Fall league action began last week at Hood River’s venerable Orchard Lanes. This season we are going to change our focus a bit to give greater recognition to those bowlers who beat their averages the most. Instead of the high five scratch series, the top five bowlers who beat their averages the most in league action will now become our team of the week. This should be interesting. To see the big scratch scores check out the league reports.
So, here goes, our first team of the week for the 2014-15 season:
Ray Sollman: +108
Ross Bluestone: +100
Fred Bergren: +91
Esther Yarnell: +77
Shirley Thornhill: +75
Ray Sollman and bowling are synonymous in Hood River. He’s been a mainstay in league action way back to the Carter years, and we don’t mean Jimmy. Ray is as famous here as Don Carter was to pro bowling in the glory years of the game. A genuinely wonderful person, Ray has worked tirelessly for every charitable cause imaginable. We’ll never forget the time he raised over $1,000 for St. Jude’s all by himself!
Just like the old days, Ray literally exploded out of the box in the first week of action in the Wednesday afternoon senior Colts & Fillies league, where he was a whopping 108 pins over his average. For a great performance like this, Ray is the No. 1 bowler in town!
Ross Bluestone wasn’t far behind in the same session, where he was 100 pins over his average. Ross is an avid golfer who is always looking to get close to the pins in golf, but if he keeps knocking these three-pound six-ounce pins around like this, we’re going to have to call him the Rory McIlroy of Hood River bowling.
Fred Bergren really stepped up in the high-powered Wednesday night Fraternal league, where he tossed nice scratch 212 and 224 games on his way to an outstanding 635 series. He was definitely the stick that stirred the drink, powering his team to a blow-out 24-1 win for the night’s work.
Esther Yarnell, our favorite nonagenarian, the ageless veteran of more bowling wars than seems possible, earns the clean-up spot on our first Team of the Week. Esther is one heck of a bowler, so this honor doesn’t come easily for her. That’s because it’s always harder to beat your average the higher it is. Esther sprinted out of the blocks in the Colts & Fillies with an amazing 497 series, a fantastic 165 average for the session. So, for those of you youngsters from 20 years old and on who complain that bowling is just too tough a game, get with it; Esther proves that it can be done, and done, well into your 90s!
Shirley Thornhill, the renowned local bowling luminary, also got an outstanding start in the Colts & Fillies, where she made the pins dance with the stars, leading all women in scoring in the session. Shirley fired a fine scratch 202 game and ended up 75 pins over her average for the session – good enough to anchor our first Team of the Week.
There is still plenty of time to sign up and get in on the fun of bowling league. The weather may be nice now, but it won’t be long before it gets cold, rainy and snowy. For those nasty weather months, you are going to wish you were cuffing those sticks around. There is nothing like the feeling of blasting strikes and converting spares to win in league action.
In the ensuing weeks, leagues will begin Monday thru Thursday for everybody of any skill level and openings are available. Call Pat Olson at Orchard Lanes, 541-386-1326, for more info. Let’s go bowling everybody! Join a league.
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