Winter League Update - Week 14

The Hasbeens – Lanes 15/16

We lost all seven points to a strong team. I rolled games of 143, 153, and 164 for a 460 series, averaging 153.33.

We faced the strongest team in our league last night. They came in with two bowlers carrying averages over 200, a third averaging 170, and a rapidly improving lead-off bowler who is becoming very consistent. We had our work cut out for us. We have now bowled them twice this season and have yet to win a game.

Their top players performed as expected. Their No. 3 finished with a 676 series, while their anchor—the league average leader—shot a 702 with a high game of 257. Our lineup finished with series of 358, 382, 485, and 460. Even with a 142-pin handicap advantage and only one of us breaking 180, it was nearly impossible to overcome those scratch numbers.

I managed only 10 strikes across the three games. I converted just 45% of my spares (50% on makeable spares, 55% on single pins, and 44% on multi-pin attempts). I missed both splits and had 11 open frames, a rate of 36%. Unfortunately, our team’s numbers mirrored mine. We knew minimizing open frames would be critical, but single-pin misses and several brutal splits made it difficult to stay competitive. All four of us left multiple corner pins and converted only a few.

Our No. 3 bowler is awaiting knee surgery in the coming weeks, and it was clear he was bowling through pain. Fortunately, it is not his slide leg; otherwise, he would likely be out entirely. We will be back at it next week.

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RIGHT-LEFT-RIGHT – Lanes 19/20

We entered tonight’s match against the No. 2 team with a slim 34-pin handicap advantage. Their brother-and-sister trio features two right-handers and one left-hander, just like our roster. Their lefty, who anchors the team, holds the season’s highest scratch game at 278. He can heat up quickly and do real damage, and the other two are also capable of getting hot.

Our game plan was simple: focus on spares, let whichever player was hot attack the pocket, keep high first-ball counts, convert the easy spares, and avoid being rattled by their streakiness.

Some nights, things just don’t fall into place. We pulled out only two points, but the match was much closer than the total indicated. We lost game one by just three pins. We won game two by 60 but dropped a tough third game by 70. A couple of extra marks from any of us could have flipped the match, as we lost total pins by only 13. Considering their lowest-average bowler shot 59 pins over average in game 2, and their anchor never truly got hot, the results could have been far worse. A drop to 2nd place in the standings is expected. 

I nudged my average up with games of 180, 189, and 156 for a 525 series and a 175.0 average. I converted 61% of my spares (63% makeable, 55% single-pin, and 70% multi-pin). I went one-for-two on splits and had eight open frames, or 25%.

A few highlights came at the end of game one and into game two. I closed game one with four strikes in a row, having had only one earlier in the game. In game two, I was clean until the fill ball in the tenth. A pulled shot in the third frame nearly wrecked the run, but I picked up the spare. Every other frame was eight or better—or a strike. A stubborn 10-pin kept me from adding another clean game to the books.

There is no league bowling next Thursday due to Thanksgiving. We’ll be back in two weeks to see what happens.

Keep Striking!