SOMERS — If Becky Tirabassi decides to send thank you cards to those who helped her win this year’s Women’s Division title in the 46th annual Kenosha News Match Game Bowling Tournament, A.J. Hedges and Tim Alfredson will likely be the first people to find them in their mailboxes.

If it hadn’t been for her friend Hedges’ prodding, Tirabassi said she wouldn’t have even entered this year. As it was, she waited until the last possible day to do so, and only under the stipulation that he would coach her throughout the two nights of finals.

And if Alfredson, who runs the pro shop at Sheridan Lanes, hadn’t provided Tirabassi her bowling ball, who knows what scores she might have otherwise rolled.

“Between those two guys, I have a lot to thank,” Tirabassi said Thursday at Surfside Bowl after she started the night in the lead, lost it, then rallied to defeat two-time champion Jenny Limbach, giving Tirabassi bookend victories this decade (2000 and 2009) in the News’ tournament — both at Surfside.

Tirabassi finished the 12-game finals with 864 points and a 10-1-1 record, good for a 60-point victory over Limbach (804), her teammate in a Friday night league at Sheridan. Laura Baumgarten dealt Tirabassi her only loss, 244-209, in Game 2 Thursday.

Katy Marescalco (784), Ashley Willette and Liz Gentile (542) completed the top five. Bowlers received 30 points for each match victory, with one point added/subtracted for each pin above/below 180.

Limbach, the 2003 and 2004 Women’s champion, began Thursday in third place in the 12-bowler division with 447 points, 89 behind Tirabassi and one behind second-place Willette.

But Limbach stormed into the lead with a 298 in Game 3.

Going into the final-game position round, Limbach had 818 points to Tirabassi’s 777 and Marescalco’s 721. That meant Limbach didn’t even need to defeat Tirabassi to win the title — she just had to lose by 10 or fewer pins (provided she bowled at least a 180).

Halfway through the final game, though, Tirabassi essentially had the title clinched as she made a spare in the first frame followed by four consecutive strikes en route to a 237.

Tirabassi had rolled a 248 in a Game 7 win after Hedges had instructed her to slide over a few boards to the right.

“So I felt good going into the last game. I felt confident,” Tirabassi said.

Meanwhile, after throwing a strike in the first frame, Limbach converted four consecutive spares and threw a gutter ball to leave an open frame in the sixth.

“That last game was rough,” Limbach said of her 166. “I was moving and I just wasn’t carrying and Becky kept getting strikes, so every frame kept making it harder and harder to catch up. But I still had a good tournament overall, just a really bad last game.”

Tirabassi said her second News Match Game victory was even more special than the first.

“I think now it is because my kids are older and hopefully they look at me as a role model,” she said. “You’re older and you appreciate things more.”

Super Senior Men

It turns out there is only one way Dick Beltoya doesn’t win the Super Senior Men’s Division of the News’ tournament: when he doesn’t show up.

Since the division for bowlers age 62-and-older was formed in 2006, Beltoya has emerged with the first-place trophy every year except 2008, when he had to go out of town and missed the tournament.

Beltoya held a 282-276 lead over James Mollman heading into the final-game position round. The Senior Men’s Division winner in 1993, 1994 and 1998, Beltoya then fired his best game of the tournament, a 279 that featured 11 strikes.

The only thing preventing him from perfection was leaving the 7-pin on his first ball in the sixth, which he converted for his only spare.

“That was the only game I really got locked in,” Beltoya said. “I got locked in and I just stayed there. I felt strong and really good the last game. Before that, about 50 percent of my balls were good and the other 50 were bad.

“That game, all of them were good. It was the right time to do it.”

Beltoya, who went 3-1 Thursday and 6-2 overall, finished with 391 points. Mollman, who started the night in third, tallied 245 points and was runner-up, followed by Robert Chatman (204), Andy Mastronardi (163) and Greg Palamidas (111) in the top five.

Bowlers received 30 points for each match victory, with one point added/subtracted for each pin above/below 200.