Wild Giant Studio, The Dalles, won the Monday night Industrial bowling league at Orchard Lanes in Hood River. Pictured, left to right, are team members Dustin Ticknor, Matt Hodges, and Kyle Van Cleave.
Kyle Van Cleave’s Wild Giant Studio from The Dalles won the highly regarded Monday night Industrial bowling league at Hood River’s Orchard Lanes last week. Kyle, who is a graphic designer specializing in logos and creating personal and business websites, is also one heck of a bowler. Kyle led his Wild Giant Studio team to the title by rolling three 200 games and a 637 series.
Wild Giant Studio, The Dalles, won the Monday night Industrial bowling league at Orchard Lanes in Hood River. Pictured, left to right, are team members Dustin Ticknor, Matt Hodges, and Kyle Van Cleave.
Contributed photo
It wasn’t easy though, as it ended up being a “Dilly” of a match, nip and tuck all the way into the third and final game of the battle between the No. 1 seed Pat’s Pro Shop and the Studio crew who were the No. 5 seed in the Industrial’s famous bracket tournament that ultimately decides the league champion at the end of the season. This is the only league we’ve ever seen with such a format and the bowlers love it because more underdog teams have a chance to win the league championship. In most other leagues, teams have to win a round in order to get in a roll off for their championship.
In this final match, the Studio trio, who all hail from The Dalles, were as consistent as our seemingly ever-present crummy weather in Hood River. The Studio’s lanky lead-off man, 6-foot 6-inch-tall Matt Hodges, had his speedy down and in game on point as he chipped in a solid 615 set and dangerous anchor man Dustin Ticknor’s extremely smooth, textbook style slants upended those normally defiant but stationary 3 pound, 6 ounce pins to the tune of a 611 series.
Nevertheless, Pat’s Pro Shop’s anchor man, Patrick Olson did his best to make things difficult by rolling a 674 set in the match. So, how do you beat a big number like that? Here’s how: The Studio got off to a great start as Matt rolled a big 234 game and Kyle fired a 224 as they jumped out to a 49-pin lead over the Pro Shop in the first game of the match.
The remaining two games could barely have been any closer. The Pro Shop took the second game by a mere two pins and the Studio got the third game by just three pins.
In order to win the Industrial league championship, the prevailing team had to beat its opponent in total pinfall in this final three game match. All you had to do was beat your opponent by one little pin in a three game match. That set the stage for a dramatic last game finish that ended up being quite a donnybrook. Lead-off man for the Pro Shop, Joey Sheirbon, punched out a nice 218 game and Patrick crushed the sticks with a nasty 259 to give them a solid 695 total for the third game of the match.
Those are impressive numbers that could have easily erased Studio’s 47 pin lead after game two. But the Studio kept their icy cool and posted three 200s in game three, Matt rolled 211, Kyle shot 200 even and Dustin came through like an anchor man is supposed to with a classy 234, giving them a 698 total for the team! That did it, Wild Giant Studio won the match by 50 pins not only because they got off to a great start but because they hung in there when the going got tough in the third game. Folks, that is the mark of a champion. Congratulations to Wild Giant Studio, Matt Hodges, Kyle Van Cleave and Dustin Ticknor, champions of the Industrial league for 2021-2022.
Here are the individual high score records in the Industrial league for this season: High average: men, Jeff Miller, 224, women, Nancy Asai, 197; High series: men, Patrick Olson 801, women, Nancy Asai, 697; High game: men, Rod Pratt 290, women, Nancy Asai, 258; Most Individual Points Won: Patrick Olson 46.
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We want to take this opportunity to thank everyone who bowled in the Industrial league. It’s a fabulous fun league and featured 12 full teams this season, which makes it even better. Enjoy the warm days ahead but don’t be strangers, drop on in to say hi during the summer and roll a few games to stay sharp for next season which starts this coming September. You’ll be glad you did.
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This marks the end of another prime bowling league season at Orchard Lanes. Here are the scoring highlights at the lanes:
Jeff Miller was high average for the men with 224 and Nancy Asai was high average for the women with 197.
We had five perfect 300 games, two by Jeff Miller, Jeremy Bloom, Josh Worth and Levi Phelps.
We had two fantastic 800 three game series, a huge 822 by Jeremy Bloom and 801 by Patrick Olson. Jeremy rolled his 300 game in that lofty 822. Any way you cut it, an 800 series for three games is still awesome and relatively rare even in these high scoring times.
Eighteen men averaged 200 or better. As we pointed out, bowling is easier than ever with the modern high-tech bowling balls that hook big-time, pristine surface synthetic lanes and computerized lane machines that clean and apply identical lane conditioner patterns every day, week in and week out. Still, a 200 average in bowling is a beautiful, classic round number, akin to par golf and its especially good for average joe bowlers who don’t practice. It’s a mark of talented athletic ability. Here is a list of the bowlers who averaged 200 or better at Orchard Lanes this past season: Jeff Miller 224, Patrick Olson 222, Jeremy Bloom 216, Josh Worth 214, Levi Phelps 214, Chad Mason 213, Dustin Ticknor 207, Bill Pullum 206, John Riggleman 205, Bryan Mason 205, Mike Parke 205, Kyle Van Cleave 201, Rod Pratt 201, Kevin Harris 201, Ken Espersen 201, and Stan Pratnicki 200. Congratulations everyone, you made it!
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Now, as we always do to wrap things up at this time when the prime league season ends, saving the best for last, here are your Hood River ten-pin bowling all-star teams simply based on high averages:
1. Jeff Miller 224
Nancy Asai 197
2. Patrick Olson 222
Bernie Keys 194
3. Jeremy Bloom 216
Ciena Brittle 188
4. Josh Worth 214
Melissa Workheiser 174
5. Levi Phelps 214
Kristen Kawachi 170
Remember everybody, let’s go bowling! Maybe next season you can be an all-star.
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