Howard "Pete" Peterson, Columnist
Bob Greene bowled an 805/288 score at Wilson Lanes on Thursday Sept. 3, in the Thursday Men’s Trio League. Greene is starting out the new season by setting a fairly high bar for others to challenge. At White Oaks, Rich Gray rolled an honor score game of 299 in his 647 set, another great season start.
With only half of the centers reporting scores, Greene’s 805 was the highest in the area. Chuck Parsons was next high at Wilson Lanes rolling 726/265. Rodney Helsley bowled a 279 game and a 703 set.
Big numbers were also posted at White Oak Lanes with Derek Yates leading the pack with 795/279. There were five other bowlers with 700s; Jeremiah Howsare was next rolling 737 and Chad Gable scoring 728. A.J. Bishop followed bowling a big 289 game and a 726 set.
Corey Shirey was highest at The Bowler scoring 707/248. Bob Hickey was next rolling 684/242. John Wolford scored a 278 game in his 645 set.
Autumn Gable bowled the top ladies score reported so far in the area rolling 643/244. Michele Hitchens and Vicki Coughlin followed scoring 589/211 and 587/246, respectively.
Coughlin also rolled 616/224 at The Bowler and was that center’s top lady bowler from these early reports. Renee Edmiston was next bowling 563/201 then Dawn House rolling 558/196.
Jean Shoemaker’s 551/199 was the ladies high at Wilson Lanes followed by Melissa Snyder’s 543/197 and Janine Buff’s 530/183.
Darrell Boatman’s 604/226 at The Bowler led the area seniors in scoring. Don Bower rolled 593/213 also at The Bowler.
Pat Logsdon bowled 548/193 at White Oak Lanes and was that center’s top senior. Toni Myers scored 527/186.
No Youth scores to report this week. Football will be dominating the high school scene for the next month so I don’t expect to see much action for a while in youth bowling.
Unless you were in a summer league, the start of the fall bowling season brings back meetings with friends that you haven’t seen over the summer. It also gives the serious bowlers a chance to set new goals for improvement of their game. For those bowlers, the most important activity should be “Practice on that part of your game that doesn’t meet your expectations.” For many that means spare shooting, especially at the corner pins. For others it means learning to read how the lanes break down from your ball reaction. Learning what adjustments to make for better carry and scoring is probably the biggest challenge for the top bowlers.
Practice is most likely the best medicine for most scoring problems in bowling. It may also help to get good advice form knowledgeable bowlers. Good luck bowling and have fun striking out!