Summer League Recap - Week 4

Coming off a win last week, we hit the lanes tonight feeling confident we could hold our own against one of the better teams in the league. After all, we’re no longer dwelling in the cellar.

During practice, I wasn’t happy with the look I was getting from the GB5. I didn’t feel confident or comfortable throwing it, so I decided to start with the Black Venom. Game 1 opened with a solid 180. Frames 1 and 2 went 8-spare, strike. Unfortunately, frames 3 and 4 were both open with 8- 0s. Frames 5 through 10 were all marks, ending with a strike and a 9-0 in the 10th. We managed to take Game 1 by just 4 pins and felt optimistic heading into Game 2.

As has become a pattern, my scores dropped in Games 2 and 3. Game 2 was my lowest at 135, followed by a 142 in Game 3, giving me a 152.33 average for the night. While it wasn’t my best series of the year (457), I still bumped my league average up by one point while decreasing my handicap by 1. So far, my average has increased every week.

My first ball average was 8.3. I struck just 24% of the time, and my spare percentage was 45%. Makeable spares came in at 61%, with both single and multi-pin conversions also landing at 60–61%. I saw 12 splits and didn’t convert a single one.

Speaking of splits, this was probably the most I’ve seen all season. I remembered bowling on this pair during the winter league and everyone seemed to struggle with splits then too. Lanes 9 and 10 are definitely quirky. Last night I had one split in Game 1 (4-10). Game 2 brought three (5-6-10, 4-7-10, and 4-6), and Game 3 added a couple more (3-10 and 4-6-10). I experimented with the Destiny Hybrid midway through Game 2, but it offered little improvement, so I stuck with the Black Venom for most of the night.

We only managed to win one game, so we picked up two points and lost five. Game 2 got away from us quickly when the other team had two bowlers shoot over 200—one of them rolled an impressive 265. Nothing hits like a Hammer, I’ve heard. Game 3, however, was tight right down to the wire. Both teams were tied going into the anchors’ 10th frame. Their anchor finished strike, 9-spare, and that closed us out. We lost Game 3 by 20 pins.

On a positive note, this week our pair didn’t suffer any technical or electrical issues to delay play. I think that’s a first this season. Next week, we face a more evenly matched team on lanes 19 and 20. That’ll make it the third time in five weeks I’ve bowled on that pair. I might as well just start keeping my gear down there between games.