Carmen Salvino Scorpion Championship
Hello everyone,
Welcome to the coverage of the Ultimate scoring championship. We bowled on a pattern designed to produce the highest scores possible. Wait a minute, we did that already. I guess that explains why it took a higher score to make match play than the house shot tournament.
We bowled at Hawthorne Lanes in Vernon Hills, IL. Wait, it’s Brunswick Zone Hawthorne now. Most of the players will always remember it as Hawthorne. This lane surface is pretty much original anvilane from about 20 years ago or so. The Spigner family did an excellent job with the maintenance of the surface during all the years that they owned the center. That doesn’t change the fact that we had a lot of friction on the lane. Pretty much any pattern we bowled on through the years turned into a score fest. The track almost always has friction at some point.
I could use a variety of balls in practice. The best look that I had was with a shiny Bounty with the pin above my ring finger. The Nkryption Code also looked really good. By the end of practice, I could use balls all the way down to Creature Pearls, and The Link.
The next day was disaster from the start. We just finished our practice, and one of the pairs broke down. After a few minutes, it was evident that it was going to take too long to fix. The PBA decided to rearrange the pairings to five, and start over. The only thing that none of the players could figure out was the need to re-oil all the lanes. We never threw a shot in competition. All this did was add another 1 ½ hour to the delay.
Once we finally got started, the lanes started out tighter than before. When I saw the lane machine come out again, I ran out to the car immediately to get a ball with more surface. The one constant that has been out here is that every time that machine touches the lane, they’re going to be different. I used a Bounty with pin under the ring finger and 1000 grit abralon on it. I started with some really good games, and kept up with the pace for the most part. Once the friction developed, there were quick and big transitions. I went to a shiny Nkryption Code with the pin up, and moved in to slow hook the track. It looked alright, but carry was an issue. I fell to around 35th, but just a few pins out of the cut.
This was also Thanksgiving, and the PBA and Brunswick arranged to bring dinner in for the players since we had a much smaller break than normal. I went with my family to a place across the street instead. I really needed to get out of the center for a little while. It was already a long day, and I wanted to clear my head a little.
I went back to the center, and prepared for the second block. I was going to need a better look in the middle games to make the cut. This time I started with a Break that had a little surface on it. This ball matched up great at the beginning, and I started with a 260, and 250 game out of the gate. Sure enough, the next couple of games saw the same transition, and my carry started to suffer again. I bowled a 195 game, and fell from 24th to 35th. Obviously, not everyone’s carry was suffering. I moved farther in, and picked up the Break that I started with, and bowled a 240 game. This ball was reading the mid lane much better, and went through the pins the right way. I finished with back to back 250 games and qualified 15th for the round robin match play.
After a long drive back home including an unnecessary traffic jam involving an outlet mall that opened at midnight, I got home around 2:30 am. When I left, I wasn’t thinking we would finish at midnight. Next time, I’m bringing a bag in case I have to stay. When we bowl close to home, I try to take advantage as much as possible to stay at home.
The next day, the pattern was close, and I could start with the same Bounty as the day before. I had about the same start, with a game in the 250s; however, I lost the game. The rest of the block was up and down, but I stayed pretty close to the cut score for the top 16. I started position round around 22 or so pins behind the cut. There were a few bowlers bunched up, and anything could happen. By this point, I was using a Heist with a little polish, and playing deeper on the lane. I threw a double in the tenth to jump up and secure the final spot for the night block.
I had mixed emotions, since I was pretty tired, and I felt like I was buried behind the leaders. I also have been out there long enough to know that anything can happen, and I’ve seen Walter Ray, and a few others make it from the same spot. I came back from the break with the mindset that I was going to try to stay as far right as possible, and keep backing my hand out of it when the lanes transitioned. I was able to start with the Nkryption Code and stay pretty direct up the lane. I started with 279, and still didn’t win the match. I tied with Ryan Ciminelli. The next match was against Scroggins. He bowled 277. Luckily, I struck out for 279 again, and managed to actually bowl a big game and get bonus pins for it. A few games later, I again tied, this time with Ken Abner. At this point, I knew I was moving up the leader board, but I still thought I was too far back to make it. I was trying to get as much as possible, and get as many points as possible. Each year, the point list is more important than the money list for most of the year. A higher finish in the point list takes care of the other one. I had another tough match with Jason Couch. I had 5 or 6 in a row to start before leaving a 10 pin. He had the front nine. He made a bad shot in the tenth, and opened. That gave me a chance to win. I struck out and bowled by third 279 against a lefty. That almost got me a record of 1-1-1 with 279. Luckily, I pulled it out. At this point, I was less than fifty out of the show. I bowled 269 against Pete Weber, and jumped into the number for the show. All the time, I was changing speed, and hand positions to let me stay farther right. This was the best angle for carry.
Going into the position round, I was in second. Usually, that’s a pretty safe spot. Not when the scores are high, though. It’s harder to separate yourself from the field when everyone is bowling 250 and up every game. I was tied with Brad Angelo, he was a few pins ahead of Ken Simard, and Couch and Ciminelli were tied, a few pins back.
Halfway through the game, I was out of the match with Wes, and Brad was out of the match with Ken. Basically, I was bowling Brad for the show on different pairs. I finished first, but only bowled 226. Brad could strike out for 240 something, so he needed the first hit. He got it, and now I was in fourth. The only match that could bump me out was the Couch-Ciminelli match. Couch needed the first hit to win the match, but the second to get around me. He didn’t even know he needed the second one, and threw it like a fill ball. Of course it struck, and he was on. He was just trying to stay ahead of Walter Ray for points.
So after all that, I finished 5th by 3 pins. Now all those tie games come into play, along with a lot of factors. You can find three pins anywhere. I had one game I doubled in the tenth, and then tried a new ball on the fill shot to look for the next move, and got 5. You don’t plan on it, but you do what you think you need to do to increase your score.
Overall, it was a great week, and hopefully I can ride this momentum to Buffalo next week.
--------------------
900 Global/AMF Sales Manager
