January Newsletter

Hall of Fame
BHS Bowl a thon
Save the Date
Sponsorship
Tournament Update
Bowl with Butler’s Best
Coach’s Tip
High Scores

Hall of Fame

We are running out of time to nominate someone for the 2025 Hall of Fame class. If you have been thinking about nominating someone, DO IT NOW before it’s too late.

If you would like to submit an application for someone you know, it is available online at the association web site. (67d5a6_aa6627acc7ed45dbbeaeb571784ba6b5.pdf) Deadline for application submittal is 2/15/25.

BHS Bowl a thon

Family Bowlaway January 26, 10am to 1pm
This Fundraiser supports the Butler High School Bowling Team. There are basket raffles, 50/50 and door prizes. $25 entry fee gets you 3 hours of bowling pizza, drinks and shoe rentals. January 21-24th we will be at Family Bowlaway with presale raffle tickets from 5pm to 8pm.

If other high school bowling teams within our association have announcements, please email them to mcoyle@zoominternet.net and they will be included in our newsletter.

Save the Date…

Sponsorship

I’m pleased to announce that Troy-Alan of Slippery Rock has become a tournament sponsor.

For your automotive needs visit A Preferred Grove City, Butler, & New Castle, PA Vehicle Source - Troy-Alan Chevrolet Buick GMC in SLIPPERY ROCK

However, we are still searching for additional sponsors for our events. Sponsorship is now coupled with a targeted advertising program. Depending on the sponsorship amount, different levels of advertising are included. Advertising can include a large Banner hanging in the bowling center for all our tournaments, placement on our website, advertisement in our monthly newsletter, and a table topper with the company ad to be placed in the settee area during the tournaments. Because the Butler Area USBC is classified as a 501(c)3 charitable organization your donation may receive favorable tax treatment. For more information contact Butler Area USBC Vice President Neil Morris at neilgmorrisjr@gmail.com

Tournament Update

Scratch Classic 2025

Submitted by Neil Morris
To start off, I would like to thank Tanner Pint for his idea on this event. Secondly the support from the board was beyond extraordinary, thank you!
We had a total of 35 bowlers in this event, after 3 games of qualifying we took the top 10 series. The cut after three games was made by none other new board member Brad Buckley with a 643. Leading the group was a new grove city bowler, showing his big brother how it's done Cameron Buckley with a 727, Great bowling!! With one game to make the step ladder, the tensions and excitement were high. Bowlers who made the cut but fell alittle short are some familiar names: 10) Cody Stroup-172 9) Cam Buckley-181 8) Tanner Pint-192 7) Rob Michalojko-196 6) Christina Huttinger-222 Good bowling and congrats on making the Top 10.
The stage is set for the step ladder. Seed #5 Johnathan (Buck) Hardt bowled against Seed #4 Brad Buckley. John was victorious 208 vs Buckley 179. Seed #5 Hardt now squares up against Familybowlaway bowler Casey Shea. This was a nail-bitter, we are all told spares win championships, well Seed #5 Hardt again comes out on top with a 216 against Casey’s 206. After a brief break #5 Hardt was ready to go against Young Butler Highschool sensation Luke Keene. But when you are hot you are hot. Luke fell victim to the hacksaw Hardt and lost 167 to 196. The final Round #5 John Hardt vs #1 Josh Sullivan. The crowd gathered to watch a show down. After a long day of bowling John threw a 188 to become the Winner against Josh having a 141. #5 seed went through the stepladder and was crowned the Champion.

The Association Doubles/Women’s Doubles Tournament is scheduled for January 19 sponsored by Troy Alen Chevrolet of Slippery Rock to be held at The Belmont II. Applications for this tournament are in the bowling centers and can be found on our website Butler Area Tournaments | Butler Area USBC

The next tournament will be the Team Tournament scheduled for Sundays February 23rd and March 2nd at Grove City Bowl-O-Drome. Squad Times: 10am and 1pm. Applications will be in the bowling centers shortly. Check on our website for more information. Butler Area Tournaments | Butler Area USBC

Bowl with Butler’s Best

Thank you to all adults who have responded to the invitations sent. We now have a full slate of adult bowlers for the tournament. Applications for the youth are in the bowling centers.

