By BILL SNIER
MACEDONIA — Dean Vargo had planned on playing golf Sunday morning. But the weather put a damper on those plans.
“With that out, I still wanted to do something today,” the 26-year-old Willowick right-hander said.
So he texted Melissa Voytko to see if she would be interested in bowling a doubles event. Voytko, who had already bowled during the day and then was helping during the Cleveland USBC’s Mixed Baker Trio event at Seven Hills Lanes, agreed
“He messaged me and asked if I could get there in 30 minutes, and I said sure,” the 37-year-old Brunswick left-hander, who was recently announced as a 2025 Cleveland USBC Hall of Fame inductee. “It was a full day, but I’m used to it.”
With Vargo leading the charge following a tourney high 1,240 total pinfall over five games, the pair took top honors in the Hit Dem Pockets Doubles Sweeper at North Woods Lanes.
It makes the pair 2-for-2 in doubles events, the last win coming in Parma.
The pair, who bowled scratch in the handicapped event, finished with 2,397 total pinfall to edge the second-place Cleveland senior team of Calvin Thomas and Ricky Davis by just four pins (2,393). The latter pair received 65 pins in handicap.
Voytko, who captured the HDP Queens event at North Woods last June, averaged 240 until hitting the final pair.
“I kind of knew where we stood, but I didn’t look at the scores. But I was losing my carry that last game and I was really worried,” said Voytko, who shot just 194 the final game. “Dean had bowled well all day. I had a pretty decent look, but that last pair was not very friendly.
“He just told me not to worry, that we’re in good shape and to keep my head on right. Thank God for Dean the machine.”
The pair had taken the lead from Thomas and Davis for the first time in Game 4 with a 482 game. Vargo averaged 248 for the day on the North Woods house oil pattern.
“It was about keeping the ball forward … that way, if it gets in or out it wouldn’t do anything crazy going through the pins,” said Vargo, who shot 215 the final game.
Davis, a 51-year-old Cleveland right-hander, and Thomas, a 50-year-old righty, had led the tournament from the start, finishing Game 1 with a game-high 531 and then also rolling the game-high in Game 5 with 509. Vargo and Voytko tied for high game in Game 3 with 542.
That also would become important later.
“I didn’t have any practice … I threw just one ball. I was running off adrenaline,” said Thomas, who barely arrived in time for the event due to his mother being in an accident.
“I was just riding him to the end, but I was able to help out the last game,” said Davis, adding it was the second time the two had paired up in the HDP events.
In that final game while Thomas had 203, Davis posted 280 to make the final totals close.
“I thought we were in bad shape when he had 172 and I had 191 (in Game 4). It was basically open frames,” Thomas said. “I knew if we made spares, we had a chance. The strikes would come.”
The team of left-hander John Price and righty Josh Truman took the final cash spot in third with 2,348, finishing with 484 in Game 5 to jump from fifth to third. They finished just three pins ahead of Stephanie Price and Teroy Wade, who threw the lone 300 of the event (2,345), and five ahead of Luis Rodriguez and Colin Mullen, who tied the Voytko-Vargo team for high game in Game 3.
EXTRA POT
Having the high game each game took on added importance in this event.
The teams posting the high games in each respective game bowled a sixth game for a separate $240 pot.
That was won by Thomas and Davis, who finished with 520, followed by Wade and Price with 485.
“I just didn’t have a good look on that pair … I pulled every shadow ball. I just had to sit down and breathe,” said Thomas, who had 238 the final game. “Then, I started with a split, and I had to sit down and breathe some more.”
But Davis put up a 256 to give the team that final pot.
“People were paying more attention to us and not to themselves,” Thomas said. “They knew were getting sticks. But you just have to shoot your game and whatever happens, happens. We were watching Dean and Melissa and we knew we had to pace with them because they were going to make better shots. But I’ll take it.”
NOTEBOOK: The tourney drew 22 teams and paid three spots, plus the sixth-game high-game pot. First place paid $600. … The next HDP event will be the HDP Queens, set for 10 a.m. June 21 at North Woods Lanes in Macedonia. Entry fee is $125, with bowlers rolling eight qualifying games before the field is cut for basket-style single-game elimination match play by seed. First place will pay $2,000 based off 50 entries. The oil pattern will be the 2023 PWBA Cleveland Regional pattern. For information, go to: https://www.facebook.com/events/1038541515041952?acontext=%7B%22event_action_history%22%3A[%7B%22surface%22%3A%22home%22%7D%2C%7B%22mechanism%22%3A%22attachment%22%2C%22surface%22%3A%22newsfeed%22%7D]%2C%22ref_notif_type%22%3Anull%7D
HDP DOUBLES SWEEPER
(Sunday, at North Woods Lanes, Macedonia)
Final results
(With five-game pinfalls)
1, Dean Vargo (1,240)-Melissa Voytko (1,157) 2,397, $600; 2, Calvin Thomas (1,165)-Ricky Davis (1,228) 2,393, $480; 3, John Price (1,159)-Josh Truman (1,189) 2,348.
High game pot totals
(Winners receive $240)
1, Ricky Davis-Calvin Thomas 520; 2, Teroy Wade-Stephane Price 485; 3, Oscar Krofcheck-Janet Hill 434; 4, Melissa Voytko-Dean Vargo 420; 5, Luis Rodriguez-Colin Mullen 410.