JEDDAH — Lance & 3rdy succeeded in its strategy when its five players triumphed over their Ekis-7's counterparts during the championship match of the Friday Morning Bowling League 16th conference at the Bowling City here. Team captain Ric Reformado decided on Jun Estefano to be their breaker hoping to neutralize the might of Zaldy Bacero who used to be the gunner of their rivals. Reformado then led the filler with team manager Evelyn Santoc, Ding dela Rosa and Igna Salgado. What astonished the opponents was when Joey Calapatia paced anchor, which was so unusual, opposing Ekis team captain-manager Ernie Geslani. The match then started with Ekis favored by two marks as Santoc and Calapatia both opened on the outset. As the fight progressed Reformado bagged five to hand Lance & 3rdy a slight edge with Santoc, dela Rosa, Estefano and Salgado in coherent back up till the eight frame. But the chance for Ekis was still there as Geslani was marginally dominating Calapatia in the bottom which was their equalizer on Santoc's supremacy over Malou Gime. The ninth frame then turned out to be the deciding block which Geslani marked only with a spare so that though Jimmy Mandingiado struck out and Rey Beltran had turkey, Lance & 3rdy took home the title as Estefano also punched out planked by four bags of dela Rosa and turkey of Salgado. Scores by match: Jun Estefano 234 - Zaldy Bacero 203; Ric Reformado 239 - Jimmy Mandingiado 231; Evelyn Santoc 225 - Malou Gime 185; Ding dela Rosa 217 - Faisal Relativo 196; Igna Salgado 219 - Rey Beltran 214; Joey Calapatia 174 - Ernie Geslani 252. Defending champion Ekis-7 reached the finals by dramatically beating BCT Mongoose and Micah's Pride, but got dethroned by top qualifier Lance & 3rdy in championship tallies of 1,308-1,281. Prior to these stepladder matches were: Cool Guys winning over Rock N Roll and Extreme 1:11, BCT Mongoose beating Cool Guys, Ekis-7 defeating BCTM in a tie-breaker match, Ekis-7 slimly surviving Micah's Pride at 1,209-1,206. Official records on this conference were: Hi-series with handicap – Micah's Pride 3,880, Jun Estefano 754, Ester Santoc 680. Hi-series scratch: Shawly Bowlers 3,454, Zaldy Bacero 709, May Lourdes 582. Hi-game with handicap: Cool Guys 1,344, Ding dela Rosa 292, Shirley Sagmit 263. Hi-game scratch: Ekis-7 1,219, Randy Mata 279, Gneth Cerbito 222. Most Improved Bowler — Ryan Conde of BCT Mongoose; Best in average — Bacero (206) for men and Lourdes (172) for ladies; Mark Punzalan — youngest member of the league.
