Week 11/Shark Recap

Game 1: 198
Game 2: 170
Game 3: 149
Game 4: 198
Series: 715
Week Avg: 178
Shark Avg: 167
Season Avg: 177

My plan coming into the week was to try to play a line a little further right of center than I did in week 10. During practice I found a pretty good line standing with my left foot at the 24 board and throwing at the 12 board at the arrows. This allowed me a little more room for error, but missing half a board to the right still resulted in completely missing the headpin. For some extra motivation this week I bowled against the high school All-American.

The first game was pretty successful all things considered. I was in the pocket just about every frame, but left a lot of corner pins. Luckily I was on my spare game to start the night and stayed clean for the first fifteen frames of the night. I started running a little high so at the sixth frame I moved left a half board on the approach and threw three strikes in the second half of the game. In the tenth frame a high hit left the 3-9-10 split, but luckily I was able to convert to finish with a 198.

I threw a strike and a few more spares to start the second game before chopping the 6-10 in the sixth frame. I shook it off and marked my way to the tenth frame, where I opened by missing a 5-pin. I came in high the last few frames, but still made a slight adjustment for the spare and just barely missed. I finished with a 170.

The third game was another painful one. I missed a 1-2-4-10 in the second frame and opened on a 6-7 split in the fourth. I followed that up with a chopped 1-2-4 in the fifth frame, but I tried to not let it get me down. I kept telling myself this is a learning experience, figure out what is wrong and fix it. And I did. I threw great first balls the rest of the night. Unfortunately, in the eighth and tenth frames, those solid pocket hits left the 8-10 split. I adjusted in the tenth after leaving the split in the eighth by moving up a few inches, and I did hit better, but the messenger just barely missed the 8-pin before it fell into the pit. I was lucky to finish the game with a 149.

The fourth game was a lot like the first. I threw some great balls, but many were only nine counts. Along the way I did convert a 2-8-9 split, kicking the 2-pin off the left sideboard to take out the 9-pin. The only bad ball this game came in the ninth frame when I hit a little light and left the 4-6 split. I struck out in the tenth frame to score another 198.

After the last month and a half, this week was incredible. It felt great to throw two games in the 190s and my new line worked perfectly. The hardest part is being able to throw the exact same shot all night long, because  missing my mark by as little as a half inch or speeding up a little bit will result in missing the pocket. I also split the head-to-head with the cocky All-American and was competitive in every game. For the most part I had fun, though, and that was exactly what I needed.

We have one more week for me to throw a 200 game on the Shark pattern and I have thrown at least two 200s on each pattern so far. I'm also on a ten game drought without throwing over 200, so I have some more motivation for this Thursday. But I think things are starting to look up . . .