League Night - NSAC - Victory Lanes - Kankakee, Illinois

XThe good thing about tinkering with your mechanics is that it can enable you to do new and different things. The bad thing about it is that it sometimes causes you to take a step back in regard to how well you do the things you've always done!

To put it nicely, my mechanics have been a hot mess the last two weeks. My attempts to straighten my push-away have caused timing issues and a whole lot of inconsistency in my release. As you can probably imagine, it's not easy to throw good shots and put up big numbers while fighting those issues!

Game 1

X 7- X X X X 81 6- 8/ XXX - 196

Ah, there's nothing like an 8 strike, 1 spare sub 200 game to start the night, is there? I threw my Brunswick Mastermind Genius the first two frames trying to square up and go a bit straighter than normal. This was partly due to the fact that the outsides have seemed a bit tighter the last couple of weeks and also because I need to practice playing more with the wood for Nationals. I went high flush on the first shot, but the second hung outside, resulting in a 2-4-10, which I whiffed all together. Realizing that I needed more responsiveness down-lane, I switched to the Mastermind Intellect and proceeded to smash the next four. The Intellect is amazing when you need motion at the back end of the lane. Poorly-executed shots in the 7th and 8th resulted in a 6-10 (Lost the ball right and took the 10-pin only on the cover) and a through-the-beak 4-6-7-10 that I dumped in the ditch on the conversion attempt. I converted the 3-6 in the 9th to avoid the spareless game, and then I threw three flush strikes in the 10th to help my team secure the Game 1 victory.

Game 2

9/ X X X X X 72 8/ 7/ 9/ 9/X - 211

Sticking with the Intellect, I came tight for a 4-pin in the first before rattling off the next five in a row. The sixth ball broke lose, resulting in a 3-6-10 that I missed after giving away the 3-pin and just taking the 6-10. That was followed by a 3-6 (which I actually covered) in the 8th and a 2-4-5 (which I missed by leaving the 5-pin behind) in the 9th. With all of that hatchet work, I still had a chance to double in the 10th to give our team a chance. Sadly, the first shot in the 10th crept just high enough to leave a 4-pin, which doomed our team to defeat and myself to a very mediocre 211.

Game 3

X X 71 X X X 7/ 9/ 9/ XXX - 218

My mechanics being what they were (terrible), I decided it made little sense to make a ball change, so I stuck with the Intellect yet again. I opened with a double, but my terrible shot-making led to a 2-4-5 in the third, which I missed by getting my arm to the right and sending my T-Zone to the 5-pin only. I rallied to throw the next three in a row before going 3-6-10, 8-pin, half 10-pin. Part of me was bummed to break the string of strikes. Then again, the three spares in a row pretty much doubled my spare total for the night, so at least that was something! In the 10th, I decided to abandon the changed push-away to see how my traditional push-away felt, and I was rewarded with three pretty good shots and flush strikes to end the night with 218 for the game and 625 overall.

Long story short, the Brunswick Mastermind Intellect is still a BEAST. I haven't always loved it on the fresh because the backend is just so darned strong; however, any time that the backends soften up and my ball starts to labor getting around the corner, I know that the Intellect will give me all of the motion I need and more. If you bowl in a center with weak backend reaction or encounter carrydown, you will be hard-pressed to find a better go-to ball than the Intellect. I'm just sorry that my mechanical breakdowns limited the ball's output tonight and last week. I think it's time to return to my traditional push-away. It may not be picture perfect, but it seems to be what keeps me throwing the best shots most often. I guess we'll see.

As always, thanks for reading!