Photos from 2022 BLBC 2-Bowl Singles Tournament Final, 4/7/2022
Photos, 2022 BLBC 2-Bowl Singles, Final
2022 BLBC 2-Bowl Singles Tournament—Final Result
2022 BLBC 2-Bowl Singles Tournament—Final Result, Report by Jim Corr
BLBC Bowlers,
The 2022 BLBC 2-Bowl Singles Tournament did not go quite as originally planned, but the outcome could have been predicted in advance with last year’s champion, Daniel Gorelick, making it a two-fer in the 2-Bowls in 2022.
After an initial round robin stage, the tournament finals had originally been scheduled as a one-day event for Saturday, March 19th, but fell foul of a fickle weather forecast—it was the forecast rather than the weather which proved fickle, shifting from day to day but still predicting a substantial, steady rain and cold temperatures on the eve of the competition, so the Tournament Committee decided to call it off. As it turned out, of course, the Saturday was no more than overcast with a few meagre showers—what’s called a fine day for bowling in Scotland—and could easily have been held.
Instead, the 8 bowlers who had qualified for the quarter-finals played their individual games over the next three weeks and from that knockout process, Cris Benton and Daniel eventually emerged as the finalists, an intriguing match-up as, in combination, they had won the 2021 Pairs title together. In the event, the final (held on Thursday, April 7th), and played to the first bowler to reach 15 points, was a close affair for the first 16 ends, the lead trading back and forth several times. At the end of the 16th the score was 11-10, but Daniel managed to pull it off with two points on the next two ends and emerged the winner by 15-10.
Congratulations to Daniel!
And a shout out to all those who participated, as well as all those who volunteered as markers, and a big thanks to Hugo Deaux as Tournament Director.
Landscape Committee Play, 4/7/2022
On any given day … Landscape Committee Play, 4/7/2022 … with Charles Russo
2022 Berkeley Triples Tournament
2022 Berkeley Triples Tournament, Report by Jim Corr and Rolayn Tauben
The 2022 BLBC Triples Tournament took place in pleasant bowling weather on Saturday, April 2. A nice round number of eighteen players, making for six teams, had signed up for the event, and the team formations were set by random draw after bowlers were first assigned as Skip, Vice, or Lead.
The preliminary round consisted of three 10-end games, at the end of which only one trio: Dave McMullen (Skip), Sal Garcia-Lemus (Vice), and Rolayn Tauben (Lead) had come through with a clean sheet, winning all three of their games with consistently fine bowling. Second in the standings at that point were Hugo Deaux, Cindy Moss, and Joseph Chow, edging out the team of Jim Corr, Glenn Nunez, and Des Simpson on scored points differential.
The stage was set for an interesting 12-end final, since Hugo’s team had suffered their sole defeat against Dave’s—and by a single point. Hugo, Cindy, and Joseph leapt into an early lead of 7 points and never relinquished it, although Dave, Sal, and Rolayn fought back valiantly to draw level on the 5th end before Hugo’s team turned it on and ran out handy winners by 16-9.
So, congratulations to Hugo, Cindy, and Joseph as the 2022 Triples Champions! Certificates will be presented to them at our Annual General Meeting and their names will be engraved on the Club tournament winners board.
Many thanks to BLBC’s Triples Tournament Director, Daniel G., for a fun and exciting tournament on Saturday, April 2, 2022. Much appreciation to our volunteers who helped expedite the games, especially Dave and Annie who rolled the green before the event, and to our Hospitality Committee for providing refreshments.
L-R: Dave McMullen, Sal Garcia-Lemus, Rolayn Tauben, Cindy Moss, Hugo Deaux, Joseph Chow
Lawn Bowling Cartoon
Original lawn bowling cartoon by BLBC member Winthrop Prince 2021
Berkeley Triples 4/2/2022
Many thanks to BLBC’s Triples Tournament Director, Daniel G., for a fun and exciting tournament on Saturday, April 2, 2022. Much appreciation to our volunteers who helped expedite the games, especially Dave and Annie who rolled the green before the event, and to our Hospitality Committee for providing refreshments.
We had 18 players that made up 6 teams:
Skips- Jim, Hugo, Daniel, Rob, Dave, Cris
Vice – Lennon, Annie, Bob, Glenn, Sal, Cindy
Leads – Bernie, Steve K., Des, Rolayn, Joseph, Charles
Alternates – Sarah and Phil
The format was a preliminary round with three 10-end games based on a blind draw of opposing teams and assigned rinks. The two teams with the best record of game points and point differential played in a 12-end Final championship playoff. Players of the final two teams were Dave, Sal and Rolayn, and Hugo, Cindy and Joseph.
