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Versailles Boys Varsity Bowlers Suffer 1st
Loss
The WOHSBC kicked off the 2012-13 season at Plaza Lanes in Celina. The
Tigers went up against a tough opponent, the St. Marys Roughriders.
Typically, the lane pattern at Celina is very conducive to higher
scores, but not for these two teams.
“During warm-ups, I noticed the lane pattern was extremely dry.
Something was not right, but was not sure exactly what. I told the boys
that there would not be a lot of strikes today, so their spare game was
going to be even more critical.”
Bowling lanes need lane oil to not only protect the lanes, but to also
help the ball skid through the first part of the lane. If there is too
much friction in the fronts, it makes it extremely difficult to hit the
pocket (for bowlers that hook the ball) It does not affect straighter
players as much) Lanes 1-6 were normal and the scores were normal. The
maintenance person that runs the oil machine failed to fill the machine
up to the proper levels with lane oil and the machine started running
out of oil about lane 7 or 8. Therefore, lanes 9-16 were extremely
difficult. The lane machine actually cleans the lane first and then
applies the lane oil. So, freshly clean lanes with very little lane oil
makes for an almost impossible oil pattern.
The match started out very close with Versailles winning the 1st game
810 to 798. The second game belonged to the Roughriders 872 to 822.
With 5 Baker Games to go, the 38 pin deficit could easily be made up.
The Baker Games went back and forth 172-147, 155-193, 161-139, 152-156.
With 1 Baker game to go, the Tigers were down 33 pins. It came down to
the wire and the Tigers kept grinding away to fall short by only 7
pins. The total score was 2,423 to 2,416.
To put the tough lane conditions into perspective, Coldwater and St.
Henry (strong teams that will compete for the title this year) rolled
3,240 and 2,843. Another strong contender, Wapakoneta, was on the tough
lanes and rolled a 2,519.
The Tigers were led by Michael Davidson a 199 and 200, Kenny Nagel with
a 182 and 178, Jordan Groff 178 and Ben Ahrens 171. 200 or more is
normally the number to be recognized, but anything over 170 on this
pattern was a good score.
“I have bowled in hundreds of bowling centers and hundreds of oil
patterns and this was in the top 5 of the hardest I have ever seen. I
give not only my boys but the St. Marys boys and Coach credit, they
handled this unfair and challenging lane condition with class and kept
grinding away the entire match.”
The Tigers will compete this Saturday against the Minster Wildcats at
Community Lanes in Minster. Please visit
www.wohsbc.com
for in depth stats and the final conference standings.
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