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NEBA made it’s home at Nutmeg Bowl in Fairfield, Connecticut this past weekend, April 26th-27th, for the BuddiesProShop.com Classic. A unique prize fund set for juniors by Island Bowling Supply helped to add to the 190 entries bidding for one of the 40 finalists spots. Competitors found themselves up against a 2024 Junior Gold qualifying pattern with 40ft, 24.75mls and a 3.52:1 ratio challenging their skills. Leading the qualifying portion was Zach Bienkowski who put together a 5-game score of 1,227 (245.4 average). Your eventual champion, Dennis Bissonnette, fell just short by leading the 9am squad and averaging 244.4. Both competitors helped to comprise the 24 group of bowlers receiving 1st round byes going into the eliminator style finals.

Round 1 of the finals featured 16 bowler who fought to their way into the top 8 scores. In the advancing group were names such as Chris Viale, NEBA Hall-of-Famer Anthony Pepe and Amanda Broege who would round out the 8 advancers with a 227. Moving into the 2nd round, the field was joined by our bye competitors. This is where Dennis Bissonnette would make his finals appearance and move on with a score of 235. Leading the round of 32 was NEBA Hall-of Fame, Bill Webb with a score of 289 while fellow Hall-of-Famer Joey Transue would cap the advancers off with a 225. Paul Smith led the way for the round of 16 by firing off a 268. He would be joined by Bissonnette with a 236 as well as names such as Alex Cavagnaro and NEBA Hall-of-Famer Chris Forry with NEBA’s 2023-2024 Youth Bowler of the Year, Sean Buck, snapping off the advance with a 211. The round of 8 separated the field with your eventual champion clinching his spot by continuing his 230 pace finals and was joined by nothing but NEBA Hall-Of Fame pedigree in Bill Webb, Chris Forry and Joey Transue with Transue leading the way shooting 268. Before heading into the semi-finals recap we recognize the high youth bowler, Sean Buck, for claiming the 1st place youth prize valued at $350 courtesy of Island Bowling Supply. To begin our final four match we would see Dennis lead with the first four strikes, Joey and Bill trade blows and Forry face hardship to get all ten to go down. Carry woes for Chris continued in the back half while an open frame from Bissonnette would not prove to phase him as he surrounded it with strikes to lead the semi-finals with a 244. Transue and Webb continued to battle all the way to the tenth and beyond. Both bowlers punched out in the tenth to tie at 238-238 and force a ninth and tenth frame roll off. Joey would give Bill the first window with a spare while Webb put up a double followed by a spare. Transue would need a minimum of the first two strikes in the tenth to advance but fall short with a split and write the scene to a Bissonnette vs Webb finals.

A victory for Webb would give him his 23rd title and hold himself in 3rd for the all-time title holders list while Dennis would continue to build his resume with a 4th title. If you had any incite on the match prior to reading, you would already know this quickly became the Dennis show. Bissonnette began the match with a strike and never looked back. While Webb is known for his excellent shot-making, it did little to deter Dennis from continuing his BARRAGE of strikes. Dennis would stretch his run from frame one all the way to becoming the 3rd bowler in NEBA history to shoot a 300 in the championship match! Dennis’s 300-216 victory over Bill Webb earned him his 4th title and a little extra bonus in the NEBA history books. Dennis took home $2,000 plus and entry into this years TOC($125)! Bill would receive $1,300 for his runner-up efforts.

Champions Message - “First of all thank you to all my sponsors: Brunswick, EFX, JoPo Grips, and Juvee Energy Drinks. As well as all the staff at NEBA! Winning title number 4 is another step closer to my goal of getting into the HOF, and notching the 3rd ever to shoot 300 in a title match over the 60+ years of NEBA is very special. We would like to thank our sponsor for this event, Chris Forry of Buddies Pro Shop for the $2,000 added to the prize fund, Island Bowling Supply for their $1,000 youth prize fund contribution as well as the staff at Nutmeg Bowl for continuing to support NEBA and its members."

Upcoming Event: We invite you all to Sparetime in Northampton, MA for the Bowl Winkles Pro Shop Open presented by Lia Cars - $500 added to the prize fund. More information is available at BowlNeba.com or you can use the Google calendar link below.

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