Kudos to Hugo, Cindy and Joseph … our Club tournament winners! Certificates will be presented to them at our Annual General Meeting and their names will be engraved on the Club tournament winners board.
It was a day full of skilled play and suspense.
New Trees
BLBC’s Landscape Committee and Greens Keeper give thanks to Eric and Jared for planting the City of Berkeley’s gift of 3 trees, the eastern redbud (cercis canadensis) … way to go!
The Meat Axe Stays In Berkeley!
Despite the definite chill in the air on Saturday, Berkeley bowlers grew hot as the day wore on and came out triumphant in the annual Meat Axe tourney against the Palo Alto Lawn Bowling Club. We were down 3 ½ games to 2 ½ at lunchtime, but, duly fortified, stormed back to win 4 of the afternoon games for a 6 ½ to 5 ½ overall score, thereby retaining the Meat Axe trophy for yet another year. Which was just as well, since we had “forgotten” to bring the plaque with us to the southern climes.
Thanks and well done to all the BLBC players!
BLBC 2021 Pairs Tournament—Final Results
The finals of the BLBC 2021 Pairs Tournament were held on Saturday, June 19 involving the eight teams who had qualified from the preliminary round robin stage, seeded according to their overall results in round robin play. At the finals, the format consisted of elimination play in quarter-finals, semis, and the final game itself.
In the quarters, the teams of Jim Corr/Sal Garcia-Lemus, Daniel Gorelick/Cris Benton, Frankie Napoli/Russell (“Rolly”) Coe, and Ian Cameron/Bob Schwartz overcame their corresponding opponents: Hugo Deaux/Sarah Allday, Phil Grattan/Peter Martin, Ethan Bortman/Stephen Ng, and John Hooper/Lennon Hamilton.
Gorelick/Benton dispatched Corr/Garcia-Lemus 17-9 in the semis and Cameron/Schwartz defeated Napoli/Coe by a similar result of 15-7 to set up a strong final.
The Gorelick/Benton duo showed their intent by overcoming the handicap differential of 2 points in their first end out the gate and essentially never looked back, building up a substantial early lead. There was fine bowling all round, meriting constant applause by the “peanut gallery” of observers, and bit by bit, Cameron and Schwartz fought their way back into the game, narrowing their opponents’ lead to four points by the 13th end of the 18-end match. But Gorelick/Benton held on and surged further in front in the closing stages for a comfortable 21-12 victory, thus going one better than their second-place performance last year and claiming the 2021 Pairs crown. Congratulations to Dan and Cris!
And thanks to all participants as well as all those who helped in one way or another throughout the tournament, with a special shout out to Annie Brillhart, who rolled the green twice on the morning of finals play among many other forms of support.
Those who are interested can view the complete set of results from round robin to finals here.
BLBC 2021 Vet-Novice Tournament
On Saturday, May 8th, 2021, BLBC held what may not have been its first-ever Vet-Novice Tournament, but was the first in this writer’s memory covering 10+ years of membership.
The event was initiated by Club President, Ethan Bortman, who felt it would be an excellent way to start the 2021 Tournament season and get the newbies more wholly integrated into the Club and the sport of bowls. So, all current Novices (novice = less than two years membership in a recognized bowling club) were invited to sign up and six were able to do so on one of the date options available. Jim Corr, as acting Tournament Director, then found six of the Club’s leading Skips to join the fun—that offer was oversubscribed—and the teams were selected by random draw.
The format provided for each team to play three 12-end games, quite a demand on some of the newer bowlers who had not played more than one draw game in a day. Fortunately, the weather cooperated nicely and made for a very pleasant day of bowling throughout.
After two rounds, the teams of Ian Cameron/Jim Audas and Hugo Deaux/Sal Garcia were in contention for first place, being the only ones to have won both of their earlier games. In a hard-fought contest, Ian & Jim prevailed 13-8 over Hugo & Sal to “bear the gree,” as Robert Burns would have put it. Check it out. Congratulations to both and especially to novice Jim who literally “led the way,” and thanks to all participants as well as those other veterans who showed up to provide friendly but neutral advice and guidance to any Novice who might have been uncertain about a technical issue or some of the more obscure Laws of the Sport.
And to top it all, the day was kicked off with the ever-popular “Spider,” with Jim Audas winning that and its prize of a bottle of wine too. When you’re hot, you’re hot!