Fairytale-ending for Queen Diane

All in attendance gave special recognition to their new bowling queen as Diane Camacho defied all odds and won the season-ending Pepsi Queen of the Lanes Tenpin Bowling Tournament Sunday night at the Capitol Bowling Center.

Camacho, who qualified for the eight-game roll-off after winning the March title, as well as becoming co-champion in May, barely made it past the roll-off and into the stepladder finals.

Camacho opened the roll-off with a respectable 175, then bowled a pedestrian 140 before regrouping and following up by knocking down 174 and 177 pins in her next two games.

Camacho was in good position at the halfway point as she was tied with Diana Chong for the fifth and sixth spot, with only the top six advancing to the stepladder finals.

There was a bit of a shuffle in the standings during the final four games and fortunately for Camacho, her play was good enough to finish with a total of 1,312 pins, which was good enough for the sixth spot.

She had a rough fifth game (137), but came back strong with a score of 181 pins before closing with 143 and 185 pins in her final two games.

December Queen Gloria Omechelang led the qualifiers with 1,387 pins, followed by Rizza Hensley (1,363), Yho Villavicencio (1,360), Cindy Taitano (1,351), and Ron Cal (1,313). With their performance, Omechelang and Hensley earned tickets to the semifinals, leaving the other four to vie for the two remaining slots.

It was in the stepladder finals that Camacho shined as she took on third-seed Villavicencio in the elimination round and earned the right to face Omechelang after bruising 170 pins, which was 34 pins better than Villavicencio (136).

Cal also played well and edged Taitano by a pin, 180-179, to advance and play Hensley.

The two lower seeds then set up a finals battle as Camacho continued with a sizzling game and bowled a 177 to beat Omechelang (130), while Cal had her way for a 179-157 victory over Hensley.

The stage was set and Camacho thrived as she saved her best for last as she blocked out everything else and kept her focus on her form, lane, and pins to beat Cal.

Camacho caught fire and left her mark on 203 pins to close with a bang. Cal put up a good fight and knocked down 170 pins.

Omechelang took third place as rules state that if the leader going into the stepladder finals loses in the semis, she will automatically be given third place.

Others who qualified for the season-ending roll-off were Rita Palacios (1,290), Emi Williams (1,274), Sophie Fejeran (1,261), Mindy Taitano (1,255), Chong (1,243), Elena Soll (1,240), Lynn Teregeyo (1,219), Cora Muna (1,209), Gigi Zapanta (1,208), Carol Mckenzie (1,199), Vicky Santos (1,167), Lynn Santos (1,129), and Linda Yarobwemal (1,030).

Defending champion Lala Taitano placed 11th in the eight-game roll-off with a total of 1,253 pins.

Meanwhile, the stage is also set for the crowning of the men’s champion as 13 wildcard bowlers earned the right to join the top 12 bowlers of the year after topping a three-game roll-off.

SBA officer Ross Zapanta indicated after the men’s roll-off that instead of 12 wildcard entries, 13 players will head to Sunday’s finale.

Orlie Ebuen earned top honors after burning the lanes for 246 pins in the first game, 235 pins in the second game, and 206 pins in the third game for a total of 687 pins.

He was followed by fellow qualifiers Jonathan Eparwa (668), Efren Cacdac (637), Arnel Del Rosario (608), Ronald Epan (598), Edgar Marquez (595), Chester Bai (588), Mario Mayuga (580), Ador Dimaano (575), Joe Sablan (570), Raymond Angeles (568), Percy Omechelang (566), and John Santos (556).

The group will join Robert Talavera, Jess Rebusada, defending champion Mark “The Shark” Halstead, Dannie Robles, Richard Leong, Edgar Talavera, Raymond Zapanta, Simon Manacop, Raul Dumapit, Ruselle Zapanta, Kitz Barja, and Alex Cacdac in the hunt for supremacy.