I've forgotten to post this for a while, but I finally got my first 700 series a month ago in league. 193-232-279-704. I opened on the 3-10 in the first frame of the last game, move 2 boards left, and the pins started falling. I tripped the 4 pin forward 5 times in those last 11 strikes. The 279 is also my highest game, besting my 276 from 3 years ago.

I also bowled in the Coca-Cola tournament in Joplin, MO last Saturday. I bowled fairly well, 165-208-229-602 in the singles and 194-171-234-599 for the team portion. Too bad my average going in was 195, so I got almost no handicap. It's still hard to complain when you average 200 over 6 games. The lanes really started to open up for me on the 3rd game of each series. I should have scored better than what I did though, i struggled with spares in the singles portion, and left back to back splits on a bad ball change in the second game of teams, costing me what should have been an easy 200 game. I finished in the middle of the pack in singles, and my team did poorly, as I was the only one on the team who's series was over their average.

My league average was at 191 last week, and I have been bowling really well recently as a whole. My spare shooting is much better, and I've been hitting my mark on strike balls and carrying really well. I'm hoping for more big things coming soon. 

The backends started off tight and got tighter as the daywent on today. I still bowled a good first game, 197, but I really pulled my fill shot in the 10th and got 5, keeping me from breaking 200 there. The next game was just average. The backends tightened up more, and I left a lot of easy spares that I was able to cover, ending with 169. The third game started off bad and got worse, starting off by leaving a 5-pin on a pure hit, then missing the spare by a hair, then getting 1 mark over the next 5 frames. Then I cover the 1-2-10 washout, and all of a sudden I get a burst of confidence. I double in the 8th and 9th, then spare in the 10th for 161. 197-169-161-527, not too bad considering how tough the lanes were today.

I'm buying a used absolute inferno from the pro shop, and I wish I would have had it today, the extra backend over my eraser would have been useful today. I'm also getting a real spare ball, which I hope will help in my spare shooting.

Also, I found out that I finished 7th last week in the tournament, and top 14 advance, so be rooting for me on the 5th!

I had the best series of my life today in leauge, bowling a 219-169-255 for a 643 series, my best ever! The 255 is also my 2nd highest game too. The 643 was the high series for the week, So I was the top seed in the "roll-off" against the other Matt. The previous game on that pair he had the front 8 for a 252 game. This happens to be the same pair I shot 169 on during the regular games. Now, I'm not upset with shooting a 169, but it's going to take a lot more that that to beat Matt. However, after both of us starting out strong, I leave 5 straight opens, and he can only put up 2 spares over that same time. I strike in the 9th, at least leaving me in the game. He has to double and 8 to shut me out. He goes brooklyn on the first shot, but gets the trip on the 6 pin, then packs the next 2 to win. I strike out to lose by 3, 178-175.

And after those 4 games, I go to bowl 6 more at the grand prix tournament. Since since I was so hungry and tired, the games are kind of a blur to me, but I bowled well as a whole, 160-187-159 on the first pair, 200-186-187 on the 2nd pair. The 186 game contained the absolute worst turkey of my life. Brooklyn strike, backwards strike, brooklyn again. WTF? I can't complain. I can complain about missing all the 10 pins that I did though. Man, I need to work on that before state. My total with handicap and bonus pins was 1375, which should be more than enough to put me through to state (which is at my home lanes this year, yay!).

I bowled horrible this week, so I'm not going to talk about that. However, I wanted update on last weeks blog, I did make it to the next round of the grand prix, which will be in 2 weeks.

I got a copy of my college transcript printed and ready to go, becacuse this week is the Oklahoma Grand Prix Qualifier week for my leauge. For those not in the know, the Grand Prix is a statewide scholarship tournament that awards bonus pins based on the bowler's GPA. The first round is part of your leauge, bowled at your own center during one of your leauge sessions. However, since we had to bowl 6 games, those of us who were playing in the tournament had to stick around and bowl another series. Anyway, my leauge series defined average. I was't bowling bad by any means(for me anyway), but I just wasn't matching up quite as well as I normally do. My first series was 180-166-154. The last game should have been better, but I forgot how to cover corner pins(silly me). Anyway, we were moved to the other side of the bowling alley for the 2nd series. The other side is newer than the side we usually bowl on, and has a little less friction in the backend. My thumb shrunk up in the time in between the 2 series (we had about a 30 min. break), and the ball started falling off my hand at the bottom, missing right with not much lift in it. It took me the rest of the game to figure it out, and I put another piece of tape in the back after shooting 160. All I can say is BOOM. If my ball was hitting anywhere close it was carrying. Okay, I had one weak 10 in there, but let's not talk about that. Let's talk about the 11 strikes I had the last 2 games, most of which were light hits. I finish with 196-222, giving me a 578 series and a 1078 scratch total. Though I don't know for sure, that should be good enough to put me through to the next round (as it is a handicap tournament).