Aaron Troxel tallies 716 in league action

Aaron Troxel scorched the boards at Hood River’s Orchard Lanes in last week’s league action, racking up his first ever 700 series. The powerful right hander with a unique thumb-less style wreaked havoc on the pins in the high flying Wednesday night Fraternal league, notching a sparkling 716 series. Aaron, who has only been bowling for a few years now and is just in his mid-20s, has literally burst onto the kegling scene this season. He showed great promise a short while ago by racking up some impressive numbers, but his performance this past week was special; he started the session with a strike and then spared his second frame in the first game. After that he went “off the sheet,” which is bowling-talk for, in this case, 10 strikes in a row, for a beautiful 280 game.

That is one heck of a start. Often, after such a great beginning, many bowlers get a bit nervous and lose their rhythm, but not Aaron. He continued attacking the pins and rolled a nice 205 in his second game. That’s when things can really go downhill fast; when you know you’re just a good game away from posting that elusive 700 series. The pressure gets to a lot of bowlers and they just fold, but not Aaron. He got even tougher, blasting a great 231 game to seal the deal, putting him over that 700 series milestone.

Do you have any idea how good that feels, to come through in the clutch like that? Well, it’s pure satisfaction; it’s a great feeling of accomplishment. In this sport, like any other, you have to go out and get these things done. It’s not easy; nobody gives you anything. You have to earn it all.

We’ve got some very good bowlers in Hood River but, until now, none of them have fired the ball without the use of their thumb. That’s right, everybody else, all the stars around here, all of them bowl the conventional way by using their thumb and two middle fingers in the ball. Aaron only puts his fingers in the ball and then he cups it in his hand throughout his swing. When he gets to the release point, he lifts up with those two fingers in a strong motion, imparting tremendous counter-clockwise spin on his ball and plenty of speed. When that dynamo grabs the lane at about 40 feet, it hooks sharply back into the pins and sends them flying six ways to Sunday.

Aaron probably rolls the most powerful ball in town now. When he’s on his game the pins simply don’t have a chance. By the way, these achievements are certainly worthy of earning our latest Bowler of the Week nod, but in case there was any doubt, Aaron was also a whopping 152 pins over his average — the most by anyone at the lanes last week. That should put a cap on it. He also joins four of those familiar household names that we so often talk about in Hood River bowling on this week’s Team of the Week. Great bowling everybody!

League Highlights:

Monday Night Industrial: Gordon Sim, 644 series; Carl Casey, 247 game

Tuesday Morning Ladies Workshirkers: Nancy Asai, 222 game and 593 series

Tuesday Nite Mixed: Roger Montavon, 660 series; Sandy Holme, 210 game and 580 series; Ken Espersen, 256 game

Wednesday afternoon Colts & Fillies: Gordon Sim, 224 game and 597 series; Erma Hickman, 476 series; Charlotte Severns, 182 game

Wednesday Evening

Fraternal:

Greg McDaniel, 750 series; Aaron Troxel, 280 game; Jenna Hert, 186 game and 532 series