There were not many real surprises for my team in the awards we received, as Eileen (women’s C high series), John (men’s C high series), and myself (men’s A high game) won top awards (Patrick and Carl won secondary individual awards, as well), but the big surprise was something that did not happen for my team last year…my team won a team award, that for second-place high team game. It might make sense when you consider that the league champs, runners-up, second place in half, two team high series, and a team high game were awarded before 2nd high game and a team can only win one of those awards, but it was a surprise because I couldn’t really think of a particularly high game that we had as a team. The extra $20/bowler was nice, however. Eileen also won the women’s most improved award, improving by something like 18 pins on the average that she had established at the start of the season.

The business meeting was fast-paced, but I do remember Jo-Ann Coles being elected treasurer (Mary-Ellen LaBelle, who had the position for years, wanted to step down), a rule concerning foul language was adopted, and a rule modifying how new bowlers are classified was rejected. I had also proposed going to a seven-point system, as my virtual league was run, but that proposal was not really greeted with much enthusiasm. Someone else moved to a return of the handicap basis to 80%, but that was turned down, as well.

The last item for this post is what I’ve promised…a photo of the champs:

Andy Dawson, who bowled for the team in the second half and had the back problem for the roll-off, is not shown in the photo.

“Butz-N-Gutz,” the first-half winners, won tonight’s roll-off for the Brunswick Mixed League championship, defeating “The Dynasty” by a score of 3082-2901 in a three-game, total pinfall match. Shawn Coles was the star tonight, getting his night off to a fast start with the first 8, leaving a 4 pin in the 9th frame, on the way to a 267 first game, and had a 30-clean bid ruined in the 4th frame of Game 3 by a 1-2-6-10 washout which he failed to convert, ending with a 650 series (this may be corrected in a future comment). As for how the match progressed for the teams, “Butz-N-Gutz” won the first game by 82 pins, taking the second game by 73 pins for a 155 pin lead after two games, and made it a sweep of the three games by winning by a much-closer 26 pins. It should be said that “Butz-N-Gutz” won despite one of their bowlers taking a five-pin drop due to a back problem (he was present as a spectator, however).

The league banquet is Saturday night…a photo of the winning team should follow when I get home from that.

Since the roll-off this week is known to be Butz-N-Gutz vs. The Dynasty, I decided to post this note in lieu of a formal standings update: in a week where scoring seemed to be down, I had the high game and third high series in my average division last week. The 233 was not the high game of the week, however, as David Gomes of Butz-N-Gutz, who is in the men’s B division, had a 279 game, which I believe was the fifth one in the league this season. Nice shooting, Dave! 😀

My Week 34 bowling, frame-by-frame (Link to series on BowlSK)

This really wasn’t the kind of finish I envisioned, because I failed to get my +1. However, I like ending the season on a positive note, and a 233 in the last game was enough of a positive to satisfy me.

Result: 197-151-233=581
Final average (102 games): 186
Average for last 9 games: 189

I may not have met all of my goals for this season, but the least I usually hope for is to improve my average year-to-year, and the 186 average represents a three-pin improvement on last season in three more games than last season. I will analyze my performance more in a future post, but I will say that another goal of mine was to avoid the really bad nights: the bad nights I wanted to avoid were those where I scored less than 500 for the night, and I only had one night in that category, and that fairly early in the season. I also had a first this season…this was the first year I had more than one game of 250 or over (the 267 just after Christmas and the recent 255).

I had the only good night among my team, and that led in part to my team getting swept on the last night. It should be said, however, that some of the members of the other team did well tonight, too, especially the other Eileen in the league, Eileen Bornemann (a neighbor of John and Eileen’s who joined the league mid-season), who had a 190 first game.

As I (think I) noted in the last league night recap, we slipped back to last place, and have to face “Double D” again in a situation where we have to reverse last week’s result in order to climb out of the basement (a sweep would be good, but let’s not get greedy here 😉 ). As “The Dynasty” hold a seven point lead over “Warren’s Girls,” next week’s roll-off is now set without even waiting for the position round results: “The Dynasty” will face “Butz-N-Gutz,” the first-half winners, in a three-game, total pinfall match for the league championship.

My Week 33 bowling, frame-by-frame (Link to series on BowlSK)

I didn’t really have a bad night, as when I got strikes, they usually came in bunches, but the fact of the matter was that we would’ve earned a split if I had made all of my single pins.

Result: 213-168-211=592
Average (99 games): 186
Average for last 9 games: 189
Next week’s AVG+1 score: 605

On a night we could’ve used everyone, everyone had at least one bad game, so we only wound up taking the last game and missed taking total by 20+. Same teams, same pair next week, and we need to reverse tonight to get out of the cellar.

