Tom Hedding bowls 811, Bill Major 804 in Patriots league

Brockton Bowling Association Hall of Famer Bill Major shot most of his big scores before this blog existed, and has been in the Coke league for most of its existence, so I haven’t mentioned many scores he’s bowled, but he gave me an opportunity to do so last night in the Patriots league, with games of 258, 268, and 278 for an 804 series. That was not the only big number from last night, however, as “TomTom” Hedding, a potential future Hall of Famer, had games of 246, 268, and 297 for an 811.

GG, both of you! 🙂

Apr. 27 Brunswick Mixed recap

My Week 34 bowling, frame-by-frame (Linked to BowlSK sheet)

I’m trying to finish strong because I’m locked in a battle with Phil Yuen of Lost Empire 2 for high average in the men’s “C” division, and I did just enough tonight, as I knew what he threw and have been able to calculate that I hold the average lead in the division now by a couple tenths of a pin.

Result: 136-201-165=502
Average (102 games): 169
Average for last 9 games: 162
Next week’s AVG+1 score: 587

Composite average (186 games): 167

I was the only one on the pair over 500 tonight, counting the pre-bowl on the opposing team, but the handicap difference was too much for us to overcome, with our opponents also beating us scratch in the first game.

Winter 2016 Week 15 virtual league results

Mad Blogger & Co. lost all seven to Team 2 in the last week, and slid to 5th place, although still over the 50% points-won mark. Pay the Lineage won five points from Little Lebowski to take the championship, so congrats to members 6_ball_man, AmpleSound, wklstoy, and wronghander (as you know, the latter is really Bill Sheehey, my friend on the North Shore). Fin09, who was on my team for this league, did end up with high average. 🙂

Addendum: The first place match was very close, with total, decided by less than one game’s worth of handicap for the winning team, being the difference.

2015-16 Sunday Niters final note

Payout for my Sunday league was tonight, and I felt I needed to note that Lee won men’s high average in the league, which not only has a prize attached to it, but also qualifies him for our Bowler of the Year tournament in the fall, as league high average is one of the ways to qualify for it (although, with his 211 average, he’d likely be invited through the 200+ average qualifier). Rachel, for her part, was most improved for the women, improving on her 12-game average (as she was a new bowler this year) by better than 7 pins.

Lee, Rachel, and I have made tentative plans to return to the league in the fall, and I wish them a great summer. 🙂

Bill Briggs wins NAT One-Ball at Westgate

2016 NAT One-Ball finalists
Finalists of the Northeast Amateur Tournament One-Ball event on Apr. 17 (L-R): Champion Bill Briggs, runner-up George Boudreau (Photo courtesy of NAT)

The Northeast Amateur Tournament, in its updated newsletter, reported Bill Briggs as the winner of the One-Ball event last Sunday at Westgate Lanes after defeating George Boudreau, 239-237 (with handicap), in the final match. The rules of the event required that the same ball be used for first ball and all spares, with re-entries allowed to change balls (but still the same ball in the re-entry squad). Bill Briggs used a Brunswick LT-48 (the re-issue) in his winning effort. Bill was just over a month removed from a Bay State Open doubles win with Tina Gannon at Westgate Lanes.

EDIT: Forgot to add the other Westgate cashers, as I usually do with tournaments at Westgate: Jim Ferguson, Mark Zimmerman, Chris Mark, Mike Litchfield (who was the defending one-ball champ), Eric Lam, Al Donato, and Danny Khuu.

Tournament links added to sidebar

I recently found the websites of three tournaments that New England bowlers compete in every year, the Champlain International Championship Tournament in Shelburne, VT, the Green Mountain Open in Rutland, VT, and the Lilac City Tournament in Rochester, NY. The first two, being in a New England state, are now in the “Local/New England” sidebar list, while the Lilac City is in the “Tournaments” list where I put tournaments that are outside the New England region. Note: I’ve mentioned the Lilac before in connection to an honor score bowled by Coke league bowler Shawn Hagan.

Apr. 20 Brunswick Mixed recap

My Week 33 bowling, frame-by-frame (Linked to BowlSK sheet)

I had a number of shots early that wanted to leak to the right off of my hand, and I only managed to correct it near the end of the last game. It was a weird night for spares, too, as I made all of my 10s, but guttered a 6 pin.

