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Ostrander uses bold moves to challenge in Hubbard
HUBBARD
Greg Ostrander, of Freehold, N.J., found Bell-Wick to his liking and that could result in his first regional title before Monday rolls around.
“I bowled very well with the conditions and the wooden lanes,” said the 23-year-old Ostrander, whose pinfall was 1,957 for eight games during his A squad session Saturday.
It vaulted him into making the cut for today’s matchplay round for the first time. Today’s action in the PBA Trumbull County Tourism Bureau Central/East Open presented by DV8 begins at 10 a.m.
When the B squad finished later Saturday, E.J. Tackett of Huntington, Ind., overtook Ostrander as the day’s top qualifier with 1,977 pinfall. Tackett is eyeing his first Hubbard Open championship and his fifth regional win.
As the eight-game bloc progressed throughout the morning, Ostrander began his approach by standing directly behind the hidden ball return path situated between gutters; thus, straddling two alleys.
Despite his slightly unorthodox delivery, any angle, right or left, was working.
“I made adjustments all the way to the left gutter, which no one else was doing and it worked out for me,” Ostrander said. “I thought it was very good. Hopefully, it’ll carry over tomorrow.”
At first, Ostrander stood fairly right of the middle of the lanes — by the second arrow — before he gradually glided to the left.
“By game eight, I was playing around 38 or 39 [boards], over the left gutter and releasing in the air. I probably moved around 30 boards.”
He said that the PBA Tour Chameleon pattern being used at Bell-Wick differed slightly from the normal PBA regional Chameleon pattern.
“It’s the one used on the national tour,” Ostrander said. “I thought it was very good and very playable, so I’ll be here for Sunday.”
For his eight games, Ostrander’s 1,957 was +357, meaning 357 over 1,600 or 157 over 200 for a game. The A squad comprised 45 bowlers as did the B squad which started at 3 p.m.
Ostrander’s previous two Hubbard Open finishes resulted in missing the top 16 by nine two years ago, then cashing but not reaching Sunday’s round last year.
Ostrander, who finished 30th in the PBA Masters, said that he’s associated with Team Brunswick — same as Ryan Ciminelli, who finished as the A squad’s No. 2 qualifier.
Ostrander’s next national tour stop will be the PBA Xtra Frame Shootout in Portland, Maine.
He has two runner-up finishes on the regional tour, by two pins in his second regional event ever at Rockaway (N.J.) Lanes and a No. 2 finish last year in Bedford.
Ciminellii, the inaugural winner in 2011 — save his absence in 2014 — has bowled for the title all three times he’s been in Hubbard.
“Hopefully, I’ll continue that trend, but Sunday’s a long day, so there’s a lot ahead of us,” said Ciminelli, who aborted an overseas stint in Kuwait and Germany because he was bowling poorly. “Things weren’t going good and it was because of me, so I decided not to fight it. Since then, I put in a lot of work in the last week-and-a-half [with a mentor/coach], so it was good to come here and strike a little.”
The left-hander from Cheektowaga, N.Y., gets good vibes when he comes to Bell-Wick.
“When you get good success in a place, you always have extra confidence coming in, so that helps.”
Campbell’s Robert Harvischak had the local crowd humming as the 25-year-old Memorial High graduate was fourth-best among A squad bowlers with 1,874.
“I don’t know where I sit, but it’s a great feeling,” Harvischak said of the uncertainty of knowing his status for today following his best-ever qualifying performance Saturday.
“This is the only regional I’ve entered,” Harvischak said of the three Hubbard Opens in which he’s bowled. “The $285 [non-PBA member entry fee] is a little steep to pay for a tournament, but my family put me in this one, so I couldn’t pass it up.”