By BILL SNIER
NORTH CANTON — New partner, new venue, same event.
For the second year in a row, 20-year-old Green right-hander Marissa Perrine found the right partner to claim a doubles title in the College Bowl Tournament Series.
After teaming up with 66-year-old Uniontown right-hander Jack Lenhart to earn a win last year at Eastbury Bowling Center, Perrine shot 1,012 during the four-game qualifier Saturday and teamed with 63-year-old Streetsboro right-hander John Kertis for victory in another CBTS over 50-under 50 doubles tournament at Park Centre Lanes on Saturday.
“Jack texted me that he hurt his back and couldn’t bowl,” said Perrine, a Walsh University student and ACME market employee. “So I decided to text Jack and ask him, and he said yes.”
Kertis was supposed to bowl the 2024 event with Chris Osborne, but was unable to bowl.
“I got sick that weekend, so I had to withdraw,” said Kertis, who won his first Professional Bowlers Association 50 Central Region tournament last season at Rebman Recreation.
It couldn’t have worked out better.
After standing 21st in the 35-team field after Game 1 with 445, the pair teamed u for 535 in Game 2 and jumped up to sixth. They then moved one spot up per game for the remainder of the four-game qualifying round.
What went right for the pairing?
“She carried me,” said Kertis, a Penske Logistics employee. “She finished 90 pins ahead of me.”
After starting with 219 in Game 1, Perrine shot 793 over her final three games for 1,012 overall (a 253 average). Kertis finished with 935 as the pair finished fourth after qualifying.
“I literally didn’t have to move all day. I stayed in the same spot,” said Perrine, who shot 941 during qualifying a year ago at Eastbury. “I just had to open my shoulder depending on the pair.
“I thought this was similar competition to last year. We were just grinding our way through.”
Kertis did adapt a little after Game 1, hitting Lanes 35 and 36 in Game 2 as the tourney bowled on the high end of the center.
“I think I started moving a little bit deeper, but I didn’t change balls,” said Kertis, who used his Hammer Anger through qualifying. Perrine stayed with her Brunswick Vaporize throughout the entire tournament.
But during match play, Kertis also used the Vaporize and Track Theorem. He then went to the Brunswick Ethos doing the title match.
Kertis made his switch in the opening game of match play against No. 7 seed Jim Fellows and Brandon Clifford when the duo hit Lanes 35 and 36 for the second time.
“We shot 530 on that pair earlier,, but they played nothing like they did that game,” Kertis said as the pair earned a tight 440-434 win.
But then the surge began during the next two matches.
“They were just unreal,” McCourry, a 29-year-old Canton left-hander, said. “We watched them all day and through match play. They were going to be the ones to beat.”
LEADING QUALIFYING
McCourry and Stauffer, a 55-year-old Canton right-hander, had dropped to as low as ninth after Game 2, and were seventh after Game 3. But the pair then shot 524 in Game 4, with the former finishing with 256 and the latter with 263, to surge to the top-seeded position with 1,986 total pinfall.
“I finished with 1,015 for four, but then they got a little squirrelly on me during match play,” Stauffer said. “(Alex) had 971 so we’re happy with it.”
The pair won their opening match against Cleveland’s Calvin Thomas and Anthony Lewis, who led the field after the first two qualifying games before dropping to eighth, 425-392.
They then advanced to the title match with a 440-377 win over Alex Lincoln and Roger Webb.
CHAMPIONSHIP BATTLE
After a struggle in their opening match, Kertis and Perrine shot 500 in the semifinal match, with the latter putting up 258 in a 500-425 win over Joe Hostetler and John Shreve Jr., who both shot 300 during qualifying.
Kertis and Perrine then picked up where they left off in the title match, with both striking on their first three shots and the former stretching his streak to the front seven before leaving a 10-pin.
Most of Kertis’ shots blew pins off the sidewall to take out the 7-pin. Was this intentional?
“No, it just sort of happened that way. I was trying to keep the ball as straight as I could because they started to hook a lot,” said Kertis, who went to the Ethos for that match. “I went with a ball that had a lot of games on it and it worked out for me.”
