The second event of our dual-event weekend at Wonder Bowl was the KR Strikeforce Non-Champions Singles. Qualifying for the event (April 5th-6th) drew 123 entrants across 3 squads. Participants would do battle on Kegel Stonehenge, a 40ft 6.56:1 challenge pattern. Just 32 players would make it into the finals with Giuseppe Mazzella leading the way with a monstrous +219 for his 5 games (243.8 avg). Rounding out the 32 person field would be Chris Dos Santos with +65 and eventual champion, Tom DeCarlo in the mix just barely trailing Giuseppe at +205.
The re-oil for match play left us with a mix of scores for round 1. Tom DeCarlo would face Logan Correia in his first match and come away with a comfortable 206-158 victory. Stepping into the quarter finals Tom would find a much closer match against Tommy Kumlin. DeCarlo and Kumlin went strike-for-strike with each other finishing in a dead heat 257-257. Tom would come out on top of the roll-off and move on to the quarter-finals. In the round of 8, we find Ethan Rosenberg had earned his spot to take on Tom but fall short of DeCarlo’s dominating performance 221-178. Joining Tom in the semi-finals would be his direct opponent, Peter Licata while Bruce Eschner would face off with Lucas Blood. Peter had averaged over 240 so far in his run which let DeCarlo know his strike shoes would need to stay snug heading into this match. Licata backed up his match record, beginning this bought with a triple while DeCarlo caught a few spares before beginning surge. Tom’s strikes from frames 3-8 were critical as Peter would step up with the front 7 strikes. A huge split in the 8th from Licata would allow a little light to shine in Tom’s direction and allow him life to end the match. After a spare in the 9th, DeCarlo put 3 in the tenth to for Peter to mark. Peter went on to split in the 10th and move Tom on to the finals with a 258-246 match. Joining Tom in the finals would be Bruce Eschner who defeated Lucas Blood 212-181.
Since 2003, DeCarlo would have 37 recorded NEBA events without a title while Eschner would show 36 with the championship finals unlocking a brand new champion and restarting one players counter. Tom began the match a double and a pesky rack that left him a few single pin spares. Bruce’s debut would be met with a 7-10 split breaking up a potential string of strikes with a fortunate hit balancing the scales in the 5th. The right lane gave more struggle to get the corner out for DeCarlo and resulted in an open frame. This allowed Bruce a chance to fight back and take advantage of his earlier hit. He packed 10 back and followed up with a spare in the 7th. A slight adjustment from Tom allowed him to rattle off a 4-bagger to set up his tenth frame. This put Eschner in a must-strike situation in the 8th and 9th to apply pressure to DeCarlo. While Bruce packed 10 on his first hit, his 9th frame effort would leave him with a 3-6-10 spare. Concluding the match, Tom would just need a mark in the 10th with count on the fill. Tom’s quality shot making along with a spare in the 10th would seal his victory over Bruce 226-195 and award him his first NEBA title!
Tom took home $1,000 plus and entry into this years TOC($125)! Bruce would receive $700 for his runner-up efforts. “I just want to make sure I thank Dave Saucier, Mike Sedoma and the staff at Wonder bowl. Thank you to Justin and Dan for all they do to keep NEBA running efficiently, Thank you to all the Sponsors (I don’t know who they are but I’m sure you have them) thank you to all my friends that were there watching or sending me messages of support! Shout out to my good friend Nate Clarke at Strike F/X for drilling all my equipment.”
We would like to thank our sponsor for this event, KR Strikeforce as well as the staff at Wonder Bowl for continuing to support NEBA and its members.
We invite you all to Nutmeg Bowl in Fairfield, CT for the BuddiesProShop.com Classic - $2,000 Added to Prize Fund and $1,000 Special Junior Prize Fund Presented by Island Bowling Supply. More information is available at BowlNeba.com or you can use the Google calendar link below.
Thank you to all of our members and sponsors. We could not continue to be one of the best tournament bowling organizations in the country without YOU!
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