159 bowlers entered Saturday at Narrows, in a memorable battle and wide open competition.  A sunny day outside and the warmer temperature that came with it, is our best explanation for the higher scores at Narrows Saturday.  We made no changes to the oil pattern, it was actually set the same as it was in our last five visits.  EIGHT times bowlers topped 1000 this week and like last week, one bowler did it twice.  The bottom of the Cash List was about 20 pins above average as well.  One of the day's GREAT stories was Wess Hall Jr who will turn 87 next weekend.  All that Wess did was throw EIGHT 9-Taps in his first 9 frames, coming within a real strike (5th frame) of toppling the Jackpot (again!).  He also just missed (10th frame) throwing his first 9-Tap 300 game.  The 9-Tap Jackpot rose to $3,083.00, thanks to only $100 in Consolation money paid out this week.  The BIGGEST news is the near RECORD sized Progressive Pot, that makes a GARGANTUAN leap to $4,418.00 for next week's 'Best 3 of 4' format at Paradise Bowl.  Boy is that ever gonna be a BIG Tournament, with the Winner's Check likely to reach a RARE level, at over $3,300.00!

 

THE CROWD WENT WILD, when Chuck Hufford broke out of his extended Two Year slump!  Nobody could blame Chuck for not putting any money in the Progressive Pot considering the length of his slump, but it certainly cost him a large chunk ofCash.  Who could have predicted the SPECTACULAR 1110 series he shot in the last squad!?  Chuck's been a very loyal Tour Member and despite his struggles... He never gave up!  The interesting part of his story is a series of very unusual coincidences.  Coincidence #1: Chuck joined the Tour in 2007 and won his only previous Title at HiLine in 2008.  Saturday before he bowled, Chuck asked if he could order a new Championship Shirt, since the old one was starting to get pretty worn and frayed.  I told him that he was welcome to order a new one OR he could WIN a new one (he obviously chose the latter). Coincidence #2: Chuck seldom re-enters a Tournament, typically doing so only once or twice per year.  His 2008 HiLine Title came on a re-entry, when he went to a movie in Tacoma after his 12:00 squad, then decided he had a good shot, so he drove back to the Tournament and Won it.  This week instead of a movie, he watched the Canucks win a hockey game on tv, then came back and re-entered the 5:00 squad and it was 'deja vu'.  Coincidence #3: Chuck and I spoke about his slump just before he bowled, when I asked him if it wasn't time for a 'Break-Out'.  He said that he'd been working on his game with former Tour Director Fred Mattson, in Fred's weekly Friday Clinic.  The hard work and tenacity paid off!  Coincidence #5: Chuck had been converting to a 14lb ball, but he decided to switch back to the same old 16lb Columbia 300 that he used for his Win back in 2008, for this week's Title.  That ball was also drilled at the Narrows Plaza Pro Shop.  Chuck retired from the Tacoma News Tribune after 38 years, where one of his jobs was editing the weekly Bowling Report.  CONGRATS Chuck on the Break-Out & Win #2!!

 

Saturday really provided some FANTASTIC bowling and lots of DRAMA.  Louis Catiller shot a strong 1035 at 2:30, putting him in 2nd Place at that point and Ed Arneson had the lead at 1065 and looked pretty safe.  Chuck, Louis and Ed were all looking for Career Win #2.  At the very last minute, Louis decided to re-enter the last squad, thinking he had a good enough shot going to catch the leaders 1065.  HE DID IT, shooting a Fantastic 1090, but got blind-sided by Chuck in the same squad.  If Louis hadn't shot in the last squad, his 1035 would have been bumped down to 4th.  He collects an AWESOME payday of $1,204.00 for 2nd.  12 year Tour Veteran Ed went from looking safely in 1st, to a 3rd Place finish, worth a nice $657.00, after topping his Career Best series by 12 pins.  Any one of the Top SIX scores could have been enough to win on a normal day, including Cal Fisher with a GREAT 1054 or Glenn Sullivan with his 'best yet' series of 1025.