By BILL SNIER
AKRON — Different day, different equipment.
That sums up decisions made by a pair of left-handers who topped the field during Saturday’s early qualifying squad for the Akron Open scratch singles at Station 300.
A field of 156 players rolled six qualifying games on the first shift. Their scores will be combined with Saturday’s evening squad to cut to the top 64 players for Sunday’s two-game cumulative match-play rounds.
George Gohagan III, a 43-year-old left-hander who has lived in Las Vegas for the past six years, led the early squad with 1,525 total pinfall (254.16 average). Asked how he likes the change from advancer round and stepladder to match play, he replied, “Yes and no.”
“It really doesn’t matter how you bowled today, which is kind of a bad situation,” said Gohagan, who shot his 285th career 300 in Game 3 when he first took the lead. “You would like to be rewarded for how you bowl today.
“You could catch a guy whose hot and bowls 550 or catch a guy who’s not. It’s kind of a crap shoot.”
Gohagan shot 246 his final game, missing a 7-pin spare in the 10th, to hold a 54-pin lead over 30-year-old Sterling Heights, Mich., two-handed lefty Andre Gonzales. The remainder of the top five includes LeAndre Thomas 1,418; Shawn Curtis (1,410); and Triway High School graduate and two-handed righty Aeron Meshew (1,403), who shot 300 in Game 4, but finished with 211 and 202.
BALL CHANGES
Gohagan admittedly did not bowl well during Friday’s doubles sweeper, when he teamed with Cuyahoga Falls two-handed lefty Bryce Oliver. He shot just 852 as the team finished 29th.
“After yesterday, I didn’t know what to expect. I came in with a different game plan and threw a ball I didn’t throw (Friday),” said Gohagan, who used a Storm IQ Sapphire.
“I threw some really good shots, didn’t miss any spares until the last game, and really just stuck to my game plan and the pins fell my way.”
Gohagan said he didn’t have to make many “huge moves,” adding his ball rolled “really smooth down lane and allowed me to stay in the game plan.”
That game plan remains the same for Sunday.
“Keep making good shots, making my spares and staying focused,” said Gohagan, who has made several top threes in the Akron Open without a win. “Hopefully, the ball continues to work (Sunday).”
Gonzales, who also has made stepladder finals in past Akron Opens, also made a ball change after struggles during Thursday’s trio event and in doubles Friday with AJ Rice.
“I came in Thursday knowing they were hooking. I tried all six bowling balls in the bag, and they were all going sideways,” said Gonzales, who won the Akron Doubles sweeper a year ago with Rice. “I was standing right and just kept moving.
“Friday, it was the same difference, but I came in with shinier balls in the bag. I was getting through the fronts better, but the back ends were still hooking.”
Both he and Rice had considered throwing the Hammer Purple on Friday, but “we talked about it. But we didn’t feel we needed it.”
That strategy changed in singles for Gonzales.
“My mindset was to stop fighting it and throw something you can roll with. You know how the lanes are,” said Gonzales, who finished with 258 and 266 his final two games. “Every pair was different. On every pair for me, the right lane was tighter than the left, and that’s how I played them.
“It came down to just making good shots on each lane. You can have a 300 and come back with 180 … like what happened? If I saw something different, I just softened my hand or rounded the shot more.”
Gonzales said he can’t tell whether he will like this new format or not until going through it Sunday.
“I just have to come in with a clear mind, throw good shots and leave something makeable,” Gonzales added. “If I’m throwing it bad, I just want the bad shots not to be splits. Just make spares.”
NOTEBOOK: The cut at the 32 spot in the first shift was at 1,322. … A total of 100 players in the field averaged 200 on the first shift on the Station 300 house oil pattern. … Other 300 games came from Dylan Jablonski and Ryan Liederbach. The latter had a fall on the lanes after his Game 2 milestone and struggled the rest of the way. … Vincent Bellar, whose spare ball went missing in the 10th frame of Friday’s doubles event, was recovered Saturday. He finished 39th after qualifying. Zeke Bayt (18th) and Michael Thewes (27th), each one-third of the trio co-champions, are in the running to make the cut with Bellar, who with Dean Vargo won Friday’s doubles. … Sunday’s match play begins with the Round of 64 at 9 a.m. Check-in begins at 8 a.m. … The early shift started about 15 minutes late as did the evening shift. … There was fresh oil for both shifts.
