Deja vu?

If you recall, last week, I shot 698 during league, carding games of 236, 215, and 247. This week, I shot 215, 236, and 248 for 699. How's that for similarity between two sets? However, despite the remarkable consistency in the scores, there were definitely some differences between what I accomplished this week versus last week.

Game 1

9/ X X X 9/ 9/ 9/ X 7/ 9/9 - 215

The straighter is greater approach has been working for me lately both in league and in tournaments, so I decided to give my hard-hooking DV8 Grudge a rest and go with my original Brunswick Melee (2000 matte finish) to start off with tonight. Despite release inconsistencies, I really liked the look I had here. I was standing on 22, sliding in to 16, and laying the ball down around 9, which basically allowed me to throw a hook-set rocket to the pocket. The approach was sound, but, again, those release inconsistencies really cost me some carry during the latter half of the game. Still, a clean 215 wasn't a bad start.

Game 2

X X 9/ X X X X 8/ X 8/9 - 236

Knowing that the Melee would labor as I was forced to move left, I switched to the Brunswick Nirvana and went to a starting position of 28 (sliding 22, lay down at 15). The Nirvana was perfect here as it gave me just enough downlane motion to really send the pins flying. Other than missed releases in the eighth and tenth, I was pretty rock solid here en route to a clean 236 and +51 for the turn.

Game 3

81 9- 9/ X X X X X X XXX - 248

Seeing that my dad had a very nice look from inside with his Brute, I decided to jump to my Brute Strength and get in there as well. It was the wrong call. For some reason, I just can't seem to match up with that ball in league as of late. I was too deep in the first frame, leading to a 2-5, which I chopped. I then went high flush and narrowly escaped a 7-9. Sadly, I dumped the spare attempt off my hand way too far to the right, causing it to hang onto the lane but miss the 9-pin. I flat-tenned in the third, and that's when I decided that I was clearly wrong about the Brute Strength on this night.

With that in mind, I switched to my 500-grit Storm Tropical Breeze Pearl, a ball I generally use for right-side spares. I've had a lot of success with this ball during practice, but I haven't really ever been bold enough to break it out in league. Well, that changed tonight as I moved back to 25 and decided to see what I had. Voila! Obviously, the play was the right one as I proceeded to throw the last nine strikes to finish with 248 for the game and 699 for the set.

Nights like this one really leave me feeling good. Despite having terrible feel in the ball (due to the games bowled during Sunday's ABT event), I played the lanes well and kept myself in play all night. It was a bummer to have thrown away the first three frames of Game 3, but any time you make a ball change and fill the sheet, you feel pretty good about your decision making. All in all, I am very pleased with the way things turned out tonight.

As always, thanks for reading!