Originally Published May 18, 2006
It’s May 18, 2006. I have not posted in this blog for roughly three and a half months. Wow, I need to not do that again. So I’ve got some catching up to do.
League Bowling: My winter leagues came to an end a little more than a week ago. I finished out Monday strong increasing my league average up just past 210. I’ve never been comfortable At Kearney Mesa Bowl and after bowling there for an entire season I still don’t know what to expect on any given night. I always end up throwing a different ball on a different line and nothing ever seems to match up really well for me. Nevertheless my last 33 games of the season, from January 30 through early May, saw my average sit at 219.6 for a final league average of 210. Not bad in my book for a house I’m never comfortable in. My team ended up winning the league and I took 3rd in sweepers on the final week just 10 days ago. I’d like to think my improved play the second half of the season helped us take the trophy home. 🙂
My Thursday league was a slight bit opposite of Mondays. I slipped a little toward the end of the season as did our team. My last five weeks of bowling (15 games) saw an average of only 213.8, which lowered my overall average from a mid-March high 235 to a season ending 228.96. My three worst games in the entire league happened in the last 5 weeks and my ball reaction was a little suspect compared to the many weeks prior. All-in-all though I can’t complain about a 228 average and a 5th place team finish.
Tournament Bowling: February came with a bang and a rush of anticipation. My long-awaited trip to New Jersey and the US Open finally arrived and it went whooshing away with great disappointment. Approximately one week before my departing plane flew to the East Coast I was informed via US Mail that most of my bowling ball arsenal was invalid for US Open play. I throw mainly RotoGrip and they were not approved for tournament use so that meant I had my 2 old Columbia balls and 1 new Columbia ball at my disposal. Let me tell you, I really wish I my normal arsenal because I needed a ball with a strong early roll like my Silver Streak or a strong skid-flip like my Assault. I had neither and I floundered into the bottom of the pack never making a case for my merits and pretty much just taking up space. Regardless of the disappointment I had a good time and will have to think about expanding my bowling ball collection to include multiple equipment lines.
April was the beginning of the new PBA Regional Tour season. I kicked it off with a warm-up WWPB mixed doubles event in Yorba Linda with the beautiful and talented Lindsy Bonifacini. This was a fun, high-scoring event full of talent including top world amateurs, PBA national and regional champions, PWBA national champions, and of course the best female bowlers on the west coast. I’m proud to say that Lindsy and myself did quite well in the tournament. I was graced with good carry and Lindsy was not, luckily Lindsy was graced with an uncanny knack for near perfection in spare shooting. I estimate she probably spared the 10-pin 60 times in 23 games without missing a single one. Amazing! Anyway, we placed 7th in the doubles tournament and look forward to competing together again. Complete results can be found here.
Next was the first of many regional tournaments in a short span of time. The first three were on the islands of Hawaii followed immediately by a trip to Boise, Idaho and a trip 5 days later to Visalia, CA. Three tournaments in 8 days and five tournaments in 22 days! A lot of bowling for sure and as I write this I am amazed that my fingers, hands, back, neck, and legs are still holding up… but I never skipped a beat and never got tired. I must have quite developed some impressive stamina without noticing it so I’m pleased. Anyway, my trip to Hawaii was bittersweet. I bowled well in all three tournaments posting an overall average of 201.8 with my low series being -32. Unfortunately I missed all three semi-finals cuts by an average margin of 41 pins. I had a shot in each tournament to make a run at the cut in the 8th game but couldn’t put anything together in any of my 8th games. Sad. 🙁 Anyway here are pictures from the trip:
Boise, ID however saw a different side of me. I fired off a +208 in the first round to qualify for the semis in 6th place and the following afternoon after a stripping and re-oiling I faltered and shot a -35 for the semis to fall all the way to 17th place and miss the finals. It was however a resounding success for me as this was the highest score I’d ever put together in a PBA qualifying round.
Visalia, was different kind of beast. After bowling so well in Boise I came in with a high confidence level and proceeded to throw the worst two consecutive games of my PBA career shooting a 159 game one followed by a 117 game two to start off -124 and virtually in dead last place. 🙂 I’m sure you can tell how happy I was. I used 5 different bowling balls trying to make something… anything work and finally in the 10th of game two I threw my plastic ball up the boards, 5 to 5 to pocket. I left a flat 10 pin, spared it and then left a high-flush 9 pin. Game three started and I figured I’d stick with plastic. I made the right decision as I went 243, 203, 198, 203, 232, and 202 to climb from the basement to -43 or 76th place in a 140 bowler field. Not good but man was I proud to make such a dramatic turnaround. No on wants to embarrass themselves and I’m no different.
Anyway, that’s quick the rundown of the last 3.5 months. I’ll try to be more diligent in keeping this thing going from now on. At the very least I shouldn’t have any more significant gaps in updates like the last one. Stay in touch. -Mounts
