Catching up: Billy Trudell throws 11 in a row 278 in Sportsmen

Most of my regular readers know by now that I’m the one responsible for the Brockton Bowling Association Facebook page, on which I at least try to recognize all of the honor scores in the association. I usually catch them on the various league standings sheets online, but occasionally, an honor score will fly under the radar. This can easily happen with an 11 in a row game: Most of the time, they score in the 290s and are easily detected, but an 11 in a row game with the first frame open will score in the 270s, which can also be made with all strikes except for a spare in the 3rd to 9th frames, or the first 9 strikes and a spare with the first two deliveries in the 10th frame. For those, I have to rely on the awards posted on the association website, which, admittedly, I don’t check as often as I should.

There was one such 11 in a row game at Westgate Lanes on Nov. 13, thrown by Billy Trudell in the Tuesday Scratch Sportsmen league for a 278 score. I’ll try to find out from him (I found him on Facebook) what he left in the first frame and comment when I know. In the meantime, congrats Billy! 😀

Note: I recently learned that Donna Bickel, my summer league secretary who works in the Westgate Lanes office, has had her mother take ill, so I’m sending my best wishes to Donna and hope that she can return to work soon.

Feb. 26 league standings update

After failing to win a point against “Split Happens,” “Spare Parts” fell into a tie in points for 9th place with “The Doables,” nine points behind a tie at the lead between “The Incredibowls” (tomorrow night’s opponents) and the aforementioned “Split Happens.” “Dee’s Boys III” is just a point behind the lead in 3rd.

Aguiar wins 15th NEBA title at E. Providence Lanes; Ferguson throws perfect game

NEBA reported that Alex Aguiar won his 15th career NEBA title today at East Providence Lanes, defeating Chris Sole 267-187 in the final match.

NEBA’s posting of the match play results also shows that Brockton Bowling Association Hall of Famer Jim Ferguson threw a 300 game against Danny Khuu in the second round of match play. Along with Aguiar, Ferguson, and Khuu, other Westgate Lanes league bowlers cashing in the tournament were Billy Trudell (semifinalist), Steve Dale Jr., and Jason Sherwood.

Congrats to all involved! 😀

Feb. 20 league night recap

My Week 25 bowling, frame-by-frame (Linked to BowlSK sheet)

I finally had a decent game in the second game, which had so often been my undoing this season, and I thought I could build on that. A couple of missed single pins and a missed ball change (to my Marvel Pearl) later, however, I only had a night just over average.

Result: 170-203-157=530
Average (75 games): 174
Average for last 9 games: 176
Next week’s AVG+1 score: 547

Carl and Berta were also both over average on the night, but it wasn’t enough, as we lost all four points.

Feb. 20 league standings update

After winning all four from “Bowling Stones,” “Spare Parts” moved up into a four-way tie for 6th place with “The 5 G’s,” “The Doables,” and “There’s 3 and 2” (listed in pinfall order, with my team being last in pinfall among those teams), seven points behind “Dee’s Boys III,” who are a point ahead of “The Incredibowls” and two ahead of “Split Happens” (my team’s opposition tonight).

My team happened to have the high handicap game of the week, and I had the third high scratch game in my division.

Sean Richard makes perfection a habit in His & Hers

I’ll say it, if no one else has: Sean Richard has been the hottest bowler at Westgate Lanes. The most recent case in point is his fourth 300 game of the season at Westgate Lanes tonight in the His & Hers league, to go along with three 800 series at Westgate and another 300 in the NAT in Gardner. “Seany Kash” also now has at least one honor score in each of his leagues this season except the Coke Classic League.

Congrats again! 😀

Winter 2013 Week 5 virtual league results

“The Four Stooges” won all seven points from “Don’t Look Ethel,” and are now in the league lead by a point over “X-Rated” and two over “Team 3.” We also had the high team game of the week with a 913 in the third game.

Two honor scores were submitted last week, an 803 series from “Dave800” and a 300 game from “Chuck.”

Local association links added to sidebar

Many members of the Brockton Bowling Association are also members of other local associations, so I’ve decided to place the links to three of Brockton’s neighboring associations, Greater Boston, Southeastern Mass., and Rhode Island, in the sidebar list under the “Local/New England” category. Greater Boston will be of interest this year because they’re the host association for the state open tournament.

Factoid: Because Rhode Island is such a small state, their association is actually considered part of the Massachusetts state association.

Doubles partner found for 2013 city tournament

In my last post about my coming participation in the Brockton city tournament, I had given up hope of bowling doubles and singles, but, just to see what might be out there, I put out on Facebook to my Brockton bowling friends that I’d be looking for a doubles partner. One came, from an unlikely source: Rob Dickens, who was sitting out league bowling this year because of having surgery on both of his wrists. He did let me know he’d be interested in bowling the tournament, so we made the arrangements online, and I will be doing the paperwork for the doubles & singles entry tonight, as I have to look up his ID number and average online on Bowl.com. He will also have to pay his sanction for the year at the tournament in order to be able to participate. Finally, we planned a practice session for next Sunday afternoon, likely on the current Coke league condition (Route 66), which will be behind the desk.

“The Tenth Board” blogger to appear in Brockton city tournament

I had hoped to get a team together for city tournament the first weekend of March, but I still had a couple of people who were unsure if they were going to bowl in it with me, so when Shawn (Coles) told me he had an opening on his team, I jumped on the vacancy. I will be bowling with Shawn, Al Cochrane, and Ken Snow, all from the Brunswick Mixed league, but since Shawn didn’t think his bowling arm would last the nine games, and none of the other two were particularly interested in bowling the minor events (doubles & singles), I will only be bowling in the team event on that Saturday. Shawn took my suggestion of naming the team “Tenth Board Titans,” so people will be able to easily figure out which team I’m on.

