We like to say in bowls: “If you can’t be good, be lucky!” Of course, if you can be both good and lucky, that’s a sure-fire winning combination, and that propelled Cathy Dinnean to this year’s BLBC 4-Bowls Singles Champion. The little bit of “luck” came on Saturday, when, after the round-robin stage of the tournament, Jim Corr, Dave Rockhold, Mark Gurling, and Gary Knox led the pack. However, due to other commitments, Mark could not play on Sunday, and Cathy, lying fifth, moved into the vacant semifinal place. On Sunday, she showed the “good” side, running up an early lead in her match against Jim Corr. Although Jim caught up to 14-14, Cathy stayed the course to emerge a deserved 16-14 winner. In the final—Dave having defeated Gary in the other semi—the pattern held true. Cathy got out to a quick start, Dave gradually made up ground, and at one point even took the lead at 16-14. But this was an 18-point game and Cathy held her nerve, bowled excellently, and came through victorious at 18-16. Good bowling all round and a worthy 2011 Champion. Congratulations, Cathy! (by Jim Corr)

David Sals has been reported missing from the green at Berkeley LBC. There are reports that improv has taken him hostage. Nonetheless, Berkeley LBC wishes to thank David for his outstanding contribution to this website. To say that it wouldn’t exist without him is a gross understatement of the facts.

It would be nice to see improvisational lawn bowling, though.

Well, we had five rinks going today in the annual four-bowl singles tournament. After three games, it comes down to a semi-final and final tomorrow, Sunday, 7/17/11. Jim Corr stands in first place with Cathy Dinnean, Gary Knox, and Dave Rockhold bringing up the rear. Tomorrow, we’ll have a semi-final match with Jim vx. Cathy & Dave vs. Gary. Then we’ll have the final match featuring … your guess is as good as mine.

There’s also an invitation to play a Sunday afternoon draw game. Come one, come all!!!

It’s time for the annual singles tournament at BLBC. Come Saturday, 7/16, it’s one-on-one bowling. There will be 3 sixteen end games. Finals are on Sunday. Come down and watch us battle it out.

Last Saturday, the good folks from Leisure Town LBC (near Vacaville) made the trip from the sweltering heat of the central valley to the slightly cooler-than-average Berkeley LBC for what we call a “home-on-home” match. These are friendly matches between old friends with a few new friends thrown in for excitement. This year, Berkeley brought some new members into the fray. In the morning, it looked really good for Berkeley as we won two of the three games. After lunch, things got a little dicey, though… In the end, it was a nine-nine tie based on winning points. So, you settle these things with a duel; drawn bowls at twenty paces (Not!). You settle these things by using what we call “plus points”. These points come from the difference between the winning and losing team’s score. As it turns out, Berkeley won the match by a few points but we all won by having a great day on the green. We rewarded ourselves and the losers with good, old-fashioned Drumsticks ice cream. We even had a few newcomers try the game out during the tournament.

We will have another competitive event on the weekend of July 16. This one is a club singles event pitting member against member in the 4-bowl version of the singles game. The tournament may run into Sunday if enough players sign up.

Last week, a reporter from the Berkeley Patch eNewspaper visited the club to film a video about lawn bowling. Senior Coach (and chief cook and bottle washer) Ted Crum explains the game. You have to see the video to understand that line…..check it out on the links page.

This Saturday will be a tournament day at BLBC. Bowlers from the Leisure Town LBC will visit Berkeley for an all day contest.

On Thursday, 6-16, we will be starting our summer work/bowl/pizza night. If you can come for all or just some of the event, please do. At 3 p.m., there will be a work party to clean the ditches, tidy up, trim ivy, etc. At 5 p.m., the bowling begins. Then, at around 7 the pizza arrives and we eat! ($5 donation for the pizza, please).

We had a great time tonight. The draw game started at 5 and ran until about 6:30. After that, we fired up the Barbee and had a potluck dinner. It wasn’t a large turnout, but it proves it can be done.