Monday is a fun day as Tom Simon surges

Mondays have been very, very good to Tom Simon, whose surge in scores recently most likely had its origin in a ball-cleaning session.

Simon rolled 818 on April 12 in L&M Mixed Doubles at Holiday, after a 300-781 on April 5 in the same league.

In L&M on March 1, Simon had a personal-best 246-300-300 — 846.

“I’ve been on a roll,” said Simon, who believes that a ball-cleaning by Joe Hanna at Holiday has made a difference.

“It’s been working pretty good for the last month,” said Simon, who explained that oil accumulated inside a ball over time is baked out during a cleaning.

“You don’t get the same reaction [when oil is drawn inside], so the baking brings oil to the surface and restores the surface — not to its original form, but close to it.”

Simon has had his Morich — a WMB for Weapon of Mass Bias — since the 2004-05 season.

“About six years ago, I saw Steve Harper bowl with one and I took a liking to it and got one myself,” Simon said of the ball he bought at Boardman Lanes.

No doubt that Simon, who has fifteen 800s and an equal number of 300s, is a proponent of the re-do, not buy new theory.

“Cleaning will kind of bring it back to the same condition as when it was bought. A lot of bowlers will tell you that.”

Simon said he bought a new ball last year — a Storm Virtual Gravity, but it wasn’t working for him.

“I tried to use it and still have it, but, I hadn’t thrown my Morich for a year. On a whim, I thought, ‘let me go to my locker and get it out.’ So I went back to my old equipment and I’ve been using it since the second week of January. The cleaning was about a month ago, so that’s when I really started throwing good sets. I got better ball reaction with it.”

His back-to-back perfect games came at a good time, too.

“I was stuck on 13 [300s] and then threw back-to-back. After the first one [300] I was expecting an 800, not another 300. I started with six in a row, then seven, then I started thinking, ‘there’s a good chance I could throw back-to-back, so let’s see what we can do.’ ”

Chester Nelms had 276-242-290-808 in Bob’s Bail Bonding last month, while Rob Harvischak had 800 and Ron Jones 300 in Belchyk/Action Plumbing Classic at Holiday.

Kevin Mulholland rolled 300 in Doughton Businessmen at Bell-Wick on April 7.

Brianna Ozias’ 290-702 paced women Woodchoppers at Wedgewood on March 19, while Dwayne Learn’s 269-709 was best among men.

In the first round of the roll-offs of DePizzo Sausage/Champion Men at West Side, Heather’s Signs & Art Work defeated C&G Pro Shop to advance to the championship, which Heather’s won by beating Morris Construction.

Heather’s team members are Joe Morley, Steve DeGenaro Sr., Steve DeGenaro Jr., Bill Bisker Jr., Jason Carnahan and Dave Golden.

The runnerup Morris bowlers team comprises Bill Steiner, Bob Toman, Kevin Vanoverbeke Sr., Ron Steiner Sr., Joe Steiner and Guy DePizzo Jr.

Ursuline hall of famer Paul Harris threw 25 strikes in a row en route to his highest-ever series of 780 and first 300 game in Duncan Tax Mixed at West Side. Harris’ other games were 277 and 203.

Duncan’s third-quarter winners were Melva Minnie, Jim Minnie, Phyllis Gibson and Michelle Simcox, while the wild-card winners for the year included Kevin Moore, Kathy Moore, Tracie Robison and Ted Sloan.

In Window World semifinals at Boardman, Wedgewood Pizza South defeated Greenwood Chevy, 3 games to 1 — all close games with the final tally 3166 to 3123. Steve Sammartino led Wedgewood with 211-612 and Bill Theis had 236-603. Bob Beam was high for Greenwood with a 201-584.

In the other semi, Window World sidelined The Good ‘Ole Boys, 3 to 1 with a 250-pin advantage for the final total. Rob Sanfrey led with 266-716 along with Doug Duncan’s 247-702.

In the finals, despite a 172-pin deficit following the first two games, Window World closed to 32 pins when it ended, almost forcing an extra game, but Pizza South prevailed, 3 to 1 (3404 to 3372).

For the champs, Steve Sammartino had 237-697, followed by Tom Timlin Jr. with 245-693 and Rich Ellashek’s 214-618.

Doug Duncan’s 229-613 led Window World.

Bob’s Auto Service and The New Breed defeated the teams of Barry Dyngles Pub and Sure Line to roll off against each other on April 29 for the championship of the Thursday Night Sportsman League at Wedgewood. The league is sponsored by Barry Dyngles Pub & Grille.

The annual meeting for the Youngstown USBC Youth Association will be April 29 at 7 p.m. at Wedgewood Lanes.

All USBC-certified youth members are invited, with those 14-and-over eligible to vote on issues. Also, one adult representative from each youth-certified league may attend. Youth directors will be chosen for next year and new by-laws will be adopted.