Result: 139-154-159=452
Average (99 games): 167
Average for last 9 games: 166
Next week’s AVG+1 score: 579

Composite average (183 games): 167

While our opponents won two games easily, after Barry’s 202 in the second game, my strike in the 10th frame forced the other anchor to work for the win, and when he left a 4-9 on the second ball in the 10th, we won the point.

I forgot to check the bracket results, but Shawn did give me $4 for two second place finishes last week.

Stephen Major wins JBSC Super Challenge in Auburn

Stephen Major reported to me, and it can be corroborated on the JBSC Facebook group, that he won the U20 boys division of the Junior Bowling Sport Challenge’s year-end Super Challenge Sunday at AMF Auburn Lanes. He defeated Hunter Kempton 190-159 for the title. The tournament was on a very demanding pattern, the 2016 European Youth Championships pattern.

WTG again, Stephen! 🙂

2016 Stonehill vs. Curry results

Stonehill coach Ray Fischer and Curry player/coach Stephen Major gave me a combined report on their match Saturday. The first part was a combined singles and doubles competition, followed by ten Baker (five bowlers bowling two frames each for one complete game) team games. In the first portion, Pete Krahe of Stonehill won singles and also combined with Pat Burke of Stonehill to win doubles. In the team portion, Stonehill won seven of the 10 games, but only won total by 82 pins, so Curry fought hard in that part of the competition.

Congrats to both programs on their efforts. 🙂

Winter 2016 Week 14 virtual league results

Mad Blogger & Co. won all seven from House Hacks, and the situation is that we are four points behind Little Lebowski in 3rd and need to sweep of Team 2 and get a 4-3 break of the points in the first place match in favor of the second place team, Pay the Lineage, who are two points behind the lead, to tie for first, in which event I would declare co-champions.

vdubtx’s 300 game last week helped give his team, Little Lebowski, the lead.

EDIT: I worked out a couple of other scenarios which put us in first place, both of which still require a sweep of Team 2. The more likely one is that Pay the Lineage wins five points (two games and total), which would tie us with Pay the Lineage for first instead of Little Lebowski. The less likely one is that Pay the Lineage wins 4.5 points (winning two games, losing the third by enough to tie for total), which would give us first outright.

Live blog: 2016 Sunday Niters roll-off

Readers will know I try to do a “live” blog for my leagues’ roll-offs, and this is the first one I’ve done for the Sunday Niters league.

Macs will be bowling with David Rosenberg absent, while all are present for Where Is B?. Updates as we go along:

Game 1: Where Is B? won the first game 709-680 (with handicap), with Ken Norris leading Where is B? with a 237. Stan Marcus was high for Macs in the game with a 185.

Game 2: Macs won the second game 652-641 and trail Where Is B? by 18 pins after two games. Ken Norris again was high on his team with a 240 game, with Stan Marcus posting a 168 for Macs.

Game 3: Where Is B? won the third game 672-617 and the series 2022-1949. Ken Norris closed with a 234 to post a 704 series, while Stan Marcus was high on his team with a 147 for an even 500.

Congrats to Where Is B?, Ken Norris with his teammates Dave Saunders and Craig McPherson. 🙂

Apr. 16 Brunswick Mixed standings update

After winning three points from Knock em Down, Seven Deadly Pins are tied in points for 7th with Has Beens and Right Turn Clyde, with the tie being eight points behind Creeden’s Mustangs and Steak and Lettuce, who are tied for the lead a half-point behind 4 BAGA + 1, and are four points ahead of Sweet Rolls. Steak and Lettuce will be the opponents Wednesday night.

Amie Goodspeed wins RI Ladies Classic at Westgate

RI Ladies Classic Finalists Apr 16 2016
Finalists of the RI Ladies Classic event at Westgate Lanes on Apr. 16 (L-R): Champion Amie Goodspeed, runner-up Shirley Major (Photo courtesy of RI Ladies Classic)

The RI Ladies Classic reported on their Facebook page that Amie Goodspeed, a bowler out of North Bowl Lanes, won the event today at Westgate Lanes, which was rescheduled from January because of weather. Goodspeed defeated the defending champion of this stop, Shirley Major, 216-167 (with handicap; both bowlers were bowling scratch), in the final match. Tina Gannon, seeking a “threepeat” after wins at Alley Katz and Holiday Lanes in Westport (the latter having been previously unreported), was third. There were nine entries.