Feb. 13 league night recap

My Week 24 bowling, frame-by-frame (Linked to BowlSK sheet)

I was suffering through one of those 24-hour bugs during my Coke league visit on Monday, but to look at my bowling in the first two games, you’d think I was still weak from it. I did manage to get things figured out for the third game, however, and a 218 saved my 500 night. I left more “garbage” than usual, including five splits, so my overall spare game suffered, but I was once again around 80% on my single pins, and it should be said that the 7 pin is no longer spooking me.

Result: 156-150-218=524
Average (72 games): 174
Average for last 9 games: 174
Next week’s AVG+1 score: 552

Team won all four points again, including a third game in which we were over 1,100 with handicap. The second game got interesting at the end, but I told my teammates we’d be OK if I got the first strike in the 10th…and proceeded to get that strike.

2013 USBC Masters note

Just to make it public, good luck and good bowling to Ryan Yelle, the Brockton Bowling Association’s reigning Bowler of the Year, next week as he competes in the USBC Masters at Brunswick Zone Carolier in North Brunswick, NJ, which has been a US Open site in the past.

Jan. 2013 NAT results

As promised, a recap of the tournament in which Sean Richard threw the first sanctioned 300 game in the history of the Northeast Amateur Tournament…

The NAT reported Russ Michaud as the winner of the event on Jan. 27 at Gardner Ten Pin, defeating Mike Budwick by a score of 237-214 (with handicap) in the championship match. Westgate Lanes league bowlers cashing were Billy Trudell, Tony Bennett, Sean Richard, Jim Ferguson, and Danny Khuu.

Winter 2013 Week 4 virtual league results

“The Four Stooges” won a lion’s share five of seven points from “License To Strike,” and my virtual team is now in third place, sitting just four points behind “X-Rated” and a point behind Team 3.

“Joe Bowler” submitted just the fifth 800 series in history, an 804, which was the league’s first 800 series since “B Fury” (then my teammate) threw the league record of 824 just less than two years ago.

Correction to Mass. state youth tournament note

I probably could have posted this with my blog host’s mobile app, but I wasn’t completely comfortable with it, so I decided to wait until my power and Internet connection were restored after Nemo.

Rosemarie Hamilton has informed me that they’ve changed the venue of the state youth tournament to Ken’s Bowl in Pittsfield. Since she didn’t tell me, I’ll have to assume that they’re the same dates. I’m also still trying to find out when the Westgate Lanes contingent will be bowling.

Feb. 7 lesson

After postponing the lesson last week because I couldn’t get out of the house, I had it with Ray today. My form is generally good, but my release, while better than it has been, still needs work, because I still turn early and I need to think lift before turn. After the video session, I started with six in a row that were absolute bombs, but I think I reached a fatigue point when Ray came out with his camera again.

I was throwing my Hy-Road, but Ray had the idea of using one of my stronger balls, mainly my Marvel Pearl, on the theory that my release will be better when I can make a stronger ball hit the pocket and not go high. I wasn’t as successful, but had a couple of successes, which I’m trying to keep in my brain. Weather permitting, I’ll try to practice after Sunday’s board meeting.

2013 state tournament notes

I’ve already noted the women’s state tournament, which will take place at AMF Holiday Lanes in Somerset, but I now have information on the other state tournaments:

  • The Massachusetts open state tournament will take place at Town Line Luxury Lanes in Malden on weekends between Apr. 27 and May 19. Mail-in entries will close on Apr. 13, but walk-in entries will be accepted on the basis of lane availability. Look for entry forms at the desk soon.
  • The state youth tournament will be held at Mt. Greylock Bowl in North Adams from Apr. 27 to May 13. I’ll comment on when the Westgate Lanes youth bowlers will bowl when it is known to me.

Feb. 6 league night recap

My Week 23 bowling, frame-by-frame (Linked to BowlSK sheet)

I was largely happy with tonight, despite a couple of bad shots and a couple of bad breaks with the 7-9. I didn’t have many strikes, but I missed nothing really easy until a couple of single pins close to the end of the third game. However, I did make the single pin that counted most, the 10 in the 30th frame, for without that mark, my team would have lost the game; as it was, my team won by a single pin.

Result: 199-164-172=535
Average (69 games): 174
Average for last 9 games: 173
Next week’s AVG+1 score: 551

We were pretty much assured the lion’s share by the time I got up for the last time in the night, but the clutch spare turned the night into a sweep for us. 😀

Link to “Richard Shockley Virtual Bowling Academy” added to sidebar

It’s been a while since I added something other than a post to this blog site. 🙂

I came across Richard Shockley’s site via a post on the BowlingCommunity forums about release position, which had his video tip embedded. His site has an archive of his “Tips of the Week,” but you can also, for about $50, submit video of your bowling from 3 angles (side, back, and release) and he’ll send you back a 30 minute customized lesson, much like “My Bowling Coach” does. The link to his site can now be found in the sidebar in the “Coaching/Tips” category.

Note: Shockley is a USBC-certified Gold level coach.

Winter 2013 Week 3 virtual league results

“The Four Stooges” won all seven points from “The Fifth Element” and moved up to third place in the standings, six points behind Team 3 and four points behind “X-Rated.” “Norm3v,” a member of Team 8, submitted a perfect game last week; he has had two career 300 games, and both have counted for the virtual league.