Ultimate Scoring Championship Recap

Hello everyone,
     Last week in Taylor we had two tournaments jammed into one week.  This allowed them to have two shows on one day, and give us a week off.  We are still bowling on Thanksgiving though.  Go figure.  
     The first tournament was the Ultimate Scoring Championship.  This was bowled on a pattern that resembles your typical house shot.  I’m not sure what was supposed to be accomplished by this, but hopefully it was.  During practice, it did seem like I was bowing at home.  There was enough room right, and there was hold, although it wasn’t piled as high as I’ve seen it on the house shot.  They actually seemed fairly blended.  The one concern most of the players had was that when you wall up a lane, and everyone plays them close, you get massive wet/dry, and the scores actually go the other way.
    Most every ball I had looked good, so I was really just trying to get loose, and look for carry.  I was able to hit the pocket with everything, but trying to find that magic ball that strikes from everywhere was the goal.  My plan for the next day was to try to start with a shiny pin up Bounty, and go from there.
     The next day, they actually seemed close.  Taylor is a split house, and there are big differences in how each end plays.  The end I started on was the hooking side, and I had a better look for carry using the Break S75 with the pin above my fingers.  I started with a 230 game, and felt like I was already behind.  When I changed sides, the outlook was different.  Mostly games of 200 to 230 on this side.  This was the tighter end of the building.  I went to the Bounty from practice, and moved about 5 right, and started in the track, sending it to around 6-7.  I kept bowling 230 games, and that was pretty much on pace.  I was talking with Walt Schaub at the start, and said if I stay in the 230s, I should be good.  It’s still hard to not feel like you need them all every game though.
     The Bounty worked well for the rest of the games on this side.  However, when I went back to the hooking side, things were different.  First I tried to just move in deeper, but there was too much friction.  I switched to an Nkryption Code, and stayed left of the track.  I finished with a game in the 220s, and a 204 the last game.  I felt like I gave up some ground, but the number stalled a little the last couple of games.
     The second block started with a little more friction in the middle.  I did start on the hooking side again.  This time, I tried to start with the Nkryption Code, but only managed a small 200 game.  Luckily this was just a bad pair, and the next few pairs played better.  I was able to go back to the Bounty, and bowled a couple solid games.  When we went back to the tight side, I bowled 250, and felt like I had enough cushion for the finals.  The next game, I bowled 190, and now I fell closer to the cut line.  I switched to the Nkryption Code with pin above the fingers, and bowled 300.  Sometimes a ball change is risky, but it really paid off this time.  I stayed with that ball, and bowled 257 the last game to qualify 5th.
     The next day in the finals, I bowled Nathan Bohr in a best of seven match.  I drew him on the same pair I bowled Chris Barnes on last year.  This was a tough pair.  Lane 14 hooked about 2-3 boards more in the front than 13 did, and the scores weren’t as high.  I lost the first game, and wasn’t really lined up.  I had the second game in control, and needed a spare to win.  I stuck really bad on the approach, and chopped a 3-6-10 to give it away.  The next game, I could strike out to win, and left a ring 10.  I lost that game by 2, and was now down 3-0.
     The next three games, a battled back in the match.  I was using the Nkryption Code from the day before, and trying to keep it as straight as I could.  It came down to game 7.  The game was pretty good back and forth.  It came down to the 9th and 10th.  I finished first, struck in the 9th, got the first two in the 10th, and left a half pocket 10 on the fill ball.  Nathan needed all three to win by one.  His first shot was high, tripping the 4-7.  The next two were good, and that was it for me.  A lot of the matches were really good throughout the week with good scores.  I think regardless of the scoring pace, the matches still for the most part come down to making good shots.  The next tournament starts the next day with the Chameleon Championship.  I’ll update you how that week went next.

                                                             Steve

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