Since we have received no responses, the committee is again asking if anyone could donate baskets for the Chinese auction. The proceeds help offset tournament expenses and to augment the youth prize fund. To donate please contact youth committee member Melinda McConnell at mkcollins@zoominternet.net or by phone at 724-991-0936 Remember that donations to the Butler Area USBC may receive favorable tax treatment because of our 501(c)3 charitable organization status.

Coach’s Tip

I want to extend my congratulations to one of the members of my Thursday night mixed league. Just before Christmas, our league had a “fun” night during our Christmas party. We ate and bowled in a no tap tournament. For those who don’t know, a no tap game is where a 9 count on the first ball is counted as a strike. Diane Y had a 300 no tap game. She has a 154 average and had 3 no tap strikes during this game. This perfect game occurred during the third game of the night. Her first two were good, but not great. She was having a problem with her release. One time she would loft the ball while the next time she would drop the ball. We corrected this problem by simply inserting a piece of tape in the back of her thumb hole. She was amazed how much difference a simple piece of tape could make. After the tape was added, she had a repeatable release. She hit her mark consistently and the ball reacted predictably on each throw. After the Christmas break, the first night back, Diane rolled 2-200 games and a 130’s game to finish the night with a 539 series. She has newfound self-confidence in her game. Congratulations Diane Y. If a small change like a piece of tape can make such a difference, imagine what correcting an ill-fitting ball could do.

Quite a few bowlers received new bowling balls for Christmas. Before you have them drilled, have your hand re-measured at a competent pro shop and the ball drilled to fit your hand. A consistent release will do wonders for your game. Visit your local pro shop, instead of someplace like Dick’s.

Cleaning out my briefcase the other day, I found a quiz that was presented to the PA State USBC Board several years ago as an ice breaker at one of our meetings by President Jay Daryman. (I have no idea where it came from, or who created it.) I brought it to our local board meeting where our board thought our membership would enjoy trying to solve it. We decided to have a contest. We would post the quiz in the newsletter asking our readers to respond to the newsletter with their answers. The names of all who correctly answer, will be put in a hat at our February Board meeting and one winner will be drawn. The winner will receive an individual paid entry into one of our association tournaments, Singles, Doubles, or Team. Please reply to this email no later than 2/7/25 with your name and your guess I.e. 1 Turkey, 2 Sour Apples and so on. Good luck and have fun!!!

Answers Term Definition

Barmaid 1 A strike when the pins appear to fall one by one

Belly the Ball 2 A strikewhere the pins go down immediately

Big Ears 3 Scoring three strikes in as row in the tenth frame

Broom Ball 4 Lanes that are favorable for allowing strikes

Fit Split 5 The type of split where the pins are close enough together for the ball to pass between them and still hit them

Frozen Rope 6 A light hit strike in which the pins seem to take a long time to fall

Graveyards 7 Getting a full count of ten

Jam 8 Lanes that keep a bowling ball from hooking properly

Kindling Wood 9 A wide hooking ball starting from an inside starting angle

Looper 10 3-6-10 leave

Mule Ears 11 When the bowling ball hits the pocket in such a way that it mimics the sweeping action of a broom

Pack 12 Forcing the bowling ball high into the pocket

Poison Ivy 13 Light pins

Schleifer 14 When one pin is hidden behind another pin

Slot Alley 15 A bowling ball released in such a way that it hooks extra wide and slowly

Spiller 16 A bowling ball that is rolled staright into the pocket with excessive speed

Splasher 17 4-6-7-10 split

Stiff Alley 18 7-10 split

Wire It 19 5-10 split

Woolworth 20 Bowling lanes that are low scoring