“The Flintstones” may have been swept, but “Foxy SRS” and “Double D” split the points in their match, so, as a result, my team remained in 9th place, albeit by only a half-point over “Double D,” who are our opponents next week. Depending on what happens in the match, we may end the second half the way we ended the first half, by bowling against the same team two weeks in a row (the opponents at the end of the first half were “The Dynasty”), as, after next week, only the second-half position round and the roll-off remain. Speaking of “The Dynasty,” they now hold a six point lead over “Warren’s Girls.” Next week could also be a preview of the roll-off, as “The Dynasty” bowl against “Butz-N-Gutz,” the first half winners.

My Week 32 bowling, frame-by-frame (Link to series on BowlSK)

The 10 pin was really my nemesis tonight: I had it 6 times, and missed it 4 of those. However, I did make the two I had in the third game, and, when I made a side rotation adjustment along with moving inside later in the second game, that saved that third game. The side rotation was needed to get the ball to finish playing that deep in, and all it needed was an adjustment on my Robbie’s Revs device.

Result: 160-164-205=529
Average (96 games): 186
Average for last 9 games: 189
Next week’s AVG+1 score: 636

My team had Patrick absent (problems with his house), and with John struggling in his first two games, we got swept, although the last two games were fairly close. Carl was the one member of my team who “showed up,” as he was over his average in all three games.

“The Flintstones” are officially out of the second-half cellar, as we’re now 2.5 points ahead of “Double D,” and are actually now in a tie in points for the 8th position with “Foxy SRS” (the latter team has the edge in pinfall for the purposes of determining position round pairings). “The Dynasty” increased their lead over “Warren’s Girls” to four points at the top of the standings. Next week could also figure into position, as we face “Butz-N-Gutz,” who are only two points ahead of us in 7th.

Individually, Eileen swept all of the honors for the week (high scratch and handicap game and series) in her average division, while I had the high handicap game in mine, missing the high scratch game in the division by only 2 pins (Carl Nordstrom had a 257.).

My Week 31 bowling, frame-by-frame (Link to series on BowlSK)

The notes and comment to the series should be self-explanatory, but I wish I could’ve carried what I found in the middle game into the last game and at least been over 200 again. The comment said it all, though: “Given what happened the rest of the night, I’ll take my 255 middle game and like it.”

Result: 164-255-162=581
Average (93 games): 186
Average for last 9 games: 189
Next week’s AVG+1 score: 604

Eileen had a game where she beat everyone else on the team again, but she did it with a very good 168 in her last game this time. We didn’t win that game, but we won the first two plus series total for three points. Rob told us his team got swept, so we’re unofficially out of the cellar (it becomes official when the standings are updated).

Last week’s sweep of “The Wild Samoans” helped “The Flintstones” pull to within a half-point of “Double D” for ninth place in the second-half standings, and the race is getting tight at the bottom, as we’re also only a point out of the eighth spot, held by “Foxy SRS.” With four weeks left, “The Dynasty” hold a three-point lead over “Warren’s Girls.” “The Mustangs,” who are in the middle of the pack, are my team’s opponents tomorrow.

Individually, John’s 196 was the high scratch game for the week in his average division and his 497 the high scratch series in the division. Carl followed John’s game fairly closely with a 181, good for second in the division this week.

My Week 30 bowling, frame-by-frame (Link to series on BowlSK)

My swing tempo practice the other day paid dividends, as I had my best league night since January tonight (the virtual league make-up doesn’t count). I really wanted the 600, and could’ve gotten there with another break, but I also missed a couple of single pins, so I guess I’ll have to settle for the narrow miss, which was still over my AVG+1. For a change, I was actually better on my non-split multi-pin spares than on my single pins (I only missed one of the former, but two of the latter, and had each type of spare five times.).

Result: 179-224-196=599
Average (90 games): 186
Average for last 9 games: 186
Next week’s AVG+1 score: 624

We took all four points tonight, and everyone contributed something at some point in the night, but I’ll single out John for just missing a 500 of his own tonight.

Last week’s three-point night against “VAKINC” was much-needed, as it allowed “The Flintstones” to climb to within a point of “Foxy SRS” for ninth place in the second half. With six weeks left in the season, there is still plenty of time to get out of last place. At the top of the standings, “The Dynasty” hold a three-point lead on “The Wild Samoans,” with the margin coming as a direct result of a testy match last week. We face the latter team tomorrow night.