That's what we were facing tonight. In this particular house, I've never had wet outsides with dry insides before. This was allegedly a fresh shot but it was almost like a bunch of people had played between the 10s with sanded equipment.

Here's how I shot (off a 190 average): 159-138-191. The worst part of that 138 was missing a TWO PIN in the 10th that meant a tie for my team rather than a win.

Here's what was in the bag: MoRich Awesome Finish (50-4-50 drilling), Storm Thunderstruck Solid (drilled Rico), Ebonite Matrix Conquest (6x6 drilling), Visionary Slate Blue Gargoyle.

Started out with the Thunderstruck because there was just a tinge of oil left right in the very center, but by the fourth frame of the first game I'd either pushed all of that into the back or soaked it up. I started leaving weak 10s. When I would slow the ball down even a hair, it would smack the face.

The Awesome Finish that has allowed me to shoot about 1300 over my last 6 games in this league couldn't even get to the breakpoint. It was diving left off my hand. Throwing it harder just meant I threw it to a point it couldn't come back from.

I ended up switching to the Conquest in the third game, moving right rather than left and playing in the oil outside 8. When I say "playing in the oil," keep in mind that this house doesn't have much volume to begin with, so I guess this shot was really dry-dry rather than dry-wet.

I left nine splits on the night (picked up two of them), missed five single pins, left five washouts (picked up one of them) and generally looked like I didn't have a da*n clue what I was doing up there.

I tried the Gargoyle once as a strike ball, pulled it just a touch and left the 3-6-10. Even it couldn't play in the middle.

Am I missing something that I should have done? I found a way to play it at the end but that Conquest is drilled really weak and I didn't have much carry or room for error.

Jess