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Tournament Recap:
Bowlers from across the New England area descended upon Worcester, MA, to kick off the 2025 NEBA season at the DJ’s Pro Shop Open Singles, presented by Bloomfield Electric. Hosted by Bowlero Worcester, 168 entrants competed for 40 match play spots and a chance to claim the season's first title. Competitors were met with a 44ft Carmen Salvino oil pattern holding 29.1mls and a 5:1 ratio. Pierce Field of Shirley, NY, would lead all qualifiers on the medium-scoring paced pattern with 1225(+225) for his 5 games. This would earn Field a bye and 23 other bowlers heading into single-elimination match play.
The first finals field of the year was comprised of New England stars such as 2024 Bowler of the Year, Matt Brockett, 2023 PBA Midwest Player of the Year and Rookie of the Year, Nate Purches and NEBA Hall of Famers Alex Aguiar, R.J. Broege, Stephen Dale Jr. and Bill Webb.
In round one, we meet with our eventual champion, Joey Transue, who qualified 27th (1095). Joey would fly through his first match against the 38 seed, Darrell Guertin, with a 245-190 win.
With bye players entering round 2, Transue continued the strike train with a 258-208 victory against 6 seed and rising star Malik Grove.
Moving on to the round of 16 Joey was tournament leader, Pierce Field, and talents such as Michael Martell, Jay Mathieu, Chris Forry, Nate Purches and Scott Widmer. Transue’s round 3 match would prove to be his most difficult with a 2 pin victory over Chris Viale 215-213.
In the round of 8, Joey would find PBA-exempt player Nate Purches waiting. This did not shake Joey’s confidence as he put together strings of strikes to seal his 243-212 win and ended Nate’s run.
The semi-final matches comprised 2024 NEBA B.O.Y., Matt Brockett vs. Scott Widmer, and a father-son match between Joey Transue and Jamyson Mathieu. Scott finished his match with a comfortable 223-175 win, while Joey did not let the family bonds hold him back from his 215-199 victory.
In the finals, both competitors were neck and neck through 5 frames, each with an open in the 2nd. The transition would change this pace as Widmer began to see carry issues while Joey continued to punish 1-3. This led to Transue throwing an 8-bagger on the way to his 255-199 championship victory, his tenth NEBA title, and hoisting the trophy for the first event of the 2025 season.
Champion's Message:
“First and foremost, thank you to the folks who run NEBA just about flawlessly on a month-to-month basis. You are all the reason NEBA is the most successful and longest-running scratch tournament in the country. Thank you to all of the sponsors that continually pour donations in year after year for us bowlers.
Winning 10 titles out here is something I’ll never take for granted. NEBA is incredibly difficult to win with the quality of players that compete each month. Being able to win so many and establish myself in the top tier of champions in the club is something I never thought was possible.
Thank you to Dave Wodka and Adam Ishman from the Brands of Brunswick for allowing me to represent their company. Nothing Hits Like A Hammer! To all the folks who congratulated me last night via text or messenger and on social media, thank you for the kind words; it’s truly humbling to receive so much support.
And finally, to my family and friend's support system. They’re constantly encouraging me to get back out there and compete after some injuries and self-doubt I’ve been feeling. I guess you guys won, and I can’t retire just yet!“
We would like to thank DJ’s Pro Shop for their sponsorship, as well as Bloomfield Electric for adding $1,500 to this event's prize fund. We would also like to thank the staff at Bowlero Worcester for continuing to host the event. We can’t emphasize enough that we couldn’t do what we do for New England bowling without people and businesses like you.
Up Next:
We invite you all to East Providence Lanes February 15th-16th for the Grog Monster Sports Trios Presented By Suzanne/Tony Reynaud - $1000 Added to the Prize Fund as well as the East Coast Sports Investors Doubles presented by Bloomfield Electric - $1000 Added to the Prize Fund. Rules for doubles and trios can be found here - https://docs.google.com/.../1Q.../edit...
NEBA Calendar: - https://shorturl.at/Dw581
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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