously, he has an knee issue, and you could tell on some of his releases.”
Ferrell’s motto of “we won’t quit” continued into Sunday as the pair won their opening match against No. 3 seeded Dave Johnson and Shreve 4-3, taking the final game 199-197. It came after the pair took a 2-0 lead early and then won Game 5 241-234.
It marked the only seven-game match of the day.
Next up were Haggitt and Adcock, who each own one PBA50 Tour title. The latter led qualifying individuals Saturday by averaging 233 over eight games.
But Csuhta and Ferrell came out strong with 218 and 246 to win the first two games and ended with a 4-2 win, taking the final game 233-210.
Meanwhile, Clark and Billings, while splitting the first two games with No. 5 seed Ray Edwards and Rick Graham, went on a tear during their final two games of the match. The top-seeded pair shot 290 and 278 to earn a 4-2 win to reach the title match.
Edwards and Graham lost despite shooting 238, 250 and 261 in three games.
But despite the big last two games, Billings and Clark had to make changes going to the title match on Lanes 23 and 24.
FINAL MATCH
“I was just going back to a reaction I had in the previous match. I started with it, but I was not getting the same ball reaction,” said Billings, who used the Ebonite Game Breaker 5. “I just moved in and did what (Clark) told me to do all day yesterday.
“If I threw it halfway decent, it was going to hit the hole. The strike percentage was really good today.”
Clark, who admitted he saw “more 10-pins (today) that I saw all of yesterday while using Storm Phaze II and IQ Tour, felt the pair had momentum coming off their last two big final games in the previous match. But they quickly learned that changes had to be made on the title pair.
“We tried to start with what we started with (on the previous pair), but saw really quick it wasn’t going to be the same,” Clark said. “So we both got into balls we finished with, got left a little bit and threw it really well. We had a couple of bad shots in there, but picked each other up.”
Csuhta and Ferrell came out strong, striking on their first five shots in Game 1 before Ferrell missed a 10-pin spare. They then struck four more times en route to a 254-212 win.
Billlings and Clark had splits in two of their first four frames, but then ran off six of the next seven to finish.
But the match abruptly changed in Game 2.
After throwing three strikes in a row early, Cshuta and Ferrell were unable to strike the remainder of the game, with the biggest problem being a 3-4-6-7-9-10 split by Csuhta in the ninth.
“I don’t think I had the same reaction on that pair that I had on all the other ones all weekend,” said Ferrell, who added it was the first time the duo had hit that pair. “It seemed like it held more oil down lane.”
“It just seemed like one time it would hook and the next it would go 60 feet for me,” Csuhta said. “I wasn’t throwing it the best, but I wasn’t getting the same reaction.
“That second game, I gave it away with the split and the missed spare. If we stay clean, we win.”
Billings also left a 2-4-8-10 split in Game 2, but the pair was able to recover with three straight strikes in the seventh through ninth to pull out a 205-186 win.
“Dean threw that clutch strike in the ninth (to complete the string) of the second game,” Clark said. “If we don’t win that game, this could have been completely different.”
Csuhta and Ferrell had three strikes in a row just once during the final three games, shooting 177, 181 and 181.
“We didn’t have a good look like they had. They were throwing the ball good and hardly missing the pocket,” Cshuta said. “I was all over the place and (Ferrell) couldn’t carry or get it to the pocket sometimes.”
Ferrell, who had hoped the title match would be on Lanes 25-26 where the pair had shot a tourney-high 531 the day before, admitted confusion.
“Where I was playing, it worked on previous pairs, but it just wiggled down the lane on this pair.”
Cshuta admitted the team had a decent look in practice and in Game 1.
“But things got a little different at the end of Game 2. They struck a lot and we couldn’t get three, four or five baggers while they had six and seven baggers a couple of times,” Csuhta added. “It’s kind of hard to catch that.
“They had the ball rolling, kicking the 6-pin and it was doing it’s job and they kicked out a couple of 10-pins on possible 7-10 splits.”
Billings and Clark finished with 256, 267 — missing strikes on only five shots in the two games — and closing with 214 in Game 5, including a 4-9 split by Clark in the fourth frame.
Csuhta is unsure how long the surgery will sideline him.
“They are telling me five weeks, but I’m not going to rush it back,” Cshuta added.
Ferrell continues to seeks his first PBA title and now has three second-place finishes.
“Overall, I’m happy with the weekend,” Ferrell, a truck driver, said. “But it still sucks. I would like to win one.”
Clark, who does not bowl league play but prefers to practice, will be heading to the regional in Kettering next weekend as he continues his successful run.
“I’m throwing the ball really well and seeing the lanes well enough,” said Clark, a Midland Hardware employee who also works as a basketball official in the winter. “I’m just relaxed out here. It’s not life and death … it’s just go out here, bowl and have fun.
“I’m not burned out by bowling three or four days a week. I just come out here and enjoy the competition, seeing the guys and it’s really helped me with a new mindset: just stay relaxed with no expectations and whatever happens, happens.”
It also is a mindset adopted by Billings, who bowls one league at Champion Lanes in Warren.
“It’s not easy there, even though they eased up on the shot a little this year,” Billings, who like Clark, won his only previous regional title at McKinley Lanes in Niles. “It has really helped me wherever else I bowl. When carry issues happen it’s like what I go through on Friday nights there.”
But he was emotional about the win as a super senior.
“It feels really good. But I honestly thought I would have a few more of these by now,” said Billings, who also has nine second-place finishes.“But things happen. Hopefully, 60 will be a good springboard to some more good stuff in the future.”
PRO-AM
Friday’s Fred Smith-Dick Behra Memorial Pro-Am drew 54 bowlers to compete in nine-pin, no-tap games with the professionals on the tournament pattern Friday with Charles Spencer organizing the event.
Alex Lovas was the overall champion, shooting 780 actual and finishing with 1,716 in the high school-college division.
Other division winners included Tristan Broom in the Special Olympics category with 1,589 (558 actual); Kara Graham in the senior division with 1,626 (728 actual); Sue Travaglianti (1,622) in the adult division; and Paul Hobson in the super seniors division with 1,526 (526 actual).
Brandon Clifford had the high scratch series with 806 in the handicapped event.
NOTEBOOK
Akron’s Don Hogue and partner Glenn W. Smith were eliminated in the first round by Edwards and Graham 4-1. … Billings and Clark had the high Baker game of the day with 290. … There were three 300s during the tournament Saturday by Adcock, Shreve and Neil Kassel. … This was the second straight runner-up finish for Cshuta, who teamed with Kretzer to finish second behind Larry Verble and Dan Herrington, who did not compete this year. … The PBA50 Central Region will be in Kettering next weekend or the PBA50 RPI Central Open at Poelking Woodman Lanes. Also, the regular regional players will be in Fishers, Ind., for the PBA Bus Show Plows-O’Brien Auto-Radical Central Open, another RPI event. … Our thanks to tourney director Bobby Jakel and Park Centre owners Chuck Smith and Mitch Sommers for their assistance. … Tourney sponsors included Ten Back Pro Shop, Phillips Foundation, Mark’s Brew Thru, Bierly-Litman, House of LaRose, Berkshire-Hathaway Realty and M.J. Miller and Co.