Monacelli Rolls Way To Championship
ELKHART – Professional bowler Amleto Monacelli will celebrate a birthday in just nine days.
He gave himself quite the early gift on Wednesday night.
Monacelli overcame a slow start to claim the title of the PBA50 National Championship held at Signature Lanes.
Monacelli, who will turn 55 later this month, bested Sam Maccarone 224-212 in the title game to earn the top prize for the three-day event.
The PBA50 National Championship, which attracted a field of 80 of the top bowlers in the country to Elkhart, benefitted the Riley Hospital for Children.
Monacelli, who hails from Venezuela, took home the top prize of $10,000 after winning the final event on the PBA50 Tour for the year. Maccarone, who is from Blackwood, New Jersey, claimed $6,000 for his runner-up finish.
The final five competitors for the single-game elimination finals Wednesday night featured Monacelli, Maccarone, Ron Mohr, Parker Bohn III and Brian Voss. The handful was left after surviving match play action earlier Wednesday, which followed qualifying rounds on both Monday and Tuesday.
The finals opened with Bohn topping Voss 216-180 in the first match.
Monacelli, who began competing on the PBA Tour in 1982 and joined the PBA50 Tour in 2012, opened finals play by downing Bohn III 235-233. That came after he started his first game with a pair of open frames.
Monacelli, who is also the only foreign-born player in the PBA Hall of Fame, topped Mohr 257-244 in the semifinals.
Monacelli then used a string of five straight strikes in the finale to defeat Maccarone to claim his seventh PBA50 event win, including his fourth Major title. He also has 20 titles on the PBA Tour.
Mohr, who hails from Las Vegas, finished in third place with Bohn fourth and Voss fifth.
The outstanding tournament, which was the first of its kind in Elkhart, also included PBA legends Walter Ray Williams Jr. and Norm Duke. The pair of Hall of Famers were eliminated from the event in the final Match Play Round on Wednesday. Legend Pete Weber, who won six titles on the PBA50 Tour this season, was forced to miss the season finale due to a hip injury.