Ventura is a Masters Champion for Third Time
Date Posted: November 4th, 2023
Malone, NY – Sam Ventura of Norwich was crowned NYS Senior Masters Champion on November 4, 2023 at Lucky Strike Lanes in Malone. This is his first Senior Masters Title, he also won the first two NYS Masters Titles in 1989 & 1990.
Fifty bowlers headed to the North Country for the final senior event of the season. There were two qualifying squad, bowlers rolled four games across eight lanes. Squad one was led by Richard Strath from Schenectady rolling an 856 and Troy McClure from Marion was the top bowler in squad two shooting 929.
Explore Adirondack added $750 to the prize fund for this event with the help of Scott McLoughlin, the owner of Lucky Strike. BowlTV also contributed $350 which allowed to pay $1000 for first place.
After two rounds, the top 16 bowlers advanced to the match play, which consisted of two game single elimination matches. The top 16 bowlers were
1. Troy McClure 929; 2. Steven Chiarella 925;3. Joe Scianna Jr 889; 4. Sam Ventura 880;5. Daniel Gizzi 876; 6. David Mendofik Jr 856; 7. Richard Strath 856; 8. Patrick Brick 855; 9. Donald Herrington 849; 10. Jeff Ripic 844; 11. Daniel Billington 828; 12. Ronald Gardner 828; 13. Glenn Smith 825;14. John Spingler 806;15. Roger Martin 793 and 16. Russell Carpenter 792
The top four bowlers received a two-round bye and bowlers five through eight had a one-round bye.
In the first round of Match Play Russell Carpenter defeated Don Harrington 462-373; John Spingler knocked off Dan Billington 448-307; Jeff Ripic rolled past Roger Martin 491-311 and Glenn Smith squeezed by Ronald Gardner 411-409.
In round two Carpenter continued to roll shooting a 515 to defeat Daniel Gizzi who rolled a 391. Ripic also stayed hot rolling a 467 over Mendolfik 364. Patrick Brick knocked off Spingler 420-361; While Richard Strath and Glenn Smith were tied at 433 after two games. Strath came out on top 48-40 in a two-frame roll-off.
In round three tournament leader Troy McClure squeaked by Carpenter 393-391; Sam Ventura rolled past Brick 423-390; Ripic knocked off Steven Chiarella 431-393 and and Joe Scianna Jr rolled past Strath 420-344.
The semi-finals both had close matches, Ventura rolled past McClure 381-364 and Ripic snuck by Scianna Jr 408-404.
The trend continued in the finals. Game one Ripic rolled a 207 and Ventura shot a 204. Then in game two Ventura pulled ahead at the end to roll a 206 with Ripic shooting 196. Ventura earned $1000 for first place and Ripic earned $500 for second place.
Click here for a complete list of results.
Next year’s event will be at Owego Bowl in Owego and is scheduled for early November.
