The Unlikely Turkey

If you’re reading both Sam and my blogs, you’ll know we’ve gotten pretty into bowling. We’ve really upped our games at South Bowl (Sam is now 181 avg, and I’m 180) but my Wednesday league at Hi-Spots is a different story. The highest average in the league is 184 and it’s coming from a 206 bowler at other lanes. Bowling at Hi-Spots is about a 20 pin difference. The main difference is the amount of oil on the lanes which is consistent at South Bowl and always different at Hi-Spots. I’ll share the details of the Wednesday league.

We are currently out of the playoffs (17-19) and then there are 5 teams who have in between 22 and 19 wins. We desperately need wins with 3 weeks left in the league. Last night was a battle. We lost the first game by 15 pins with their 4th bowler getting a turkey in the 10th to virtually seal it. We won the 2nd game by 25 pins with our entire team closing out the 10th with marks. This lead to an interesting final game.

If you read how I only needed 1 pin to get a victory for our team 2 weeks and failed, you’ll know my confidence was a bit shaky as the anchor. We started out the 3rd game hot and built an early lead. They stormed back and got it close in the 10th but we had the advantage. 2 of our 4 bowlers went open in the 10th which left the door open. I was coming off a strike in the 9th and my opponent was open in a tight game. A strike would seal it. I rolled a ball that missed the pocket right and left me with the 5 pin. My opponent rolled a strike. I hit the spare. My opponent needed a strike or else it was over…and did. On the last ball, the other team was up 1 pin. I rolled first and came up clutch with a strike. Opponent needed a strike to win and anything else ties or loses…….he got it. We lost by a single pin and split the match 2-2. Tough to swallow. The close did boost my confidence though and I’m back to feeling comfortable in the anchor role which is good. My scores were 148, 168, 178 which is a huge improvement compared to what I’ve been bowling.  Big week next week against Living on a Spare.