Behind the Numbers Part 4 - 2009 Citizen Masters
by Mike Ryan
It's finally over. What an exciting weekend it was, and a very memorable one too. When you get to the final eight, it usually consists of bowlers that are on top of their game at that time. Sure, the shot was incredible, but still, bowlers had to execute their shots in order to get a strike. If executed properly, area was created and strikes were everywhere.
It was Steve Suslik who eventually worked the hardest and in the same manner as he does on every match, with the highest intensity. After watching every match this year of his, they were all the same, close and intense. Tiger, you really should spend some of the $500 prize money and buy your wife a one hour massage, she deserves it. Anyone who has watched a Suslik match can understand. But anyone who knows Tiger like Doreen does, deserves a massage.
On Saturday in the Loser's bracket, there was a Giant slaying. Duane Slater Jr. took out one of Rainbow Lanes' toughest competitors, Mike Sheehan. Duane looked pretty strong and wouldn't let up on the strikes as he won the match, 723-671. In the other Loser's bracket match, “strike master” Gary Fedigan just couldn't find a way to take out the 10 pin while Dave Harvey did. The match started out close, but Dave pulled away in the last two games for a 721-645 victory.
In the Winner's bracket on Saturday, Steve came out with a commanding 53 pin lead in the first game, 279-226 but Ted answered back in the second game, 246-195. With Suslik leading by only 2 pins, he pulled out the third game 228-168 for a 702-640 victory. In the other Winner's bracket match, Bob Kreydatus showed us why I called him “Iron Man” last week. Mike Ryan had a good look but missed four 10 pins in the first two games. Mike still managed a 24 pin lead, 448-424, but Bob dug deep and fired a huge 268 third game to Mike's 229, earning a victory and a step closer to the Championship, 692-677.
On the second squad on Saturday, Dave Harvey squared off against Duane Slater Jr. Again, Duane fired off a flurry of strikes on all three games against Dave. On games of 269-220-258, a 747 series was too much for Dave's respectable 663 series. In the other Loser's bracket match, Mike Ryan had Ted Phillips number all match long, winning all three games, 228-200, 234-199, and 279-167 for a 741-566 victory. After the matches were over, Duane came up to me with a smile and said “rematch” as we shook hands.
And what a rematch it was. On Sunday's opening match, Duane and Mike threw strikes at each other waiting for the other to make a mistake to capitalize on. That never happened for either bowler. Duane eventually won the high scoring match while taking over the tournament's high series, 778-750. On the same pair of lanes, the Winner's bracket between Bob Kreydatus and Steve Suslik were also high scoring. Bob came out striking in the first game and earned an early lead, 256-200. Steve found his mark in the second game, 269, but Bob stayed right with him and increased his lead by ten more pins with a great 279 game. With his back against the wall, Tiger came out aggressive as ever while Bob started to lose his mark. Steve won the third game, 259-174, which was enough to earn a spot in the Championship Match later that day, 728-709. All four bowlers showed their mental toughness as they all bowled over 700 on that squad.
On the second squad, Duane stayed focused on his bid to the Championship round by defeating Bob Kreydatus on games of 235, 224, and 235 for 694 against Bob's 203, 233, and 205 for 641. A great showing for our “Iron Man”, Bob even stacked wood early in the morning before bowling, just to get his back to loosen up. Amazing.
The Championship match was nothing but exciting for all six games and with Mr. Intensity, it was even more. Suslik started out with a 12 pin lead after winning the first game, 226-213. It was more of the same for the second game, but with scores a little bigger, 235-225 and now with a 22 pin Suslik lead. In the third game, Duane had a small advantage but still, it was Suslik's Championship to win. In the tenth frame, Steve needed a strike to shut out Duane but instead left a 4-6-7 split, which game Duane a third game and match victory, 247-203 and 685-664. So they started right in with the final match. Both bowlers focusing hard on their games ahead, Suslik started right out with a huge 280 game. Not to be outdone, Slater followed with a 279 start. Both bowlers with 11 strikes apiece, but only a one pin lead for Steve. Next game might've shown some oil breakdown, but not enough to lose either one of the bowlers as Steve won the second game also, 225-222. Now, going into the final game, the score was Steve Suslik, 505, and Duane Slater Jr., 500. Then the third game started and again, both bowlers fighting for the trophy. Strikes were flying everywhere. We get to the ninth frame and Duane had a chance to shut out Steve by a striking out in the ninth and tenth frame and what would've been a 268 game, however, a stubborn 10 pin stood in Duane's way. Still, a spare and three strikes in the tenth would've forced Steve to get the first strike. With all the pressure of the tournament mounting from a month's worth of work, Duane's spare shot just fell short into the gutter right before the 10 pin. Steve answered with three straight strikes for a 258-226 and 763-728 victory and a title that he has been after for 20 years now. Duane, great job this year and way to hang tough against a great competitor. Tiger, congratulations, it was well deserved!
There are a few extra awards that bowlers have earned. Along with the Ted Skowron Championship trophy, Steve also received the Stan Roche Memorial Sr. award, which is a very nice watch with the year that he won the Masters, and the Ciro Locastro Memorial award, which is a collared shirt that says the year he won the Citizen Masters with Ciro's name on the sleeve. Duane Slater won the Joe Catalfano Memorial trophy for Runner Up in the Citizen Masters and also the James Locastro Sr Memorial award (778), which is a plaque and $100 for the bowler with the highest series in the tournament. The George Lumb Memorial award went to Mike Sheehan (716) and Angelo Tozzi (710), which is a $50 savings bond to the two bowlers that rolled the highest scores in the qualifying rounds. Mike Ryan (235) won the George Vitetta Memorial award which is a clock plaque for the bowler in the final eight with the highest average.
One last note before signing off for the year, I'd like to thank Wayne Bibbens for everything he has done for the tournament. Wayne has been there to update all scores after every squad of the tournament so that anyone could keep up with current scores and match ups on our website. Wayne has put video clips of bowlers at random to help peak interest of the tournament. He also has taken some pictures from around the tournament and put on the site. There was a poll for the final eight bowlers. He also spent three days during the week before the finals at Rainbow Lanes, making adjustments so we could have streaming video on our website during the final day (at one point, there were 85 viewers watching on the web) and also spent the day of the finals with two video cameras. Wayne loves bowling in every aspect of it and it shows. Wayne, we are very lucky to have someone like you making bowling what it is today. Thank you!