Winter Leagues – Week 7 Update

The Hasbeens (Tuesday's Lane Masters League)

It was great to be back with the guys this week, though I wish we’d had more to celebrate on the lanes. We were on 17/18—a pair known for scoring errors and reracks—but thankfully, we avoided major issues, aside from a little dead wood caused by our opponents firing the ball at 20+ mph.

We faced a strong team featuring three of the league’s top bowlers, including their anchor, who carries a league-best 224.06 average. He raised it even higher with games of 265, 215, and 207.

Spare shooting continues to be our weak spot, but we’re seeing gradual improvement. Our leadoff bowler is settling into his game, and his confidence and average are climbing steadily over these first seven weeks.

I rolled a 503 series (158, 176, 169). My first-ball average was a respectable 8.91, but spare conversions cost me—I finished at only 31%. I left four 7-pins and converted just one. On splits, I went 1-for-6, picking up a 3-10 but missing my own 7-10 attempt. Our team saw two of those nasty 7-10s last night, and neither was converted.

In the end, we were swept, dropping all 7 points. That result will likely knock us out of 3rd place when the standings are updated.

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Right-Left-Right (Thursday's Prime Timers League)

We entered the night in 1st place, matched against the 5th-place team on lanes 13/14. To our surprise, they didn’t show (out of town on a family trip), which left us the pair to ourselves. The lanes behaved well, with only a few reracks and none of the frustrating delays we’ve dealt with in the past.

Games 1 and 2 were solid—each of us bowled above average. Game 3, however, was a throwaway, with all of us struggling for different reasons. The bright spot was our lowest-average bowler, who rolled a game 40–50 pins over his mark. He recently replaced the “cinder block” he’d been throwing since Nixon was president with a new Hammer ball, and it already looks like a great fit.

Personally, I checked off a couple of milestones from my 2025 goals list. In Game 2, I rolled my first clean game of the season, finishing with a 193 and even converting a tricky 3-6-7-10 split in the 5th. I also went 100% on corner pins for the night (3-for-3 on 10s and 1-for-1 on 7s). Unfortunately, Game 3 looked like I’d never bowled before—several opens had me wishing I’d stopped after Game 2.

Still, it was a fun night with good company, and we should remain in 1st place when the standings are posted later today.

Keep Striking!!