14-year-old beats veterans to emerge 24th Sletba Open Masters champion

Michael Lacerna: Skill and composure

MANILA — Youth, skill and luck proved to be Michael Lacerna’s ticket to win the 24th Sta. Lucia East Tenpin Bowling Association (Sletba) Open Championships Sunday night.

The 14-year-old member of Sletba Youth showed his mettle by topping the winners’ circle that included Philippine bowling legend Paeng Nepomuceno (PBF-Sletba) and national team stalwarts Lara Posadas-Wong (PBAP) and Patrick Nuqui (PBA).

Lara Posadas-Wong

The 33-man field proved to be a tough one, with three perfect games posted. Danielle Evangelista of TBAM scored the first perfect game right at the start of the 10-game series, followed by Kevin Cu of Sletba in the third game, and Nepomuceno in the sixth game. Nepomuceno’s feat drew the wildest cheers from a fairly big crowd who had come to watch the finals.

But Lacerna kept his poise and composure in the tightly-fought finals, finishing with a total of 2359 pinfalls, or an average of 236, to top the end of regulation games and sit it out to face the winner in the stepladder phase. Nuqui was second with 2352, Nepomuceno third with 2342, and Posadas-Wong fourth with 2326.

Posadas-Wong edged Nepomuceno, 241-240, in the first stepladder game, and next fought and beat Nuqui, 209-185, to earn the right to challenge Lacerna for a two-game championship match.

Paeng Nepomuceno receives his prize for scoring a perfect game, one of the six 300-games achieved in the 24th Sletba Open. With him are Frankie Uy, Sletba vice president, and Charles Calamba, tournament director.

Lacerna had two open frames at the start, but recovered from the jitters as he scored a five-bagger that enabled him to narrow Posadas-Wong’s lead at the end of the first game, 227-235. In the second game, it was Posadas-Wong’s turn to start with an open frame, but rolled a turkey (three successive strikes) in her bid to recover. But the shy- soft-spoken Lacerna had gained confidence and matched his rival’s streak to eventually wrest the title, 239-221. This gave him a total of 466 as against Posadas-Wong’s 456 in the two-game championship fight.

The winners in the other divisions:

Mixed Senior Open Masters — John Tiongson (PBA, champion), Benshir Layoso (PTBA-Gruppo, 1st runnerup), Jong Enriquez (Sletba, 2nd runnerup), Mario Magdaluyo (Sletba, 3rd runnerup), and Linda Grzybowska (MBA, 4th runnerup)

Mixed Classified Masters — Don Tungala (Sletba, champion), Matt Barredo (DATBI, 1st runnerup), Kassie Yap (Sletba, 2nd runnerup), Marlon dela Cruz (MTBA-MKAI, 3rd runnerup), and Miguel Chua (STAI, 4th runnerup)

Mixed Senior Classified Masters — Boy de Leon (Sletba, champion), Elson Campita (PBA, first runnerup), Edgar Caper (Sletba, 2nd runnerup), Ray Santos (USBC, 3rd runnerup), and Tosi Alcasid (PSB-Sletba, 4th runnerup)

Ladies Masters — Louise Santarin (MTBA-MKAI, champion), Daphne Custodio (Sletba, 1st runnerup), Rica Ventura (Sletba, 2nd runnerup), Zen Avenido (Sletba, 3rd runnerup), and Kassie Yap (Sletba, 4th runnerup)

Mixed Youth Masters — Marc Custodio (Sletba, champion), Patrick Nuqui (PBA, 1st runnerup), Danielle Evangelista (TBAM, 2nd runnerup), Adrian Jimeno (Sletba, 3rd runnerup), and Art Barrientos (Sletba, 4th runnerup)

Mixed Junior Masters — Sean Esmilla (PBA, champion), Andrey Barbosa (STAI, 1st runnerup), Sofia Dytoc (PTBA, 2nd runnerup), Wilbert Dolosa (Sletba, 3rd runnerup), and Lawrence Tucay (Sletba, 4th runnerup)