Eric Bittner rolled a 741/263 at The Bowler and was the area’s scoring leader for the start of the 2008-2009 bowling season. Corey Shirey was the next highest at that center rolling 726/257 followed by A.J. Bishop’s 724/257.
At White Oak Lanes, Jim Helminiak was the leader scoring 734/257. Jeremiah Howsare bowled 726/247 and Don Parsons rolled 686/242.
Among the lady bowlers, Crystal Uhl started the season rolling 601/225. Vicki Coughlin followed scoring 569/201 then Dawn House posting a 562/195 score.
Betty Gable’s 579/215 was highest of the White Oak ladies. Felicia Deremer was next rolling 578/246 followed by Mary King’s 530/196.
Ray Foster claimed top senior honors starting this new bowling season by bowling 666/227 at The Bowler. Don Bower rolled 564/220 and Margie Anderson scored a 503 set.
Pat Logsdon was highest of the White Oak seniors bowling 518/203. Bess Hudgins scored 469/178.
Welcome back for a new season of local bowling news and as usual, comments and discussion of bowling related issues.
This last week, I interviewed Kevin Mansfield, the new owner/propietor of Rainbow Lanes and during a discussion he brought up an interesting point that may be of general interest to readers of this column.
Mansfield thinks that bowling lost a whole generation of bowlers because of the very popular state of the sport in the 70’s. He reasoned that because of the full house for the league bowlers, there was no room for open bowling thus the sport failed to get the usual influx of open bowlers into the leagues. Further he believes that many of that generation who are in their 30’s and 40’s are now having the chance at open bowling and are or will soon be wanting to join a league.
I tend to agree that his reasoning is valid for many areas of the country and it does apply to some degree locally. One of the reasons for this discussion is because I wanted to assure those new bowlers in the leagues that they certainly are welcome.
Open bowlers have the false idea that they aren’t good enough bowlers to be joining a league. That is normally true for joining a scratch league, however most of the leagues are handicap leagues and in those leagues the “new” bowler has an advantage and teams improve their winning percentage when they get new bowlers with little experience.
The handicap system used is based on the difference of your average and a percentage of an assumed highest league average. That percentage is usually about 85 percent but can be 100 percent in some leagues. The advantage for a new bowler is that the handicap is cumulative from week to week. At the beginning of the season his/her average is normally low, assume it’s 100 (the average for three games bowled at the season start). Near the end of the season with a steady rise in his/her ability and average that average for the three games bowled climbed to 180. Because the average used for scoring is cumulative, the average used for handicap calculation would only be 140 thus you would be consistently bowling above your average which obviously improves the winning percentage of your team.
You may have some trouble understanding the handicap system. I would suggest that you talk to your league secretary and determine how your league calculates the handicap value. Try some examples of a bowler through a shortened season (try 10 weeks) and prove to yourself that the new bowler really does give their team an advantage.
Good luck bowling and have fun striking out!
Howard “Pete” Peterson is the bowling columnist for the Cumberland Times-News. You can reach him at petesbowling@atlanticbb.net.
Howard Peterson - Bowling
Bittner’s 741/263 starts new season
- Howard Peterson - Bowling
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Sines & Simpson perfect at Rainbow
C.P. Sines and Todd Simpson both bowled perfect games in Rainbow’s Men’s Civic League. Sines was Rainbow’s top bowler for the week with a 766 set. Simpson scored 720/300. Rich Baker with a big score rolling 744/666.
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Bob Greene’s 816 leads area
Bob Greene bowled a near-perfect 299 game and an 816 set at Wilson Lanes and was highest of the local area bowlers for the week. Scott Hixenbaugh was next high at Wilson, scoring 746/267. Clay Corbin rolled a big 290 game in his 707 set.
At The Bowler, Dave Yates set the week’s top mark, scoring 766/278. Tim Yutzy was next, rolling 715/269. -
Dudley rolls perfect game at Rainbow Lanes
Sinclair Dudley III rolled a perfect game and 781 set in Rainbow’s Men’s Civic League. Another perfect game scored at that center after skipping a week.
Chad Gable continues his hot streak at White Oaks. This week he had the area’s top score, bowling 821/279. Bobby Benton was next high at White Oaks rolling 727/279. -
Gable rolls another 300
Chad Gable rolled another perfect game. This week it was in the Industrial League at White Oaks.
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Shirey, Yates both 785/300
Corey Shirey rolled a perfect game and a set total of 785 at The Bowler in the Friday Night County League. Derek Yates scored exactly the same 785/300 in Rainbow’s Civic League. Both of these bowlers have rolled previous 300’s.
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Corbin rolls highest set, game of week
Clay Corbin was close to a perfect game, scoring 777/298 at Wilson Lanes, which was the week’s high for area bowlers. Craig Davis was next high at that center, rolling 768/279. Tommy McDonald bowled a 290 game in his 691 set.
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John Ellifritz week’s top bowler
John Ellifritz bowled 765/275 at Wilson Lanes and was the area’s top bowler for the week. Bob Greene was next high at that center, rolling 760/279.
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Ron Fatkin perfect again
Ron Fatkin rolled another perfect game, his second in as many weeks and his third of this season.
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Fatkin perfect: 685/300
Ron Fatkin rolled another perfect game at The Bowler on March 30 in the Wednesday Night Men’s League.
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Dale Jones’ 750/265 area high
Dale Jones scored 750/265 in The Bowler’s County League to lead local area bowlers for the week.
- More Howard Peterson - Bowling Headlines
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Sines & Simpson perfect at Rainbow
