Week 3 Prime Timers – Right-Left-Right

R-L-R had a solid night on lanes 3 and 4. We were matched against the 5th-place team while we began the night in 4th. Both teams shared the same record at 9–5 and were separated by fewer than 200 pins in total score. With only a 49-pin advantage on handicap, we knew we had to bowl our best and keep it tight.

The first two games were exactly that—tight battles. We edged out game 1 by 36 pins, then created more breathing room in game 2 with a 107-pin win. In game 3, we pulled away further, winning by 93 pins. This was despite their top bowler rolling a strong 613 series (212/178/223). At the end of the night, we banked 7 points!

When the League Standing Sheets were released this morning, we found ourselves in 1st place. Great job, guys—let’s keep the momentum going!

On a personal note, I came in riding the high of my best league night in years (Tuesday with The Hasbeens) and hoped for a repeat performance on the lower side of the house. I raised my league average by 5 pins with a 476 series (147/167/162). Unfortunately, the strike magic from Tuesday was missing. I didn’t record my first strike until the 4th frame of game 2. Until then, I was stuck with a string of 8s and 9s, plus just one split (10th frame of game 1).

My FBA for the night was 7.69, down from 8.18 last week. Thankfully, I converted 58% of my spare attempts, as my strike rate was only 22%. I managed 66% on single-pin spares and 57% on multi-pin attempts, though the misses always seemed to come at the worst possible times. Had I converted the 3 open single-pin spares, I would have boosted my nightly average to 169 instead of 158.67.

All in all, it was a fun night with minimal pinsetter issues. We faced a strong opponent and still walked away with the win—I’ll take that any day of the week.

Keep Striking!