Chad Mason is our star bowler of the week. Young Mr. Mason fired his second career perfect 300 game in the Tuesday Nite Mixed last week. He went on to post a solid 702 three game series. That pushed Chad’s average up to 221 pins per game which puts him in the No. 3 spot for high average in the city behind Jeff Miller and Pat Olson. Pretty heady company, indeed!
Clearly, Chad has the formula to score big at Orchard Lanes: He’s young, strong, and puts lots of speed and revs on his ball. Plus, most importantly, he plays the lanes properly, employing the simplest, best angle of attack to get strikes.
That’s right, we’ve said it many times before: If you can play the lanes down and in between the first and second arrows, the angle of entry of the ball into the 1-3 pocket is maximized. That’s how to get all those strikes. It may seem easy but, of course, it’s not. Chad makes it look easy because, despite his youth, he is a savvy bowler. It’s always a wonderful thing for a bowler to roll that perfect 300 game that we all desire but in our modern game we tend to get lazy. We bowl league every week at the same bowling center, where the lanes are probably synthetic, which means they are close to perfect. New synthetic lanes are nearly as hard as a diamond, which means they won’t wear out for a long, long time. The lanes are dressed each week with a state of the art computerized machine that costs as much as a new car which puts down a perfect high scoring oil pattern.
So, 300s come easier these days. But, here’s an important point: Chad rolled his first 300 game elsewhere, not at Orchard Lanes. So, those other lanes were different; they may have even been the old wood style or if they were synthetic, they may have been from another manufacturer. The oil pattern was definitely different as every bowling center uses their own. They probably even used different oil. And yet Chad had the talent to roll a perfect 300 game at that different bowling center. That makes him a heck of a bowler now that he’s done it at two different bowling centers!
Team of the week
1. Jeff Miller 732
2. Chad Mason 702
3. Rod Pratt 700
4. John Riggleman 698
5. Patrick Olson 689
3,521 Total pins
With just two weeks to go in the first round of the Industrial, it looks like we’ve got a four team race for first place. Currently, Pat’s Pro Shop leads with 119 points, followed by MTS with 117, Collins Aerospace with 113 and Mid-Columbia Diesel with 113.
The Pro Shop, MTS and Collins did well last week, taking 17 or 18 points, but the Diesel gang lost ground, only winning eight points against a robust effort by Randy’s Painting, who took 17 from them. Rod Pratt gave it his all for the Diesel boys in the match, rolling a stellar, even-steven 700 three gamer, but it wasn’t enough as sponsor Randy Nieto paced his painters with a nifty 686 set that proved to be too much to overcome.
Also, there are just two weeks to go in the first round of the Fraternal; however, this involves the last week in the regular rotation and then a position round, which can be dicey and often insures an unpredictable finish. Currently, Mt. Hood Barbeque and Orchard Lanes are tied for first place with 127 points and they have an almost 20 point lead over their nearest pursuers. Both of the leaders bowled well last week with the Barbequers taking 22 points while Orchard Lanes got 19.
In a match between the cooking crews, Mt. Hood Barbeque got the better of Get Hu’sum BBQ this time. Mt. Hood’s John Riggleman rose to the occasion as he rolled a super 698 set that was highlighted by a big 280 game.
In the most pins over average department last week, Ryan Pratt topped everyone as he beat his average by 135 pins in the County league. Ryan rolled his first 600 series of the season, a fine 609. Sara Kenna was next as she was 130 sticks over her average, also in the County league. Randy Nieto was 122 pins over his average after rolling that cool 686 set in the Industrial. John Riggleman was 116 pins over his average with his 698 in the Fraternal. Rod Pratt’s 700 series in the Industrial was 115 pins better than his average, and Mark Bakurjian was 104 pins over his average in the County league.
League reports
MONDAY NIGHT INDUSTRIAL: Rod Pratt: 264, 254, 700; Randy Nieto: 245, 686; Aaron Troxel: 657; Nancy Asai: 246; Patrick Olson: 246
TUESDAY NITE MIXED: Chad Mason: 300, 702; Patrick Olson: 237, 661; Ciena Brittle: 245, 221, 630; Woody Eskildsen: 241; Ken Espersen: 236; Nancy Asai: 208
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