The annual NDBPA State Scratch Team tournament landed in Dickinson, ND this season. Paragon Bowl played host to a full, yet limited, field of 12 teams. The format was pretty simple. All bowlers bowled 12 games on the 38 foot Taj Mahal pattern and the team with the highest total pin fall would win the title.
On Saturday, Sunset Lanes (Mike Larson, Lonnie Thielbar, Scott Handlos, Mike Morris) ran out to a 59 pin lead following a 1410 (235 Ave.) effort by Mike Larson. The team posted a tournament high game of 967 in game 3 on Saturday which set the tone for the rest of the event.
On Sunday, it was more of the same for Sunset Lanes. Despite a slow start, the team ran off games of 912 (Game 3) and 951 (Game 4) to build a rather sizable lead. That’s when things got interesting. The tournament leaders would then have to move to the two end pairs for the final two games of the tournament. The end pairs had given most teams trouble throughout the weekend. Sunset Lanes struggled to a 694 game 5 but rebounded with a 811 game 6 to seal the deal. Sunset Lanes survived a late rally from their companion team Bert’s Truck Equipment/Sunset Lanes (Justin Coste, Emily Peterson, Jay Lere, Jerad Schmitt) to win by 36 with a 10071 (209.81 Ave per person) overall score.
Top 5: (Top 4 Cash)
1 – Sunset Lanes (Larson, Thielbar, Handlos, Morris) – 10071
2 – Bert’s Truck Equipment/Sunset Lanes 2 (Coste, E. Peterson, Lere, Schmitt) – 10035
3 – Damn Lefty (D. Sandvick, Breckel, R. Sandvick, Smith) – 9918
4 – Double Stuffed Lefties (Nordick, Wallstrum, Parvey, Wolf) – 9900
5 – Zutz Farms (Zutz, Iverson, Petrowitz, Zimmerman) – 9883
Complete Team Results – (Squads got flipped, so games 1-6 on standings were bowled Sunday)
Individually, team Sunset Lanes placed 3 bowlers in the top 4. Scott Handlos lead the way with a 2647 effort (220.58 Ave).
Individual Top 5:
1 – Scott Handlos – 2647
2 – Mike Morris – 2620
3 – Mike Green – 2599
4 – Mike Larson – 2576
5 – Tim Frenz – 2576
Congratulations to Sunset Lanes for winning the NDBPA State Scratch Team Event. Great bowling!
Shout out to John Mueller and the staff at Paragon Bowl for hosting the tournament.
Next up will the the annual Manitoba Open on January 13-14, 2018. Tune in to NDBowlTV on Sunday the 14th for live coverage of the finals. The Manitoba Open is the first NDBowling.com Major of the season. For more, CLICK HERE.