Apr. 13 Brunswick Mixed recap

My Week 32 bowling, frame-by-frame (Linked to BowlSK sheet)

I thought to try my Nano after two frames in the second game, and I really liked the look it gave me in the carrydown. It saved my night pretty much, though it’s probably better with better spare shooting, particularly the consecutive single pin misses to end the second game. I might start with my Nano in practice next week to see what kind of look it gives me on the fresh.

Result: 167-171-170=508
Average (96 games): 169
Average for last 9 games: 167
Next week’s AVG+1 score: 521

Composite average (180 games): 167

Donald had a couple of his better games to help the cause, with the team winning the first two games and total.

I did better in brackets than I thought, making one final, which I lost to Jo-Ann Coles (Shawn’s wife and our league’s treasurer) to get $2 back.

2016 BBA Madness follow-up

The Brockton Bowling Association has posted the full results from the inaugural BBA Madness tournament on its website, including qualifying results and the full match play bracket.

As for how you can run a tournament with this format, I’m not sure how a tournament bracket can be done in Excel, but qualifying certainly can, with the wins against the field calculated with the formula COUNTIF(A1:A20,”<“&A10), with the range A1:A20 representing the field’s scores in one game and A10 representing one bowler’s score in that game. Ties against the field are similarly calculated (using = instead of <), but be sure to subtract 1 from the function’s result, as the function result will include the cell containing the bowler’s score.

Winter 2016 Week 13 virtual league results

Mad Blogger & Co. won just the first game from Fantastic Four (and the game we only shot 730 scratch in…go figure!), and now are in 4th place, six points behind the leading Pay the Lineage, who lead Little Lebowski by two points and Team 2 by four points with two weeks left. The league averaged 208+ for the week without an individual honor score, as three teams had games over 900 and two shooting 2,600+ for the series.

Apr. 10 Sunday Niters recap

My Week 30 bowling, frame-by-frame (Linked to BowlSK sheet)

I ended my first Sunday Niters season over average, but the way I got there was rather bizarre, and the BowlSK sheet is more liberally annotated than most. Still, it did mean I finished the season with five straight over-average nights, so that’s the positive I take out of tonight.

Result: 189-168-153=510
Final average (84 games): 164
Average for last 9 games: 170

Composite average (177 games): 167

Lee was again absent, but this time for his usual (for this time of year) golf vacation. Rachel had one of her better nights, and, indeed, beat me scratch in the third game. Team won all eight, which I believe was enough to move us up to 4th to end the second half.

Where Is B? ended up winning the second half, and the roll-off with the first half-winning Macs is next Sunday. I’ve given “live blog” treatment to my other league’s roll-off in the past, and would probably give this roll-off the same.

Mark Ames wins inaugural BBA Madness

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Finalists of the inaugural BBA Madness tournament (L-R): Champion Mark Ames, runner-up Chris Carter

The Brockton Bowling Association held its inaugural BBA Madness tournament today at Westgate Lanes, and Mark Ames, bowling out of Trade Center Bowl in Falmouth, defeated 2011 Brockton Bowling Association Bowler of the Year champion Chris Carter, out of North Bowl, 256-250 (with handicap) in the title match. Ames reached the final match by defeating Eric Derosiers 241-206, while Carter defeated Buddy Wilt, the top qualifier, 256-213 for his spot in the finals. The tournament used what we believe is a new format for qualifying, which was based on wins in each game against the field. There were 31 entries, with the top qualifier getting a bye in the first round of the match play bracket.

Congrats to everyone who cashed, including Sean Lyons, Tim Major, Paul Eklund, and Jeff Carter, the latter who had his second 300 game of the week in the round of 16 in match play. I hope to follow up with full results, including a bit about how we pulled the format off.

Kris Higgins bowls 300 in TNBA league

Congrats to Kris Higgins, who was in my Wednesday night league last year and whom I also know has bowled in the Coke league, for a 300 game the other night in the TNBA league. 🙂

UPDATE: Jose Garcia got video of the last two strikes, which I’ve uploaded and share here, with Jose’s original post having been shared on the Brockton Bowling Association’s Facebook page.