Kegler's Corner

The cream of the crop seems to shine no matter what they face on the boards. Pat Olson and Brandon Kawachi sure haven’t had any problems, as it seems they fire 700’s every week. Brandon has already logged three 700’s in the young season.

The latest to find the range is smooth right-handed stylist, Gail Larsen who notched a 707 set in the Wednesday night Fraternal league. Gail is a familiar name among the bowling elite around here as he has been atop the list of top keglers for a long time. So it comes as no surprise to see that he’s found the range on our new lanes.

Other big scores came from Jay Slack, who racked up a nice 628 series in the Monday night Industrial league, which was a blistering 145 pins over his average for the three gamer. Jay rode a 233 game to reach that pinnacle. And there’s more: How about young Levi Phelps, a former participant in the junior program at Orchard Lanes, who had the pins dancing in the aisles last week in the Fraternal where he smoked a super 668 series. Levi capped his set with a big 254 game and ended up a whopping 149 pins over his average, tops for all league bowlers last week. That makes him the Bowler of the Week.

Say what you will about the lane condition, everybody has a different take on them but there is at least one senior bowler who likes them. Ron Baumsteiger continued hot as he amassed another 600 series last week, this time a 603 in the Wednesday afternoon Colts and Fillies league. That makes two weeks in a row that Ron has climbed over that magical 600 barrier. That’s also some mighty fine bowling!

Oct. 8-12: Pins were flying all over the place last week at Hood River’s Orchard Lanes, just like the good old days. It appears conditions are now perfect for scoring after the lanes were resurfaced a few weeks ago. It always takes a bit of tinkering to get the oil pattern right after such a drastic change.

Just look at the nice scores posted by our latest group of tall totalers making the vaunted team of the week, all 700’s. The big five is comprised of a lefty, four rightys and a senior. That’s a pretty good indicator that lane conditions are excellent.

Having his way on the maples was lefty Greg McDaniel, who topped everybody in scoring last week with a splendid 737 series that he racked up in the Monday night Industrial league. Greg is one of the top shooters around so we expect this from him and he does it just about every week. Greg also logged the high game of the week with a big 277 that he fired in the same session. Other local stars, including Brandon Kawachi and Bryan Mason, made the team of the week as they often do. Brandon notched a solid 716 series in the Tuesday Nite Mixed league and Bryan logged a fine 705 set in the Wednesday night Fraternal league. These guys are good!

And, after a couple years away from the game, Chris Volyes has returned to the pin wars with a vengeance. The young fireballer also made the team of the week with a nice 723 series that he fashioned in the Fraternal.

But, perhaps the best effort last week was posted by Gordon Sim in the Thursday afternoon senior Lads and Lassies league. Gordon scattered the sticks to the tune of a super 710 series that was capped by big time 268 and 269 games. This is all made better considering that Gordon has just resumed bowling this season after knee replacement surgery and he is also new to the friendly boards at Orchard Lanes. Rumors are that Gordon has quite a bit of experience in this great game, being a former 200-average kegler with a resume that includes two perfect 300 games. Gordon can now include another milestone on his resume, making the Team of the Week at Orchard Lanes which is not easy to do. Great bowling everybody!

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