By: Luciano DeSensi
Sunday, August 27th a new champion was crowned at the 39th Cleveland Challenge Cup of Bocce Open Division in Wickliffe, OH. CPF Home Inspections, a local team from Mentor, OH won their first CCCoB championship emerging from a field of 104 teams in one of the biggest bocce tournaments in the country; taking home the Cup along with the top prize of $9,500. The team consisted of Ron Capogreco, Jim DiFranco, Chris Federico (team captain), and Tony Melaragno sponsored by Chris Federico founder of CPF Home Inspections. They defeated IMBS #3 from Koppel, PA in the finals 16-10. The IMBS #3 team consisted of Vern Kurtz, Pete Melaragno, Sean New (Team Captain) and Jimmy Pisano.
As the sun began to set over the horizon of the Wickliffe Italian-American Club two teams stepped onto Court 2 with a large crowd patiently waiting to see the biggest match of the weekend. A new champion was to be crowned between these two teams as last year defending champion North Country Graphics from Rome, NY was defeated Sunday mid-afternoon.
Early, IMBS struck first on the scoreboard opening the match at 1-0 but quickly CPF recovered and scored 5 points in the next two frames taking the lead 5-1. The first pointing by Chris Federico forced Vern Kurtz of IMBS into shooting most of the game while second pointer Jim Difranco followed Federico lead every time Kurtz knocked Federico ball out.
CPF’s consistent play in the Finals found themselves in a commanding position with a 12-4 lead. On the other side IMBS, down 8 points wasn’t ready to give up just yet. Their first pointer Sean New kept putting on a masterpiece of pointing and once he got the pallino back in his possession, IMBS began to retake control. Former tournament champion Pete Melaragno found his rhythm of pointing & shooting while Jimmy “Da Bull” Pisano’s energetic play helped get IMBS back in the match as they cut the deficit down to 13-10 on a 6-1 run. But in the final frame the sharp shooting of Ron Capogreco & Tony Melarango were able to hold off IMBS final push as both hitters capitalized giving the opportunity of a lifetime for Difranco to roll in for the win! A 16-10 final and first Cleveland Challenge Cup of Bocce Championship for CPF Home Inspections was finally in the bocce history books!
Federico, Difranco and Capogreco captured their first CCC0B title while Melaragno won his 5th title; first since 2017 (Vandra Brothers). He is a champion of the first CCC0B tournament (1984 DiFiore Waterproofing) and now the most current champion! Chris Federico also became the first Wickliffe Italian-American Club member to win the CCCoB tournament breaking the 39 year streak.
