Last week, the Monday night Industrial League at Hood River’s Orchard Lanes had its final four bracket matches in its season-ending championship tournament: in a contest that was much closer than it shook out, Randy’s Painting topped Hood River Supply 19 points to 11 and in an epic battle, Columbia Hills RV and defending champion 3 Fingers Deep tied at 15 points each, so the deciding factor became which team had rolled the most total pins in their three game contest.
Columbia Hills RV won by a mere 32 pins after accumulating a grand total of 3,420 to 3,388 pins. It couldn’t have been much closer.
This past week, Randy’s Painting and Columbia Hills RV was scheduled to lay it all on the line in a three-game match for all the marbles. The winner will be the champions of the Industrial League. What makes this format so terrific is that neither Randy’s Painting nor Columbia Hills RV won a round or got the wildcard in the regular season! In the league’s championship tournament Columbia Hills RV was the 5th seed and Randy’s Painting was the 6th seed.
With this fun format, bragging rights go right down to the wire and teams that are usually out of it based on their regular season performance — underdogs, if you will — have a good chance to win the league, as will happen this season. This would never happen in leagues with traditional roll-off type formats. You’ve got to admit, this is refreshing and one of the reasons why the Industrial League is so popular.
Team of the Week:
Ed Busick, +118 (769)
Kay Pratt, +109 (673)
Carl Casey, +103 (757)
Mark Chabotte, +90 (747)
Bill Hirata, +89 (740)
3,686 total pins (handicap)
This team of the week is another classic — a nice representative mix of league bowlers at Orchard Lanes. Leading everybody last week and making the big five for the third time this season was Columbia Hills RV mainstay, Ed Busick, who clearly powered his team into the Industrial League championship match with a super outing where he rolled a beautiful scratch 246 game and 655 series. That sparkling effort was 118 pins over Ed’s average.
Next, we have Kay Pratt, who pasted the pins for all three of her games in the ladies Tuesday morning Workshirkers. Kay ended up 109 pins over her average; she’s been hot lately and this marks the second time she’s made the fab five this season.
In the third slot is cool Carl Casey who gave the pins a pounding in the Industrial in a great effort, trying to carry his team, Hood River Supply, in the final four matches. Carl notched a fine scratch 248 game and 664 series which was 103 pins over his average. This is the fifth time Carl has made the team of the week this season. This ties him with Len Hickman and Lynn Spellman for the most appearances on the vaunted five this season.
Our clean-up man is U.S. Bank’s main man, Mark Chabotte, an outstanding kegler who fired a nifty scratch 290 game and 705 series, also in the Industrial. Mark was 90 pins over his average and, although it’s hard to believe, this is the first time he’s made the team of the week this season.
Anchoring our starring squad is legendary local orchardist Bill Hirata, who had that down-and-in shot of his working to perfection in the fast-paced Wednesday night Fraternal League where he harvested a bushel of sticks with a nice scratch 235 game and 626 series. Bill, who has been bowling league at Orchard Lanes seemingly longer than it’s been there, ended up 89 pins over his average and this also marks the first time he has made the team of the week this season. Great bowling everybody!
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