The Tenth Board

The win against “The Handicaps,” coupled with a split at the top between “MT Bed” and “The Mustangs,” brought my team to within 4 points of the lead, sitting in a tie with “The Badgers” for fifth place (the tie for the position week would be broken in our favor on the basis of pinfall if the position week was next week, but we would have to face “The Badgers,” in any case). We can halve the deficit against “MT Bed” if we have a winning night against them next week.

My 646 set was the high scratch series for the week, but I no longer have the top series on the season with handicap: that honor now belongs to Nick Gomes, who had a 749 series with handicap this week. The league may pay out for high game and series based on average class, however, and, if that’s the case, I would still have high series with handicap in men’s Class A (Nick Gomes is in men’s Class C). Nick has really been bowling well all season, and it would not surprise me if he won most improved honors in the league (Indeed, he has the highest differential between entering average and current average at this point.).

My Week 24 bowling (BowlSK)

The momentum I thought I had off of my 257 game last week pretty much continued this week, and I ended up having my best set of the season, a 646. Did I bowl my best all the time tonight? Not really, as the first-ball gutter in the middle of the second game attests to, but I had three solid games for a change, and, if not for 20 more pins in the first game, I would’ve had a nice 222 triplicate. Indeed, I only had 3 really bad frames tonight, so I’m hoping for more of this and better in the coming weeks.

Result: 202-222-222=646
Average (72 games): 180 Last 9 games average: 196
Next week’s AVG+1 score: 548

My performance tonight was a big part of a team win. My teammates failed to support me in the first game, and we got shellacked. As I told my team at the end of the night, however, in my mind, I was not giving up, and they showed me they weren’t giving up, as well, as we turned the tables in the other two games to take total after a first-game loss by 100+. I’ll give special mention to Ted here; he’s far from the best bowler in the league, but he had things cooking in the last two games and ended up well over his average on the night.

The reader this week is directed to the standings sheet on LeagueSecretary.com rather than the one on Bowler Express (link can be found in the sidebar under “Author’s links”; click header to go to main blog page if viewing the individual post).

The sweep this week meant that “The Pin Pals” dropped all the way to 8th place, but still only 5 points out of first with plenty of time left. “MT Bed” and “The Mustangs” are the teams tied at the top, with those two teams bowling against each other next week. My team has “The Handicaps” next week, a team we usually do well against.

Now, for the good news: the 257 game qualifies me for the USBC’s 75 pins over average game award, the patch for which is pictured below:

This represents my first USBC award since my return, and, indeed, my last one, the 100 pins over average game patch I received for my 268 game all those years ago, came before the merger of the ABC, WIBC, and YABA into the USBC. I’m undecided about whether to put the patch on my old red bowling shirt (where I had put my award patches prior to my long hiatus) or the new one. I had thought of a poll to ask my readers about that, but that would require yet another online account, so I think I’ll just let you guys comment with what you think.

By the way, the 257 game was the high scratch game bowled in the league this week.

Tom Hedding’s 300 Saturday was the sixth perfect game overall at Westgate Lanes this season.

My Week 23 bowling (BowlSK)

Very sloppy bowling the first two games, and I was in danger of failing to break 500 at that point if my pace stayed the way it was, but then, one game turned it around. I had the front seven strikes on the way to my best game in the Brunswick Mixed League to date, a 257 in which my only mistake was missing a single-pin spare on a strike in the 10th frame. The big game ended up saving an over-average night, which is why it only takes one game on an otherwise bad night.

Result: 143-157-257=557
Average (69 games): 179 Last 9 games average: 180
Next week’s AVG+1 score: 579

Even with my big third game, the team got swept…see what I mean by struggling against DNFTD?

A split against “The Mustangs” was not enough to maintain our position in the standings, and we slipped one place to 5th. We are still, however, within 2 points of first place, with a lot of time left in the second half. Next week will be a challenge, however, as we face Shawn’s team, “DNFTD,” who are behind us in the second-half standings, but against whom we’ve struggled so far this season.

My Week 22 bowling (BowlSK)

I needed an over-average night like this tonight to get some of my confidence back, and, while I was only around my average in the first and last games, my middle game (a 210) was my best game in league all-around in a while, so this should be something to build on. I missed more spares than I should have, but I was finding the pocket again tonight.

Result: 178-210-180=568
Average (66 games): 179 Last 9 games average: 174
Next week’s AVG+1 score: 596

To show how strong my clutch game usually is, I thought my team was on our way to a loss after I missed my spare in the 9th frame of the last game, and I apologized to my teammates for the miss. However, as things developed, we still had a chance to take the point when I came up in the 10th. I proceeded to flush three in the pocket, only leaving a solid 10 on the last ball, while the other team’s anchor couldn’t make a baby split. Therefore, we gained a split where we otherwise might have had a losing night (and we didn’t lose total by much, so if we had a decent first game, it might have been different).