Down to the Final Pins: A class-wide bowling tournament

“I don’t know, might be my day,” said Jon LaMantia after hitting an 8, spare on his first frame of the tournament. Though it was early, LaMantia already had his eyes on the win.

The tournament, which was held on Wednesday January 22, at the Mardi Gras Bowling Center, hosted 19 competitors in six different lanes. Competitors were spread out by last name, with the top of the alphabet in lane 19, and the bottom of the alphabet in lane 24.

Having only one round to prove their bowling skills, the competitors got down to business. With their patchwork bowling shoes laced and bowling balls in hand, the tournament began.

And almost immediately, the strong contenders began to break out from the rest of the players. Among them were Jon LaMantia, Carly Williamson, Patrick Ronan and Ellen Werner.

Ahead by nearly twenty points halfway through the round, Williamson was the clear favorite. But she thought otherwise saying, “I think it’s just going to go downhill from here.”

She was right. Following the break in play, Williamson slowly dropped in the ranks, making room for Werner, Ronan, LaMantia and a few others who were all vying for the title.

Going into the tenth frame there were six players all within grasp of winning the tournament. But LaMantia, a quiet player who was overlooked by many of his competitors, still believed that this was his tournament.

“I really consider myself a finesse bowler, I’m not throwing the heaviest ball here, I’m not gonna throw the ball the hardest, but I’m gonna try and knock down some pins,” said LaMantia.

And that he did. Having not had a single strike up until this point, LaMantia was able to sink two in a row in the tenth frame. But something about his demeanor changed. No longer was LaMantia smiling or fist pumping, his face became stone cold and concentrated despite his earlier predictions of an emotion-filled tenth frame.

“Right after I throw the ball I would say I’m one of the more emotional bowlers here, so you’re definitely going to see some emotion in the 10th frame because I have trouble keeping my cool after I let go of the ball,” said LaMantia.

But following each stroke of the tenth frame, LaMantia was calm. Something switched after hitting his second strike in a row. LaMantia became visibly tight. He bent and twisted, trying to stretch out the tightness that was consuming him.

“I think I was tighter than I should have been for a friendly class bowling tournament,” said LaMantia.

It seemed that his tightness affected his ability to perform because immediately after releasing the ball, LaMantia attempted to redirect it by leaning and waving his right hand.

“I think I had been kind of finessing it, not really putting much on the ball, so I thought any slight of hand would’ve put it a little of course. And I think that’s what happened, I just kind of threw it a little to the right.”

And to the right it went, as LaMantia’s third roll of the frame resulted in only 7 pins falling, closing LaMantia’s game with a score of 139.

LaMantia watched closely as fellow competitors attempted and failed at reaching his final tally.

“I think the folks in lane 23 are really who I’ve got my eye on. They have some momentum going into that final frame. That’s kind of worrying for me.”

And the momentum definitely carried the competitors from lane 23 as Ellen Werner closed her tenth frame with a spare and a nine to get a final score of 134, just five points behind LaMantia.

And finally, Patrick Ronan, also from lane 23, was up to bowl. Ronan, who had consistently been strong throughout the competition, not having bowled below a six in a single frame, was ready to roll for his tenth and final frame.

For Ronan, the knowledge that he had to have a strike to have a chance in the competition weighed heavily. “I figured I would have to get a strike on the first frame to have a chance,” said Ronan, “And I just didn’t think I was going to be able to get them all to fall.”

But fall they did as Ronan was able to strike down nine of the pins and willed the tenth to fall.

Ronan went on to roll an eight, leaving two pins standing and needing both to fall for the win.

“I just let it go and once it was about a quarter of the way there I had a good idea that it was gonna knock them both down,” said Ronan.

And he did just that, closing the game with a score of 140, with just one point over LaMantia.

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This article was written in compliance with the instructions of my creative sportswriting class.