NOT being able to strike consistently did not deter Ben Taimanglo from outlasting 15 fellow seniors to finally win the April Senior Bowler of the Month. Instead, steady sparing and timely strikes when he needed them most did the trick.
The fresh medium oil pattern kept the scores down during the six-game qualifier with Bal Perez taking the top seed going into the top 10 roll-offs. Eighth seed Terry Roberto beat out 9th seed Jhun Viray and 10th seed Edgar Caper in the first shootout bracket. Seventh seed and former champion Nestor Valencia took a narrow five-pin win over 5th seed Rudy Palaganas and 6th seed Pat Roberto in the second bracket.
In round two, 3rd seed Mike Woodrome stopped Terry Roberto 196-171 with handicap. Valencia continued his run with a 219-209 upset win over 4th seed Karl Olson.
Valencia continued his run with an upset semi-finals win over top seed Perez 170-146 with handicap. Meantime, 2nd seed Taimanglo got past Woodrome 224-185 with handicap setting up a finals match with Valencia.
In the finals match, Taimanglo opened with marks in the first four frames while Valencia opened in the fourth frame to give Taimanglo the lead. Still, the former monthly champion came back with strikes in the next two frames to get a slight lead. But a split in the eighth frame and steady sparing by Taimanglo paved the way to his eventual victory.
The next monthly tournament will be held 11 a.m., Sunday, May 20 at Central Lanes. This event is open to all bowlers aged 50 or will be 50 by December 31 of this year.
(Information obtained from a press release.)
