Ferrara, Letscher win Teen Challenge

Brittany Ferrara and Andrew Letscher were winners of the Teen Masters Challenge while bowling alongside the pros during the PBA Hubbard Open at Bell-Wick Bowl last weekend.

Ferrara, a Hubbard High bowler, and Letscher, of state champion Canfield High, topped a field of 12 while bowling on lanes 1-4 on March 16 while the 100-plus field of East/Central Region pros and amateurs were in full swing on lanes 5-32.

The winners were selected by gender: Ferrara best against four other girls and likewise for Letscher against six other boys.

Although competing independent of the Hubbard Open, Ferrara’s 279 was the top score during Saturday afternoon’s session. Only a 300 by PBA bowler John Furey earlier that day was higher.

Both teens — Ferrara a senior age 18 and Letscher a freshman age 15 — earned a spot in this summer’s national Teen Masters in Florida.

Ferrara had a score of +179, which is measured against the total of her eight games (1774), but based on an average of 200 for each of those eight (8 x 200 = 1600).

Letscher had 1537 or -63, which was based on the same 8 x 200 standard.

No matter what the figures, both teens were tops.

But, Bell-Wick being her home alleys, Ferrara seemed to have the better feel.

“I was practicing this shot the last two weeks, so it was really beneficial as to how they would play,” Ferrara said after stepping off the lanes, which were coated with oil laid out in the Shark pattern.

“I came in open-minded, hoping to do well,” said Ferrara, whose college choice will likely be Notre Dame College in South Euclid or Wright State in Dayton.

It didn’t hurt that Ferrara took some advice from 2013 Hubbard Open runner-up Ryan Ciminelli, who took a few minutes to catch up on Ferrara’s progress during the session.

“He gave me some ideas of where to play the lanes to get in a comfortable area to be able to make easy spares,” Ferrara said.

Letscher didn’t have that luxury, but he dug deep to pull out the win on the male side.

“It was tough out there,” Letscher said of fatigue after his first four games.

“I felt pretty good at first, then I got a little tired because I’m not used to bowling that many games in competition,” he said of the eight-game block.

“[Fitch bowler] Kyle [Condrick] jumped ahead of me after the sixth game, so that kind of sparked me to do better,” said Letscher, who then rolled 237 for his seventh game.

Letscher said he learned of the local Teen Masters Challenge last year, but due to a scheduling conflict, he barely made the Bell-Wick sign-up because its limited field filled quickly.

“It looked like a pretty good deal to me, so I decided to register.”

Following Brittany, the daughter of Mark and Amy Ferrara, and Letscher, the son of Marty and Sarah Letscher, were runners-up: Hubbard’s Jenna Wise and Condrick, respectively.

The national Teen Masters in Florida in early July has a $64,000 scholarship as the grand prize.

Local

Elmer Maynard’s 289-818 brought the Farmers National Bank Mixed Doubles League to the fore at Amron on March 8.

George Hall’s 300-802 topped Spiech Classic bowlers at Bell-Wick on March 11.

Tammy Diver’s 287-767 topped men and women in Hively’s Doubles at Amron on March 5 and Jessica Castick’s 254-743 led Holiday Ladies Variety.

Tri-County League highlights at Holiday were Tim Graham’s sixth 300 of the season and 11-in-a-row thrown by Bob Eisenbraun Sr., Vince Carchedi and Frank Tondo Jr.

John Bassetti writes about bowling for The Vindicator. Email him at bassetti@vindy.com.