By: Luciano DeSensi & Rose Matiyasic
Sunday, August 28th a new champion was crowned at the 38th Cleveland Challenge Cup of Bocce Open Division in Wickliffe. North Country Graphics, a team from Rome, NY won their first CCCB championship emerging from a field of 100 teams winning the largest bocce tournament in the country and taking home the Cup and $8,000. The team consists of Eddie Emmanuele, Santino Emmanuele (team captain), Paul Louis III, and Nick Scerra sponsored by Glen Marsh founder of North Country Graphics.
They defeated Fioritto Funeral Service from Lydnhurst, OH in the finals 16-15. The Fioritto Funeral Services team featured; Russ Meraglio (Team Captain), Pino Rosati, Doug Carter, and Joe Zdesar.
Tied 15-15 in the final frame with an exciting finish some people may never forget. CCCB38 Finals started with both teams only able to score 1 point in the early frames. NCG started up 4-3 before FFS went on a 7-0 run to gain control at 10-4. NCG slowly battled back but wasn’t able to recapture the lead until the final frame. Down 15-10 NCG made their final push by rallying a 6-0 run to finish this year’s finals. In the last frame Santino of NCG placed his final ball fairly close to the pallino, near the left-center of the back wall. FFS had two opportunities to knock Santino ball out but was only able to clip his ball on the final shot. Unfortunately for FFS, Santino’s ball wasn’t knocked out far enough to steal the point which secured the win for NCG. Father-Son Eddie & Santino finished as Runner-Ups in the 2012 Finals but now, ten years later they will celebrate their first CCCB title together!
On the Ladies side, Bottiglieri’s Lawn Care continued their dominance and extended their streak with another impressive showing! Going undefeated once again, they cruised to a 4th straight championship, 5th overall, and hoisted the coveted trophy in the Ladies Division.
In the championship game, Debbie Bottiglieri (team captain), Jen Hardy, Lee Christman, Tiffany Zarilla, and coach Syd Hardy, all out of Niles Ohio, faced off against Denise Romanchek (team captain), Tina Hogue, Leslie Readman and Jerrica Cooper of team ITAM Dirty 30, from Youngstown, Ohio.
Dirty 30 opened the scoring to take a 3-0 lead after two innings, but Bottiglieri’s scored 9 straight points and took control of the match! Dirty 30, however, was not ready to surrender as they slowly mounted a comeback, scoring one point per inning, until the match was all tied at 9-9! With some up and down scoring over the next several frames, the score was once again tied at 14-14 as we entered the crucial final frames of the match! Both teams played tremendously, but in the end, Bottiglieri’s would not be denied and scored the last two points, rolling in to clinch the victory, 16-14! Team captain Debbie Bottiglieri, and the rest of the team, hoisted their fifth trophy and took home the grand prize. Congratulations, Ladies!
