This is how it feels to get spanked.
For years you have been the renowned best bowler in our region. You are a heavily experienced successful tournament bowler. You are still the highest average bowler in town, currently you are carrying a 219 pins per game average which is mighty good, pro-like, in fact.
Okay, in last week’s hot-shot Wednesday night Fraternal league at Hood River’s Orchard Lanes, you were assigned to bowl a head-to-head match with long-time bowling center staffer, Josh Worth, who just happens to be a heck of a bowler too. In the first game of the session, Josh just nipped you 222 to 215. You got a bad break in the first frame of the second game leaving a light pocket 7-10 split but then you turned it on and your big, booming powerful round-house hook scattered the sticks to the tune of eleven straight strikes for a beautiful 279 game. It was not enough! Josh one upped you by rolling twelve straight machine-like strikes for a perfect 300 game! As an aside, you tossed a strike in the first frame of the next game which, in bowling parlance, is called a Veripapa 300, quite an oddity. It was named after a famous bowler in the ‘40s who often did exhibitions around the country showcasing his trick shot skills.
This was Josh’s fifth perfecto in his long career on the lanes. But he was not done there. In a quest for a magical 800 series, he went on in the third game to notch the first seven strikes in a row! At that point Josh had rung up 19 straight strikes! A stubborn 10 pin refused to fall on his eighth toss which was right in the 1-3 pocket, just like the previous 19 balls but that’s bowling, even seemingly perfect hits do not always result in strikes. He needed a 278 game to get that 800 but a couple more 10 pin taps spoiled that attempt. Josh ended up with a fine 259 to post a great 781 series which is the top three gamer bowled at Orchard Lanes this season. His flawless 300 game is also the highest.
There were several more notable scores in the past 2 weeks. The down and in crew who play the lanes just off the right gutter are notching big numbers. Fireballer Chad Mason racked up a pile of wood in the Mixed with a nifty scratch 721 set. Chad, who has been a dependably solid scratch bowler for many years, is now carrying a fine 208 average. In the same session, two smooth operators, down the middle finesse specialist Jeremy Bloom put together a 10 strike run for a big 287 game that keyed his 717 series and easy going Ken Espersen also cracked the elusive 700 barrier for the first time this season. Ken rolled a cool 712 set. In this game we have essentially three kinds of styles, crankers, tweeners and strokers. Those labels are basically self-explanatory but if you want to see the definition of a stroker in action, catch Ken in a pin spilling session. He is pure. Jeremy is mostly a stroker but he plays the lanes more toward the middle whereas Ken is down the right side. Jeremy’s method for success is to barely put his fingers and thumb in the ball, how he holds onto that heavy sphere like that is simply amazing but it is fun to watch him roll strike after strike!
League Reports
Monday night Industrial:
Randy Nieto: 265, 684
Jeff Miller: 268, 681
Patrick Olson: 237, 657
George Buck: 255
Joey Sheirbon: 250
Matt Hodges: 243, 236
Lynn Spellman: 237 game
Mike Bosse: 236
Nancy Asai: 212
Tuesday Nite Mixed:
Chad Mason: 268, 259, 248, 721
Jeremy Bloom: 287,717
Ken Espersen: 246,239, 237,236, 712
Carl Casey: 249
Patrick Olson: 236
Wednesday afternoon senior colts and filies:
Bernie Keys: 237, 214
Mick Sherrell: 226, 215
Jesse Flores: 216
Lynn Spellman: 214, 201
Mike Parke: 213
John Lyon: 207
Dick Sherrell: 204
Wednesday night fraternal:
Josh Worth: 300, 259, 781
Bryan Mason: 246, 244, 674
Jeff Miller: 279, 235, 664
Jeremy Bloom: 258, 654
Bill Whetstine: 252, 249, 654
Lynn Spellman: 256
John Riggleman: 255
Stan Pratnicki: 247
Patrick Olson: 245, 244
Roger Montavon: 242
Bernie Keys: 224, 219, 212
Thursday afternoon senior lads and lassies:
Bernie Keys: 206
Ed Busick: 203
George Buck: 201
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