Wednesday Night League - Cheetah Pattern

So both lanes were oiled with the Cheetah, and even though it is the highest scoring pattern in the PBA, i think it is really tough. I was throwing the ultra zone, and started out throwing the 12 to about 5. After I decided that wasnt a good line, I moved way over and was hitting 10 to 5/4. That seemed to be a great shot for me, but i just have a hard time hitting my mark i have found out. i think i avereaged right at 155 for the night. SIGH

State Tournament - Farmington, NM

Made it to Farmington for the state championship this past weekend. The lanes were in pretty good shape, the bowling alley was pretty nice, and the conditions were somewhat challenging in my opinion.
I dont remember the games exactly but I shot 537 in the team event. Yeah.... They oil was weird, you really couldnt swing it out to the 5 or else it wouldnt come back.
In the Doubles event I shot 573. I had one 200+ game but i forget what it was. I felt a little better about the shot, i knew not to swing it out, had to play a tighter line.
Singles event I shot 641. Had a 216, 15o something and a 277. On the last game, I had the front 9 and i was feeling the pressure. I sat by the lanes not near anyone and tried to calm my self down. I got up for the 10th frame, picked up my ball and took a deep breath. As soon as I released the ball, everyone that had gathered behind me started cheering and yelling. I missed my mark by 1 board to the left so even though it hit pocket, it left the good ol 10 pin.
Overall, it was a great experience. I got a bunch of pins that I am proudly displaying on my bowling bag. The best one is the 250 game pin :)

Wednesday Night League - Us Open/Cheetah patterns

So yesterday in the pba experience league, they oiled the left lane in the cheetah pattern, and the right lane using the us open pattern. See my last post about the open pattern for the conditions. The cheetah "has the most friction" of all the patterns. It is only 36 feet and doesnt have all that much oil on the middle part of the lane. It forces you to make your break point right near the gutter(1-5 board) so its really tough because that is almost to close for comfort.
So my first game I was having a really tough time keeping my break point near the gutter on the cheetah. I tried flattening out my ball, throwing it harder, everything. What ended up working for me was just flattening my shot on the open pattern, and throwing my normal release on the cheetah.
So from the second game on, i played straight up the 10 board on the open pattern, and then about 12 to 3/4 on the cheetah. If i could hit my mark, it would strike. On my second game, every ball except for 2 that i threw on the open pattern struck. that was about as good as i got.
I shot 154, 169, 164, 144. I know its not good, but there is some improvement there from last week. About 100 pins total. Next week will be the Cheetah on both sides. I think I will try using the ultra that night and see what happens.

Sunday Night League - 641 Series

Well I started on a Sunday night league to take my mind off of the hell that comes the following day. This league is at holiday also, so I dont think I will be bowling at Silva all summer.
My first game was a 171. I was having a really tough time figuring out what to do. The shot that they laid down was very dry in my opinion, forcing me to the inside right off the bat. I really dont like playing so deep so early. I finally realized that if i just threw it as hard as possible, my ball would hold the line.
Second game was a 213. I missed a 10 pin this game on the inside. Again, so dry that i actually had to completely flatten my spare ball to pick up that crappy pin.
Last game was a 257. I really found the line this game. Pretty much all i was doing was throwing it at the gutter as hard as i could, and just trusting that it would recover.
Ended up shooting a 641 and setting a 214 average. Gonna be tough to maintain...
The cool thing is from the look of it, no one on that league is going to be anywhere near me (i hope) so i can decimate all. Elena is on my team, she set a 13o average. I think by the end of league though, she will be shooting consistent 180's and have had her first 200 game.

Wednesday Night League - US Open Pattern

So if you dont know, i joined a pba experience league. The league takes us through the 5 oil patterns used on the tour plus the us open pattern. This week was the US Open pattern, 40 feet of flat oil. I had no idea what to expect really, the only thing I knew was it was going to be very challenging. Wow...
So I started off by throwing the ultra zone. During practice, i tried throwing straight down the 8 which seemed to hit the pocket ok. that bad part is if i missed by a couple boards right, it would just slide and slide and slide. I really had to take the thought out of my head that if i missed right, it would recover. So i tried 3 different lines that game. i ended up shooting a 92. yep... splits galore. I learned that if i missed by 2 boards left or right, i would miss the head pin.
Second game i picked up the storm t road that michael gave me. It is drilled pin high as opposed to pin low like the ultra. It worked so much better on that pattern. My second game was a 127 :).
We moved pairs and that shot was way burnt out compared to the first pair. i got a 173. then the last game was a 135 or something.
we are bowling the us open pattern on one lane next week, but I never want to bowl on it again. It just makes you realize how much you depend on a league style pattern.

the season of 2nd place

Yep, i sucked it up in the final night of league. 577. 184, 216, 177. We were on lanes 1 and 2, and i just couldnt get anything to carry on 2. I also broke my streak of picking up 10 pins. We lost the 1st game by 150 points, then won the second by 200, then lost the third by 40 or so. The worst part is my team came in second, i came in second in high average, high game, and high series. I guess i shouldnt be complaining since last year i was nothing. Good thing is last year i ended this league with a 192 average, this year was a 209. Pretty good improvement.

I start the PBA experience league on wednesday and i am so excited for that. The first pattern is going to be the US open pattern, 46 ft of flat oil. yeah, thats going to be a fun night. I think that the league will really help me become a better bowler though, it has to right? So I will be bloggin about that come wednesday night or thursday.

I am alos bowling a mixed handicap league on sunday nights. Elena will be bowling in that too. I am pretty sure she will set a 120ish avg but will improve to a 150ish. We'll see....

Friday Night League - 697 Series

DAMNIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I cant believe i was 3 pins short. SIGH

So my first game was a 227, and that was with a open in the second frame (split) and i struck out in the 10th frame. I was releasing the ball good too

Second game was a 225. Pretty much exactly the same as the first, open in the 2nd, and struck out in the 10th.

Third game was a 245. This time i didnt open in the 2nd frame. So, everyone on my team opened in the 10th frame and going up there i had 3 in a row. The anchor on the other team walked up there with me and all i needed to do was strike to shut their team out. 1 Strike. 1 strike would have won the game, got me my 700 series, and beaten larry. So what do i do? Freaking came in high. i picked it up and then struck but he struck out. The pressure really got to me on that one and I am really upset about it.