Fair Lanes

ADELPHI -- Left-hander Aletha Sill continued on a steady path last night that gave her first place after eight games of match play in the $45,000 Lady Fair Lanes Open.Sill averaged 217.1 pins for eight games and had a 7-1 record in match play.She sets the pace with a total pinfall of 5,979 for 26 games."These lanes are conducive to left-handers," said Sill, a 10-year LPBT veteran. "That gives me confidence. I don't go out there tentative."When asked why Fair Lanes University was good to lefties, Sill admitted it was probably more a mental thing than anything else.

No one is picking winners yet, but Walter Ray Williams knows he'll still be in town Saturday for the finals of the $135,000 Fair Lanes Open at Fair Lanes Woodlawn.Williams, who won here in 1986 and always seems to bowl well in this Professional Bowlers Association tournament, assured himself a spot in the King of the Hill challenge after winning the Flagship City Open in Erie, Pa., on Saturday, and then toppling Ron Williams in the King of the Hill match.At 8 a.m. today, 111 bowlers, including 75 full-time touring pros, roll in qualifying play for 61 spots to join the 99 exempt players in the tournament field.

ADELPHI -- A seemingly endless 1 1/2 -year slump is apparently over for Aleta Sill.Sill continued to waltz through the competition last night in the $45,000 Lady Fair Lanes Open and will be top-seeded tonight in the nationally televised finals.Sill, of Dearborn, Mich., needs only to win one game in the five-person stepladder finals to win the championship."I've been bowling much better lately after being in a slump for one and a half years," said Sill. "The slump started when I began letting lane conditions bother me. Also, my wrist and elbow had been hurting a lot because of tendinitis."

The Fair Lanes PBA Open in Baltimore is fast acquiring a reputation for dramatic firsts. Last year Danny Wiseman won his first tournament in his hometown. And last week Pete Weber led all qualifiers by rolling 42 consecutive games over 200 -- a PBA record.But it was the last ball of the last frame of the tournament that stunned a full house at Fair Lanes Kings Point and a national TV audience Saturday.After Weber finished the championship game with five strikes and a 213 score, Del Ballard Jr. needed 27 pins in the 10th frame to win. Ballard got the toughest part -- the first two strikes -- and all he had to do was knock down seven more for the $30,000 first prize.

Bob Quental of Hunt Valley celebrated his birthday by outlasting 166 bowlers to win the $1,000 first prize at the National Amateur Bowlers Inc. Tournament at Fair Lanes Ritchie over the Halloween weekend."

As one of the few black bowlers on the Professional Bowlers Association tour, one would imagine Curtis Odom having a built-in following in tournaments before crowds that include black spectators."

Larry Nalls of Essex won a one-game roll-off with Daniel Syromi of Baltimore, 234-229, to win the second of five Pro Spot Qualifying Tournaments for the $15,000 Fair Lanes PBA Open, scheduled for Fair Lanes Woodlawn Feb. 16-22.Bowling at Fair Lanes Ritchie in Glen Burnie last Sunday, Nalls and Syromi finished in a tie with 1,361 pins after the six-game event. Nalls, who won $300 in addition to his entry into the tournament, rolled games of 180, 280, 184, 231, 243 and 243. Syromi, who won $275, rolled games of 244, 255, 214, 191, 189 and 258.Tommy Simms of Elkridge, who rolled 268-171-245-218-183-2581,343 won $200.

Earl Lang, bowling in the Post Office League at Fair Lanes Towson, rolled a 723 set with games of 290, 211 and 222.Bill Deshong, competing in the Sunday Night Late Show League Country Club Lanes, rolled a 300 game.The team of Dave Grant (219 average), Don Saine (210), Walt Servenka (212) and Don Patterson (209) had a 1,082 game and 2,851 series in the Men's Scratch Classic League at Country Club Lanes.Danny Wiseman of Baltimore finished 42nd in the $175,000 Delco PBA Classic in Torrance, Calif.

For the 23rd consecutive year, the Professional Bowlers Association tour will stop in Maryland next February.Fair Lanes Woodlawn in Baltimore will be the host to the top men bowlers in the world Feb. 16-22 in the $150,000 PBA Open, with a top prize of $23,000.Pete Weber is the defending champion. Weber won the championship when Del Ballard needed seven pins on his final ball and rolled a gutter ball. Local pro Danny Wiseman, from Parkville, won the tournament two years ago.The tournament will feature youth and adult pro-am events Feb. 16 and 18 and the preliminary rounds of the tournament will begin Feb. 19 and run through Feb. 22 with the finals televised nationally on ABC."