* An exciting finish in Monday’s championship round match of the Scratch Doubles summer league at Tenpins & More resulted in only one and a half points separating the top four teams. Tylor MacPhee utilized his two-handed release to average 215 for the season, assisted by league high average partner, Zach Harvey (227.8) to amass 44.5 points, going 1-1 in the final match over former Rams team-mates, Angel Ortega and Carson Opela. They finished on 44 points, one point ahead of two teams tied for third on 43 points, being defending champions, J D Nance/Eric Vanderlip along with Robert Miera and Michelle Dennison. High average for the women went to Dana Miller-Mackie at 220.2, while other women to enjoy a strong showing against the male-dominated field included Aileen Linares 211, Robin Prioleau 208 and Dennison 208. Thirty members of the 46-bowler roster averaged above 200, many with career best marks. Those over 220 were Miera at 220 and Paul Yoder 223. * Yoder’s son, Levi had the highest average in the “Coffee Wars” league that finished last Thursday at 231, only four pins shy of his dad’s 235 set more than 20 years ago. Certainly, Levi is a “chip off the old block” father who runs a successful Pro-Shop inside Tenpins & More. Many of these players are scheduled to bowl in this Labor Day weekend’s Scratch Match-Play Series sponsored by T-Mobile, that offers $ 1,000 to the winner in Monday’s final starting at 2 pm. * Forty-eight bowlers will be attending the annual Draft meeting next Monday night. This will determine teams for the $ 30,000 league that kicks off September 11 at 6,45 pm. Sixteen highest average folks will select their teams based on entering averages to create team equity, at least at season’s start. It is quite a good field overall with some new members joining including Louis Perrone, Eric Altenburg, Brian Bledsoe and Scott Wiley. * Calendars:Sat Sept 2-Mon Sept 4: Scratch Match-Play at various timesFri Sept 8- Sun Sept 10: Filling Frames at various times

* Dan Brenning of Albuquerque added his name to the entry list for this week’s $ 70,000 New Mexico Open with a solid 1,398/6 in Sunday’s qualifier in Rio Rancho. Brenning, using a slower approach and ball speed, threw 239, 212, 266, 225, 224 and 232 to beat returning Andy Byer of Rio Rancho with 1,329. Brenning was entry number 207, with the 19th annual meet exceeding 200 entries for the first time since 2016. Seven previous winners are in the field, including defending champion, Cortez Schenck from Phoenix alongside bowlers from fifteen states as well as Canada and Mexico. Notables include two-time US Open champion, Francois Lavoie of Kansas who has twice been runner-up here (2015 and 2021), Steven Novak of Kentucky and local pro, DeeRonn Booker. There are fifteen women and two youth bowlers signed up. The highest place by a female was current US Women’s Open winner, Bryanna Cote of Arizona who finished fifth some years ago. * The Summer 9-pin No-Tap tournament produced seven new winners in finals at Tenpins & More last week. Rusty Copeland had 1,602/6 to win Open from Phil Topping by eight pins with early leader, Lorenzo Rico third, three pins behind. Phillip Corson, improving weekly in his summer leagues, fired 1,638 that included a 300, 298, 300 finish ahead of Rob Troxell 1,495 and Tony DeVargas 1,451 for Men’s A. Eric Ferdig finished strongly with 233, 274, 229 for 1,360 in Men’s B, nineteen pins higher than Seth Muller with Mikey Guevarra third with 1,314. Youth bowler, Keller King won Men’s C with 1,242, well ahead of Gabrielle Copeland 1,105 and Benny Le Beau’s 1,038 in third. Becky Fisher overcame a slow start 185 adding 212, 256, 228, 239, 221 in winning Women’s A on 1,341, followed by Donielle Waite 1,318 and Teresa Hope 1,282. Shannon Lastyona closed with 257 and 246 to win Women’s B running down early leader Vickie Moore second with 1,216 and Felecia Padilla third. Soccoro’s Teri Paterson ran away with the Women’s C win closing with 276 for 1,183. Then came Andrea Valdez 1,102 and Cathy Torbett 1,028 in third. * Calendar:Fri 18-Sun 20: New Mexico Open (Watch live or on-line at www.BowlStreamTV.com)Sun 27: Color Pin Cash at 9.30 am; Rio Rancho Regional Chamber Bowlathon for Vets at 1 pm

Upbeat Christian Music – $10 per person.  Unlimited bowling.  Shoes and tax included.  ALL AGES AND GROUPS WELCOME.  Discounts for 10 or more. Call to reserve.

1:00pm, Check-in from 12:30pm, $20 per person, sign up & pay at the Front Desk.  Get 3 Games of Color Pin Bowling, rental shoes.  Prizes awarded for some Xs and /s.   Enjoy a lunch of Pulled Pork on Hawaiian sweet rolls, Egg Rolls, Glazed Ham & Pineapple Skewers, Tropical Fruit Salad, Banana Bread, Hawaiian Lemonade & Volcano Punch.  Special Prizes for Best Dressed “Miss & Mr Hawaiian”.  Click here for full flyer