Perrine left a solid 8-pin and a 10-pin in the fourth and fifth before another strike. Her only suspect shot came in the seventh when she left a 2-4-5-8 spare and covered it.
“All I did was open my shoulders,” Perrine said, “but played the same line.”
Stauffer started the title match with a 4-6 split and then added a 4-6-7-9-10 split in the seventh frame.
“I just got the ball outside early and it came roaring back on me,” Stauffer said about the opening shot. “Same thing on the Greek church. I just didn’t move enough.”
After a 7-pin spare in the first frame, McCourry had three strikes in a row before leaving a disastrous 2-4-5-7-8-10 split in the fifth frame.
“Let’s just say a lot of hand and not a lot of speed,” McCourry said. “This place is really touchy pair to pair, especially on the higher end. You had not even a board difference from going through the face or hitting the pocket.
‘We had to grind through our matches.”
After leaving a 10-pin spare in the eighth, Kertis just continued to run strikes en route to 279 in the title match. Perrine stayed clean after leaving the “bucket” spare, running off three strikes in a row before a 10-pin for 237.
Stauffer and McCourry both finished with seven strikes, with their longest streaks being three in a row.
While Kertis continues to prepare for the PBA Central Region season, Perrine will try to fit in tournament play between her school and work schedules.
But they will do so with another victory.
“One thing about winning,” Kertis added. “It never gets old.”
NOTEBOOK: The 70 total bowlers in the field tied the CBTS’s best turnout for an event in its six-year history, tying last year’s turnout for the 50-50 doubles event at Eastbury. … It took 1,899 total pins to make the cut to the top eight teams for match play, with Thomas and Lewis gaining that spot. … Thomas and Lewis finished just 19 pins ahead of Jim Williams and Derrick Simon (1,880) and 20 ahed of Brian Ball and Dylan Rinella (1,879), who earned the final cash spot by just one pin over Alan Hoover and Dale Cshuta (1,878).. … Shreve and Hostetler had the only 300 games, with Vicktor Varner adding 290 and Williams with 289. … Herdlick had the high individual series with 1,025, including shooting 823 for his first three games. “It’s been awhile, so it feels good to get another 800,” Herdlick said. … Other seniors posting 1,000 series included Stauffer (1,015), Fellows (1,005) and Webb (1,001). Perrine was high for the younger players with 1,012 and Hostetler had 1,008. … The next CBTS event is a singles at 10 a.m. March 8 at Eastbury Bowling Center in Canton. Entry fee is $65, with bowlers rolling four qualifying gsmes. Go the College Bowl Tournaments Facebook page for information. … Bowlers must participate in at least four events to be eligible for the May 10 finale at Park Centre Lanes.
COLLEGE BOWL TOURNAMENTS SERIES OVER 50-UNDER 50 DOUBLES
(Saturday, at Park Center Lanes, North Canton)
Quarterfinals
(Single-game match play, losing teams each receive $240)
1 Joe Stauffer (205)-Alex McCourry (224) d. 8 Calvin Thomas (179)-Anthony Lewis (213) 425-392
3 Roger Webb (222)-Alex Lincoln (204) d. 6 Brian Huscusson (195)-Tucker Robbins (168) 426-363
2 John Shreve Jr. (215)-Joe Hostetler (215) d. 7 Frank Testa (234)-Mark Herdlick (194) 430-428
5 John Kertis (223)-Marissa Perrine (217) d. Brandon Clifford (231)-Jim Fellows (203) 440-434
Semifinals
(Single-game match play; losing teams each receive $320)
Stouffer (223)-McCourry (217) d. Lincoln (186)-Webb (191) 440-377
Perrine (258)-Kertis (242) d. Hostetler (217)-Shreve (208) 500-425
Championship
(Single-game match play; winning team receives $1,000; losing team receives $500)
Perrine (237)-Kertis (279) d. Stauffer (199)-McCourry (217) 516-416
Other cashers
(Based on four-game pinfalls; teams each received $130)
9, Jim Williams-Derrick Simon 1,880; 10, Brian Ball-Dylan Rinella 1,879
