My league’s banquet for the 2013-14 season was held tonight, and I was expecting to be third high average in men’s “B”, but didn’t know what team prize we’d get. We did find out we ended up with third high scratch team game (which was lower on the totem pole because the top three teams in points in each half got better prizes, followed by scratch and handicap series). Along with team point money, I also got my now-usual prize for perfect attendance, which, as I’ve said before, means at least as much to me from a morale standpoint as the other prizes.

I tried to get a photo of Team 16, the champions, but it was too blurry to use, so I’ll have to settle for recognizing them here by name (in line-up order): Donna Nichols, Frank Venuto, Karen Goodwin, Sue Young, and Warren Young. Congrats guys! 😀

As I did last year, this post will be updated as the night progresses, and if anything happens in the Westgate Mixed league on their second half position night, that will be noted, as well.

Game 1: “We Split 4 No 1” won the first game 1087-1056 (team totals will be with handicap). Juan Rosario led that team with a 195, while Warren Young had a clean 209 game for Team 16.

Game 2: Team 16 won the second game 1195-1026 and takes a 138 pin lead into the last game. Team 16 was again led by Warren Young with a 232 game, and Frank Venuto, one of the lower average bowlers, added a 171. Hollis Solorzano paced her team with a 174.

Game 3: Team 16 won the last game 1131-1100 and the match 3382-3213. Warren Young finished with a 196 for a 637 set. Hollis Solorzano was high game for her team with a 189.

After splitting the points with them, “Snakes On A Lane” finished tied for 12th with “Anger Management” in the second half standings, and won 57.5 points overall this season. “We Split 4 No 1” won the second half, so there will be a roll-off with Team 16, the first half winners, tomorrow night for the league championship. I hope to again be able to do a live blog from the roll-off.

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

There were just not many strikes out there for me tonight, but I did manage not to hit my -1, so I will be happy to take the one pin year-to-year improvement in my average.

Result: 147-175-154=476
Final average (99 games): 174
Average for last 9 games: 164

We were bowling for a forfeit point in the first game and won it, and, though we lost the other two games, we should get the point for total because of the forfeited first game.

After winning a point from “3’s Company”, “Snakes On A Lane” are tied for 13th with “Anger Management” and will bowl against that team this week with a chance to move up to 12th. Five teams can win the second half; in standings order, they are “We Split 4 No 1”, “Mustangs”, “Bowling Stones”, “Spear Me”, and Team 16. The possibility of a tie for the second half title exists, of course, and a one-game roll-off would ensue between the tied teams, if I remember my league by-laws. Should Team 16, the first half winners, win the second half, there will be no roll-off next week; that team bowls against “The 9 Guys” this week.

The worst my team can finish in the second half is 15th.

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

Second games have generally been the bane of my bowling existence this season, and tonight was another case-in-point. If you’ll refer to my log (in the “Author’s links”), I am now averaging almost a full 10 pins under my first game average in the second game this season.

Result: 187-133-165=485
Average (96 games): 174
Average for last 9 games: 169
Next week’s AVG+1 score: 566

Team generally got run over the first two games, but we salvaged the third game.

After winning three points from “SR Spares”, “Snakes On A Lane” stand tied with “Anger Management” and “3 Plus 2” for 11th place with two weeks left in the season. “Mustangs” are the new leaders, by a point over Team 16 and “Bowling Stones” and two points over “We Split 4 No 1”. My team finishes the regular schedule with “3’s Company”. For the leaders, “Mustangs” will bowl against “Bowling Stones”, Team 16 against “The Doables”, and “We Split 4 No 1” against “WTF Over”.

My Week 31 bowling, frame-by-frame (Linked to BowlSK sheet)

I don’t use my Reign of Fire often because I sometimes think I have problems getting it to rev up, but, when I was lost in the second game, I thought to pull it out of my locker with nothing to lose, salvaged something out of the game, then proceeded to have one of my few clean games of the season, which I was proud of also because I converted a couple of splits, including a 3-6-7-10, to stay clean.

Result: 180-146-197=523
Average (93 games): 174
Average for last 9 games: 170
Next week’s AVG+1 score: 526

Team won the first game big, lost half of the lead in the second game, then rallied around me to win the third game for three points.

“Tripped 4s” won four points from Team 3 in the last week, just enough to force a tie for last place with them. The final margin of victory for “6-Pack Abs” was 14 points.

Although I’m doing stuff for this league year-round, my summer vacation from it starts now. 🙂

After failing to win points against “The Doables”, “Snakes On A Lane” are alone in 14th place, a point behind our week’s opponents, “SR Spares”. We are 10 points behind the leaders, “Bowling Stones”, who lead “Mustangs” by two points and “Spear Me” by 2.5 points. The leaders’ lane assignments have “Bowling Stones” against “Sweet Rolls”, “Mustangs” against “3 Plus 2”, and “Spear Me” against “The Dynasty Is Back”.

I neglected to mention in last week’s recap that Brian had a 497 scratch set, and that should be a high (scratch or handicap) for men’s “C” last week.

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

Left side spares were my weakness tonight, particularly where my single 7 was involved, as I missed all three of those, and pulled a 2 pin, as well. The positive I’ll take from this is that I did find a comfortable line in the third game with my Marvel Pearl for my 215; I just wished my other two games were like my third.

Result: 146-154-215=515
Average (90 games): 175
Average for last 9 games: 163
Next week’s AVG+1 score: 617

The opponents’ pre-bowls were pretty good, particularly from their anchor, and the bowler present for them had two good games, as well. My team lost all four as a result.

There was a $1 refund on brackets, but that was all I got back from last week.

Winning three of four from “Anger Management” found “Snakes On A Lane” tied with them and “The Doables” for 10th place, 10 points behind the pace set by “Bowling Stones” with four weeks left. “Bowling Stones” lead “Mustangs” by two points and Team 16 by four. My team bowls “The Doables” tonight, but I’ve been told most of them have pre-bowled, so it could be a quick night. For the leaders, “Bowling Stones” bowl against “Spear Me”, “Mustangs” against “Sweet Rolls”, and Team 16 against “Anger Management”.

“Tripped 4s” managed only two points from “Good Luck Bad Luck”, and we’re now one point behind Team 3 in last place entering the last week of the league. “6-Pack Abs” clinched the championship with one week left, so congrats to the members: “Dennis Michael”, “Domokun”, “Doogie”, “General Pounder”, and “Joe Bowler” (the last two of whom are now two-time champions).