A record eleven 300 games were bowled in the past month at Tenpins & More, including a weekly record of five authored by Joe LaRosa and Carson Opela in the Scratch Match-Play tournament, Dana Miller-Mackie and Jon Arevalo in the Jim Chapman Trios on Wednesday and Levi Yoder the next night in a Coffee Wars league session.  For Miller-Mackie, it was her 81st perfect game, her first since the Covid-19 pandemic closure of almost a year. She followed up with 202, 247 and 235 for a 984 series. Arevalo added 268, 257 and 265 for a stellar 1,090 set. It’s likely to be quite a different story when the special “sport” lane condition is laid down for the $ 70,450 New Mexico Open from August 18-20, as there has been less than a handful of 300’s bowled in the tournament’s 18-year history. The top four finalists, who will emerge from an expected starting field of more than 200 bowlers from across the US, Canada and Mexico, have a chance to win a new car from Pitre Kia should one roll twelve consecutive strikes in the championship round on Sunday August 20. Entries as at July 23 were at 140, more than two dozen ahead at that date from any previous year. They include bowlers from thirteen different states, led by New Mexico at 49, then Colorado 26, Arizona 21 and Texas 16.  Eight previous winners as well as four prior runners-up are scheduled to appear. * * * Two more bowlers won their way in to next month’s New Mexico Open in a qualifier at Tenpins & More.  Antonio Lopez, who moved to Rio Rancho from El Paso a few years ago, returned to his best form, carding a six game series of 1,411, on games of 267, 227, 235, 234, 232 and 216 to beat early leader, Pete Sheridan by 37 pins.  Sheridan, who opened with 264, 234, 269, 223 dug a hole for himself in game five with 169, but recovered sufficiently with a closing 215 to finish one pin ahead of “super senior”, Gary Hadley of Santa Fe on 1,374.  Former Cleveland Storm coach, Dennis Helmick was next 1,357, followed by Eric Vanderlip 1,348, Joseph Paterson of Soccoro 1,321 and Steve Shultz 1,320 in a high-scoring affair. Meanwhile, entries are coming in from all over the US, including now fifteen states as well as Canada and Mexico.  Seven former champions are signed including defending champion, PBA Rookie-of-the-Year Cortez Schenck of Phoenix, along with PBA stand-out, Jakob Butturff and two-time US Open winner, Francois Lavoie of Wichita, Kansas. Local hopes for a win are pinned on a growing number of area bowlers such as last year’s runner-up J D Nance, Jacob Gill, Aileen Linares, Adrienne Hare, DeeRonn Booker and Brian Skidmore. Tournament organizer, Steve Mackie expects a field of more than 200 that awards a record $ 70,450 prize-money in the tournament’s 19th renewal, August 18-20 at Tenpins & More.

#5 SUNDAY, JULY 30 -9am  Check-in is 30 minutes prior; practice starts on time.  Entry fee is $55.  Bowl 6 games across 3 pairs.  Winner GUARANTEED paid entry ($295 VALUE) in to 19th New Mexico Open.  Other paid entries or place money based on entries.  Call 505-891-4462 or email no earlier than one week prior to tenpins@q.com.

Summer Masters finals were contested July 4 with two close finishes and one runaway in the three divisions at Tenpins & More in Rio Rancho.  Ryan Kern, following a recent family move here from Texas, included four 200 plus games in his series, with a finishing run of 243 and 217 to win the men’s by 21 pins from local Benny LeBeau, who beat his entering average all but once. Third went to diligent improver Trent Irwin, leader after four, who opened his tenth frame in each of the last two games to finish one pin behind LeBeau. Perry Hampel was fourth followed by C J Valencia in fifth who closed with ten strikes in a row for the high score of the day at 288. Only three pins separated the top two in the youth final, as Dylan Lopez used a 267 fourth game to eke out a win over Naomi Seiler with Lexi Belnap third a further 17 pins behind after she beat her entering average by 50 pins in two of her six games. Robin Prioleau, the metro area’s female Bowler-of-the-Year, was unbeatable Tuesday including two big games of 279 and 280 while averaging over 234.  It was more than enough to beat Socorro’s Teri Paterson by 58 pins, with Native American league bowler, Lorraine Silva third a further seven pins behind. Eleven of the 33 bowlers in the event split prize-money of more than $ 1,550. * * * The accompanying Summer Games, held for the twelfth year, had many outstanding performances not higher though than Rio Rancho’s Andrew Carver who led his team to a win with 263, 224 and 299 (786), assisted by Joe LaRosa 690, Josh Wilson 558 and Doug Wilson 423.  With handicap added, they beat the squad of Larry 571 and Paul Martinez 641, Dominic Huerta 536 and Gil Chavez 716 by 146 pins.  The Martinez brothers went on to capture men’s doubles shooting 628 and 699 respectively, beating Perry Hampel and Robert Edwards by 34 pins, with father-and-son Marcus and Christopher Sanders next 24 pins away. Mixed doubles titles went to Monica Redman 481 and Ward Stoffer 662 from Joe Radosevich 544 and Troian Donnachaidh 541. Hampel opened with stellar 278 and 258 before closing with 196 for 732 to win men’s singles with handicap adjusted 831, from Trent Irwin 776, David Burnett 750, Mike Lee 749, tournament newcomer Vince Likar 747 and Paul Martinez 720. Redman won women’s singles that included 201 for 728 from Paterson 717. The winning youth team would have almost won the adult final, as Donald Gallegos 556, Shane Muller 540, Donovan Romero 610 and Derick Romero 668 put up a 2,926 number.  Gallegos teamed with Daniel Magee for the doubles crown then included 202 and 236 in youth singles win for a championship sweep.