Splitzter - December 12, 2003

Here’s an interesting problem. Emilio Mora, Sr shot a 300 in the Hernandez Classic Wednesday night. It’s the third this season at River City and, as always, a thrill to watch. The problem is that I wanted to go into a bit of E’s previous accomplishments. I don’t know how many readers of the Splitzter’s journalistic brilliance actually grasp how long Emilio has been bowling and how well he has been doing it.

At the present time he is high average at River City with a 224. At a time when others are struggling a bit Emilio is getting his second wind. His past five series have been 693-750-722-686-713. I’m going to guess at how many threes he’s had in his career. I believe I’ve heard 24, but don’t quote me. If you look at the PBA Senior Tour statistics, guess who’s on the list? Yup, there’s Emilio three spots below Johnny Petraglia. That’s kind of cool. But E, so you don’t get a swelled head. You’re also 22 spots below Patsy DellaPenna. I’ll leave that one alone… for now.

If there’s a tournament within a 200-mile radius of Defiance, Emilio’s there. Some have trophy cases. He has an award wall. Let me repeat that…a wall. He was bowler of the year in Henry County a few years ago and also BotY in Defiance County at least once. He has the highest seasonal average on record in Henry County with a 234.23 in the 2001-2002 season. In other words, if he shoots a 701, his average goes down! That year, he won 83% of his games in which he bowled in the Hernandez Scratch league.

Oh, and let’s not forget that it’s Emilio Mora, the senior. He’s doing this with a ball speed that’s measured in single digits. It rolls so slow, I can read the serial number off it at 45 feet. I should throw the ball this well when I’m buying Grecian Formula by the gallon. Being personally trained by Andy Varipapa is a huge advantage. I’m kidding, of course. But Emilio shows that there’s more to this game than turn and ball speed. There’s guts, guile, accuracy, spare shooting and even humor. Congrats, buddy.

Welcome back to the table Janice Carpenter. Bowling regularly again is bringing back Mrs. Goodwrench’s form. Janice led the Napoleon Party Mart Classic last Thursday with scores of 214-201-184 for a 599. She topped her own number with a 630 set in the Walter’s Collision league Tuesday evening. She started solid enough with a 182 game then followed with a pair of twin 224s. Nice week.

Karen Burditt was en-fuego, also in Party Mart. Karen entered the night’s festivities with a 146 average. After posting scores of 165-223-185 for a superb 573 series, the average climbed a bit to 149.8. Pretty large jump with 45 games bowled. Let’s see. A little math shows us the 223 game awards a 75 pins over average and the 573 is a 125 over series award. Nice shooting, Karen.

On a side note, the ladies shot 26 scores of 200 or better this week with 15 coming in the ladies scratch league. That’s a big week. Linda Kinder had high game for the week with 234. Janet Franz was second with a 232 while Janice Carpenter’s pair of 224s was third. Shirley Perez had third high series for the week with her 598 following Janice’s two series’.

The fellas had 5 sevens this past week with Tom Hoeffel leading the pack, again, with scores of 247-287-212 for 746. That dude does have a way of getting on a roll. Tracy Busch was second high series with his 739 set on Thursday’s Cut Rate Tobacco league. That’s pretty impressive. That’s a 9:30 pm league and the shot had to be a bit of a challenge. Tracy posted some solid numbers, however, with 257-257-225. John McClure checks in with his 737. Emilio Mora, Sr shot 713 and Chris Smigelski finishes the field with his 706.

Hmmm… the telly just mentioned that Dan Reeves was fired as head coach of the Falcons. What a dumb move on the Falcons’ part. Bill Parcells would have a losing record with that team with Vick out 11 games. Ha. And you always thought the Splitzter just knew bowling.