Jerry Mariotti’s breaks Boardman Lanes record

Once Jerry Mariotti found his mark, he made his mark.

The 26-year-old Austintown resident produced a Boardman Lanes-record 855 set on Dec. 17 in the Window World Wednesday Night Men’s League.

Mariotti made two adjustments that totaled just two boards after opening with a 265 game, while bowling for the Trax Lounge team.

“I moved a board a game — one after the first game and one early in the third game,” the right-hander said of his slight shifts to the left that, apparently, were sufficient.

Mariotti’s first game started with eight strikes before he left solid tenpins in the ninth and 10th frames.

“I picked up both, but my last ball in the 10th was a 7 count,” Mariotti said. “It was a bad ball. It was one of two bad balls I threw all night. Everything else was buried.”

That first-game ending prompted Mariotti to make his first adjustment. It paid off as he threw a 300.

In the final game, Mariotti, a 2000 graduate of Canfield High, started with a spare after leaving the 3 and 6 pins. That’s when he made his second adjustment and struck out for a 290.

“I felt capable of a real good set, but I didn’t expect anything that good,” Mariotti said of his achievement.

His reasoning for the optimism stems from the fact that his previous three-game series this season belied his average.

“I think my highest set was 707, but I was averaging 221. I knew it was coming, so it was just a matter of when. That’s why it wasn’t a fluke.”

But there was no indication that he’d break Boardman’s house record.

“It was just another night of bowling, but one thing led to another. I guess I was just locked in.”

Jerry said that his last five or six balls drew the attention of fellow Window World league bowlers and anyone else within the walls of the establishment co-owned by Rob Theis and Rich Wilson.

One of those watching was Kevin Randolph.

“He’s been helping me since I was 13,” Mariotti said. “He was there to calm me down the whole time. I might be better than him now, but I owe a lot of it to him.”

Mariotti’s 855 topped Boardman’s previous best of 842, rolled by Lou DiNardo over 15 years ago.

During the 2001-02 season, when he was 19, Mariotti tossed an 833 in the Outdoorsmen League at Camelot Lanes. The score stood about a day, Mariotti said.

While a Canfield High student, Mariotti just missed the school’s first bowling season.

“Canfield started its high school bowling team a year after I graduated.”

He bowled in junior leagues at Camelot until he was 18, then joined his first adult league for the 2000-01 season. He bowled on YSU’s first bowling team in 2003-04, but then graduated in December, 2004.

On the night of Mariotti’s 855, the Trax Lounge team rolled 3543 with the help of Bob Lovell Jr. (708), Joe Lovell (671), Tom Timlin Sr. (658) and Tom Timlin Jr. (651).

Jerry’s proclivity for the game comes from his mother’s longtime involvement.

“She’s the one who got me started. She’s been bowling in the area for 40 years. We’re trying to get her nominated for the local hall of fame.”

His mother, Kay, has worked at Camelot for more than 10 years and she’s been active in the Camelot juniors. Kay was also instrumental in starting the high school teams at Canfield where she was the first girls coach.

In all, Jerry had 32 strikes out of a possible 36. The awards he’ll receive are: a clock from the Greater Youngstown Bowling Association and, from the USBC, a 300 ring, an 800 ring and a plaque for 11 strikes in a row.

Dan Montemarano fired 300-835 and Rich Kady also had a perfect game in Charlie’s Service at Holiday on Dec. 30.

Montemarano, whose first and third games were 246 and 289, respectively, is the Charlie’s Service League secretary.

Steve Skodacek rolled his eighth perfect game when he had 300 in Sunday Nite Mixers at Wedgewood on Dec. 28.