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Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Eight Oh Two

Tonight was the last night of my “Winter” season league at the bowling alley. We fell two points short of making the roll-off last week, so we were only bowling for a little bit of money in sweepers. Last week, we needed to win all four points to force a tenth frame roll-off for first place in the second half. We crushed them the first game, but fell short the second. We won the third game, but it didn’t matter too much at that point. I bowled pretty well last week, and ended up throwing my first triplicate series. 220-220-220. At the end of the second game, I left a 10 pin in the fill ball which gave me the second 220. I didn’t realize before I threw the ball that I could match my first game’s score. Going into the third game, though, I knew I could get a triplicate. I realized I had a shot at it near the end of the game. After I got an 8 and a spare in the tenth frame, I needed five more pins to get it done. I threw the ball far left, hit the 4-7, and pins toppled to leave the 1-2-3-5-10 standing. I had my triplicate! It was awesome.

I wouldn’t have imagined I could outdo that this week. I started out with a 256. A spare in the first frame, five strikes and then a split which I left open, and then strikes the rest of the way. I was pretty happy with that. Started the next game with an open frame (picked the 10 off the 6-10), and then ran off ten strikes in a row. I left a 4 pin on the fill ball, for a 278. At this point, I started to think about an 800 series. I had 534 for the first two games, so I needed a 266 to get there. I’ve been in this situation before, but tonight was the first time I really felt like I was bowling well enough to actually do it. In the past when I’ve had over 500 pins for the first two games, I’ve been pretty lucky to get there and expect to wear down at the end. Tonight, the lanes were great, and I was feeling good.

I knew I didn’t have much room for error here. I started the third game with a few strikes, and then started to get nervous. I knew I really had a shot at this. A few more strikes, and then a 7 pin on a shot that was a little light in the seventh frame. That kind of shot had been carrying all night, but not this time. I picked up the spare, and knew I couldn’t afford to make many more mistakes. I had a nice solid strike in the eighth frame, but then threw an awful ball in the ninth. As soon as I let it go I put my head down and barely wanted to watch it. It hit heavy on the Brooklyn side of the head pin and somehow ended up being a strike. The 6 pin fell very late, and was somehow pushed forward from behind. I got lucky. Going into the tenth frame I knew I needed the first strike, but that was as far as I had gotten on the math. At this point, my legs were wobbly and my hands were shaking. Perfect shot for a strike. My next shot was less than perfect. It went high, and left a 9 pin. I had no idea if this had cost me my 800 series until I walked back and looked up at the screen. 248 in the ninth, and 19 pins so far in the tenth. I was already there, and didn’t need to pick up the last pin. I did anyway, and finished with a 268 for an 802 series.

Holy crap. 802 series. I think it still hasn’t sunk in.