Morelli leads Sunset Country men’s team to bronze medal

Despite finishing 23.5 points out of first place at the provincial five-pin bowling championships in Thunder Bay last weekend, settling for the bronze medal, Dino Morelli Sr. of Fort Frances figured they could have quite easily won the gold.
Joining Morelli on the strong Sunset Country men’s team was a pair of past provincial champs, Ron Stanfield and Dale Jensson. If there ever was a year to win a provincial crown, this was it.
And Morelli certainly did his part, rolling a tournament high 248.26 average to lead the local five-man contingent. He also bowled high games of 335, 309, and 307.
“The games I bowled, I was the top man,” said Morelli, adding it was a “long time” since his previous provincial appearance. “I think it just came down to who got hot at the tournament.”
Morelli said he definitely felt they could compete with–and beat–the top teams Northern Ontario has to offer. In fact, Sunset Country was only a few strong games away from moving on to the nationals.
“I think with a bit more practice, we could beat those guys,” he remarked.
Sunset Country finished third after their 15 games with 58 points, well behind front-running Nickel District (81.5) and runner-up North of Superior (81).
That set up a match between the second- and third-place teams but Sunset Country couldn’t advance to the final after being blitzed 7-1 by North of Superior.
North of Superior went on to get bounced by an identical 7-1 score at the hands of Nickel District, which now moves on to the nationals in Hamilton.
Placing in fourth place with 52 points was Cambrian North, followed by Gold Belt (48.5) and Gateway (39).
On the women’s side, Sunset Country didn’t fare quite as well but the team was led by a strong performance by local bowler Carla Hanzuk. She finished third on the squad with a 222.79 average and bowled high games of 255, 253, 249, 245, and 232.
She also placed seventh in the women’s singles side, finishing with 1,873 pins after rolling games of 239, 253, 196, 237, 167, 316, 244, and 221 for a 234.1 average.
“It was the first time that I bowled singles and I was very pleased with how I did,” said Hanzuk. “I’d like to make singles again next year. I really enjoyed it.”
Carolyn Stamarski, whose husband, Rick, was the team’s coach, had top games of 279, 271, and 258 en route to finishing with a 202.89 average.
She also competed in the women’s singles event, rolling games of 226, 190, 168, 173, 190, 222, 207, and 218 for a 1,594 total and 199.25 average.
But the Sunset Country team struggled to a fifth-place finish in their division.
Cambrian North claimed the gold after dumping Gateway 7-1 in the stepladder final. Gateway had downed Nickel District 6-2 in the previous match.
Cambrian North was the top team with 95.5 points, well ahead of second-place Gateway (65), Nickel District (63.5), Gold Belt (54), Sunset Country (42), and North of Superior (40).
In mixed action, Sunset Country, which included local bowler Janet Ellis, also struggled, finishing in last place. Ellis had top games of 258, 251, 212, and 211 en route to finishing with 2,209 pins and a 208.40 average.
“The mixed team should have done better. We had a strong team but we just didn’t come through,” said Ellis. “We never had a big game, and by the time the 12th game came around, you just didn’t care.
Gold Belt won the mixed gold with a 5-3 win over North of Superior in the stepladder final. It came down to the deciding game after North of Superior had beaten Gold Belt 5-3 in the previous match.
North of Superior had reached the final after trouncing Nickel District 7-1.
Gold Belt finished atop the standings after their round of games, finishing with 81 points. That was 10 points ahead of second-place North of Superior (71), followed by Nickel District (56), Cambrian North (52), Gateway (52), and Sunset Country (48).
In the aggregate standings, Sunset Country, which was managed by Shirley Jensson, finished in fifth place overall with 23 points. Nickel District won the crown with 44 points, just one point ahead of North of Superior.
Cambrian North was third with 37 points, followed Gold Belt (29), Sunset Country, and Gateway (15).