Week 14/Viper Recap

Game 1: 176
Game 2: 211
Game 3: 192
Game 4: 169
Series: 748
Week Avg: 187
Viper Avg: 172
Season Avg: 176

I started out the evening with a great practice session. I was throwing strikes with ease and had plenty of time to shoot corner pins before the start of the first game. At the completion of practice I was standing with my left foot on the 22 board and throwing at the 7 board at the arrows (blue line on diagram).

Unfortunately the good shots didn't follow me into the first game as I left the 1-2-4-7 in the first frame and hooked the ball just past the headpin on my spare shot for an open. I threw a few good balls, but overall I had a difficult time hitting my marks, both at the arrows and at the break point. When I did hit my marks, though, the ball was coming in a bit light. Luckily my only other open in the game was a barely missed 3-10 split. I finished the game with a 176.

To start the second game I moved my body one board right (black line on diagram) and started hitting great. I was in the pocket just about every shot and the spares I did leave were typically single pins. I shot my first clean game in weeks for a 211.

An errant ball to start the third game left the 1-2-4 which I managed to chop for an early open, but overall I was still throwing really well.  The few times I did miss my mark were easily diagnosed and corrected. I opened once more by chopping the 3-6 in the eighth frame and finished with a 192.

The last game gave me some problems. I started by opening my third first frame of the night by just missing the 4-pin. I followed that up by hooking the ball past the headpin for the 1-3-8-9 in the second frame and the 1-2-4-10 in the seventh.  Much of the rest of the game consisted of spares from light pocket hits. I tried moving back on the approach, but in retrospect I should have moved right to standing at the 20 board and shooting at the 6. I struck in the tenth frame, but followed it up by opening a 1-2-4 on my last ball for a 169.

Overall, not a bad finish to the league. My biggest enemy this week was keeping my own pace and not rushing through the games. Once I gathered myself and controlled my pace I was in pretty good shape. I enjoyed the Viper, despite the debacle my first week on the pattern, and I thought that it was slightly more forgiving than the other animal patterns we faced.

I now have a ten day break before my fall league starts on the 27th. Between now and then I am planning to go out for one practice session so my wife can shake off the rust after taking a year off and so I can evaluate my performance on a typical house pattern after a summer on PBA patterns. I will have a PBA Experience League recap, practice session recap, and Sandbagger Prevention League introduction before the 27th.