Week 9/ Scorpion Recap

Game 1: 149
Game 2: 204
Game 3: 164
Game 4: 172
Series: 689
Week Avg: 172
Scorpion Avg: 170
Season Avg: 179

I came into this week with a few goals. The first was to make sure that I am balanced at the point of release and follow through on my shots. I realized that missing my mark lately has been a symptom of not finishing my shots, which is a much bigger problem.  Another goal was to not let the uptempo pace of doubles bowling rush me once I am on the approach. I think that I was so worried about keeping up with everyone else that I wasn't concentrating enough on my decisions concerning adjustments and I was rushing to the foul line rather than bowling at my pace. Practice went amazingly well, to the point where I stopped throwing strike balls five minutes in. I had a great line set up standing at the 20 1/2 board and throwing at the 8 board (line on diagram) and was pretty confident heading into the first game.


Then the first game actually happened. While I was throwing strikes on the left lane, I left the 5-pin in the first and the 10-pin in the third and fifth frames . . . and missed them all. A high hit in the sixth frame left the 4-7-10 split and I missed yet another 10-pin in the eighth frame. It was brutal. I struck in the tenth frame, but then missed the 3-6 to finish with a 149.


To start the second game I moved back on the approach about three inches to compensate for some light hits late in the first game. I threw three strikes to start the game and then missed another 10-pin in the fourth frame.  I barely missed the 10-pin to the right each time, and moved right a bit each shot to try to correct the issue. It wasn't until after this frame that I decided to move my mark left for shots in the right corner and it worked well the rest of the night. I struck every frame on the left lane this game and covered all of my spares except for the eighth frame, where I missed the 1-2-10. I finished with a 204, which felt like my first 200 in forever.

The third game got off to another awful start, missing the 4-10 split in the first, 6-7 split in the second ans the 1-2-4-5 in the third frames. I shook off the first few frames and managed to throw decently the rest of the game, striking occasionally. In the tenth frame I left a 4-6 split giving me a 164 game.

The last game was punishment for all of the misses this week. After the first game I thought to myself that I needed to practice my spares and that I needed to throw a clean game. I just didn't expect both of these to happen at the same time. I didn't throw a single good first ball during this game; however, I managed to convert every spare, all of which consisted of anywhere from two to four pins. This was my first ever all spare game, but I really couldn't enjoy it at this point in the evening. I finished the game with a 172.

In retrospect, I should have moved my line to standing at the 21 board and throwing at the 9, but it took until the ride home to realize that. Overall I felt like I was throwing really well, but by concentrating so much on my mechanics I didn't do a very good job at reading the lanes. Hopefully I have corrected my issues with my release and finish so that I can correct this downward spiral I've been riding lately.

The bowling center purchased a new oil machine this week and they realized that they didn't have the conversion sheet for our next pattern, NCAA #4. We took a quick poll and decided that we would play the Shark pattern for the next three weeks instead. The Shark isn't the best pattern for a slumping bowler, but we'll see if I can swing a decent series or two.