Jason Brown, fresh from his victory in the open singles at the New South Wales Country Championships, added another tournament to his profile when he teamed with Heather Fitzpatrick to win the recent Valentines Day Scotch Doubles at the Orange Tenpin Bowl.
In a keenly contested event they finished just 15 pins clear of Elsie and Reuben Osborne while Craig and Lyn Perry weer a further 26 pins behind in third position.
The placegetters are pictured above. Click on the thumbnail for a full-size image. Pictured left ot right are: Elsie Osborne, Reuben Osborne, Jason "Chuck" Brown, Heather Fitzpatrick, Lyn Perry and Craig Perry.
The format called for teams to roll six games using the scotch doubles format where one player rolls the first shot each frame with their partner trying to convert the spare if required. Players then swapped roles for each game.
The winning pair averaged a healthy180 but Steve and June Reil who averaged 193 produced the best scratch score. They finished back in the pack in 13th place though; unable to make up for the big handicap advantage they were spotting the rest of the field.
The winners received a Getaway holiday package and a basket of goodies, the runners-up won a dinner for 2 at the Overlander restaurant courtesy of the Mid City Motor Lodge while the minor placegetters took home some bottles of champagne and silver goblets to sip it from.
Six teams from the Penrith Travel Club took part in the tournament that boasted an excellent line-up of twenty teams.
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A group of Orange bowlers (pictured left - click on the thumbnail for a full size picture) competed with great success in the recent New Zealand Masters Games for athletes over 35 years of age at Wanganui. There were a total of 8,000 entries in various events over the six-day competition.
The squad bought home 24 medals between them in a very impressive effort.
Rochelle Doherty and Jackie Graham won two gold medals each while Val Gregory, Greg Carter, June Graham, Colleen Murray and Gail Pringle also won a gold medal.
Jackie Graham won the Grand Masters gold medal for All Events and also took first place in Doubles 55+ with Colleen Murray.
Rochelle Doherty won gold in Singles 35-54 as well as Doubles 35-54 with June Graham.
Val Gregory, Greg Carter and Gail Pringle won the Mixed Teams event 50+.
Other medals won by the Orange squad included Val Gregory a silver, Gai Murphy silver, Heather Barrett silver and bronze, June Graham four bronze, Gail Pringle silver, while Greg Carter, June Graham and Colleen Murray won two bronze medals apiece.
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The Mid City Motor Lodge Orange teams fared well in the opening round of the recent Country Challenge held at the Tuggeranong Bowl in Canberra.
The men's team finished the round in second place behind Canberra, a much better effort than their disastrous opening round last year.
Ken Wiseman was the best player for the Orange team, averaging 203 in winning eight of nine games. Wiseman started slowly but then found the line for games of 232-244-254-216-203, shooting 912/4 at one stage.
David Hayward also bowled well with a 197 average as he won five of nine games. Hayward started well with games of 203-217-214 (634) and added 204-234 later. He would have averaged 200 if not for a shocker first up on Sunday morning.
Alan Collins averaged 181 with games of 213-204-201 while Henry Phillips fired a 223 high game on the way to a 179 average. Other players for Orange were Chris Collins 177 average and Wally Price 167 average. Price rolled one good game of 231 while Collins couldn't find any consistency, shooting 215-207-203 along with four other forgettable efforts.
The team lost their first two matches but strung together eight consecutive wins after that to finish six points behind Canberra. Wagga was third ahead of Dubbo, Bathurst and Mudgee.
The women's team ended the round in third place although Bathurst stole a march on the field, shooting 17 points clear of Canberra with Orange three points further behind. Wagga was fourth ahead of Dubbo and Mudgee.
Lyn Handel, recent open Singles champion in the New South Wales Country Championships, was the standout player for Orange, averaging174 for her nine games. She won six games with a 211 high score; the team's only 200 game.
Bonnea Wiseman and Gwen Britt, doubles champions in the Country Championships, were next best, averaging 167 and 165 respectively. Wiseman won five matches while Britt had six wins.
Other Orange bowlers were Dianne Gee (161 average), Marilyn Schwenke (159) and Judy Streatfeild (159) who were all below their best.
The team won seven of ten matches on the weekend.
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Veteran Marie Rosser has been named the Bowler of the Month for February following her third placed finish in the New South Wales Country Restricted Masters and her consistent and very much improved league form.
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Karen Sharp was in top form during the Tuesday Ladies Singles league, rolling games of 223-204-215 for a four game series of 819. Others to rate a mention in the league included Bonnea Wiseman 200, Sharon Trudgett 209 and Dianne Gee 214-205.
Mark Lijic rolled some big numbers again during the week, shooting 673 in the Friday Triples plus 1284 in the six-game Monday Scratch Singles. That effort was overshadowed by Steve Reil who shot 1306/6.
Reil came out firing, posting 231-213-222 (666/3) before going off the boil. He re-stoked the engines for his last game, shooting the high game of the week, a mighty 266 to finish above 1300 for the night, a 218 average.
Lijic shot games of 234-247 in the Triples then bowled consistently in the Singles with games of 215-212-228-213-219 for a 214 average.
Mario Mastronardi also did well in the Triples with a 663 series after games of 215-238-210 while Tony Richards was the only other 600 shooter, bowling 213-221 for a 633 block.
Other decent games were notched up by David Hayward 212, Chris Collins 201, Henry Phillips 228, Ross Caltabiano 209, Jason Belmonte 211, Tim Irwin 206, Maree Caltabiano 205, June Reil 208, Belinda Irwin 208 and Warren Handel 213 and Paul West 215.
West also fired a 220 game earlier in the night in the Friday 6:30 league while Allan Kinghorne shot a nice 236.
In the Tuesday 6:30 league Gloria Bourke rolled a 207 game while Joe Wilkins shot 205-204.
Keith Bugden bowled a 237 in the Monday 10am league while Cindy Clements recorded a 203 game. Personal best efforts came from Belinda Cobcroft 503/3 and Michael Smith 164 which was 50 over average.
In the Wednesday 10am league Rob Koch 201, Rod Iffland 200, Craig Perry 207 and David Rosser 222 bowled high games.
Kevin Newson and John Rapley did well in the Sunday Sabbath league with 618 and 635 respectively. Newson shot 203-235 while Rapley countered with 202-242.
Apart from those mentioned above, high games in the Monday Scratch Singles were bowled by Wally Price 225-215-217 (624/3), June Reil 227-205-221 (845/4), Les Gunner 204-206, Chris Collins 212, Tim Irwin 203-217, James Dubbelde 226, Craig Perry 215, Joe Werner 212 and Rebecca Belmonte 213.
Jason Belmonte had a quiet night, shooting a lone 213 high game as he surrendered the league lead to Mark Lijic.
Personal best efforts were bowled by Trish Rysdale 133, Darlene Ambrose 122, Helen Ward 154, Nathan Hurst 165, Josh I'Anson 95, Aaron Thurtell 112, Brian Clements 137, Kristen Clements 112 and Ashleigh Maw 112.
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The next event on the tournament calendar is the opening round of the Central West Pennants when Orange clashes with Bathurst on 7 March.
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