Not at all Rusty for tenpin win

Rusty Musca was in top form rolling three straight strong games to win the September edition of the Pepsi King of the Lanes Tenpin Bowling Tournament held last Sunday and Monday at the Saipan Bowling Center.

The 32-year-old employee of Capitol Bowling Center whipped up a storm in his very first trip to the pine and maple wood lanes last Monday by knocking down 209 pins.

Musca then improved on that score by rolling a 224 in his second time out. He topped that total by one pin in his third game, hitting for a turkey in the middle games. But all of a sudden, out of nowhere Dannie Robles hit for a 239 to take the overall lead by 2 pins.

In the fourth and final game, both players were mired in tap-plagued frames and struggled with subpar performances. Fortunately for Musca, it turned out, he had the least worse outing wounding up with a 180 as against Robles’ 170 and took home the monthly plum.

“I started strong and was really relaxed tonight. Probably it’s because of all the rest I had prior to the start of the tournament. I just went out there and tried my best. I concentrated and just let myself play my game. I had a streak of strikes in Game 2 and 3 but had a run of bad luck in the final game. I think I only made one strike in that game,” he said.

Musca finished with a four-game total of 838 pinfalls for a whopping 209.5 average. The righthander hails from Makati City, Philippines, and has been playing bowling since 1998. He said his bowling average this year hovers around 172 pinfalls.

Robles settled for second place after seeing his 233, 188, 239 and ill-fated 170 games come 8 pins short of Musca’s score. His 830 pinfall total, however, was still good for an average 207.5 pins a game.

First-day leader Kitz Barja went two notches down and finished in third place with an 825 pinfall aggregate and 206.25 average. He had games of 184, 256, 200 and 185 last Sunday.

Rounding out the top 5 are May champion Alex Castro and June winner John Santos with scores of 807 and 791, respectively. Castro knocked down a series of 211, 179, 203, and 214 for a 201.75 norm last Sunday, while Santos put together games of 229, 182, 167, and 213 for a 197.75 average.

The rest of the top 10, with their scores in parenthesis, were as follows: Ronald Epan (784); Celso Agui, Jr. (767); Mark Halstead (765); Robert Talavera (756); and Chris Leon Guerrero (750).

The September Pepsi King of the Lanes Tournament attracted a total of 63 entries. The monthly bowling competition is organized by the Saipan Bowling Association and is sponsored by Pacific Trading Co. It will culminate with a season-ending championship tournament in January.