One game.  After everything was said and done in this tournament, for me it really just came down to one game.  This weekend, we were bowling on the cheetah pattern at Bowlaway Lanes in Walla Walla, Washington.  The lane surface is Brunswick Anvil Lane and they were in very good shape.  The condition of the lanes, when coupled with the cheetah pattern, made for some very high scoring during the course of the weekend.  Steve Stevens, or "The Lane Dude" as many know him, put down volume 3, the highest volume of oil used in regionals. 

I half expected the pattern to play similar to the last time we bowled on Cheetah, which was at Skyway Park Bowl in Seattle.  I also figured that due to the age of the lanes, we'd be bowling on more oil than before.  I knew that the last time we bowled on cheetah, the ticket was to use equipment that got down the lane through the heads with ease.  Too much surface created some pretty violent over-reaction.  Typically, you want to play this pattern way out as close to the gutter as you can.  It's a short pattern (35 ft), so you need to give your ball plenty of time to react, and extreme outside angles are usually the best choice.  With that in mind, I went into the practice session with a lot of polished equipment to provide easy length.

The practice session was a mixed blessing for me.  First of all, the second ball I threw nearly ended up horrible.  I began my approach, and just as I entered my slide....

Well, there was no slide.  Before I know it, I'm four feet down lane with my back end sitting in the right channel, and my feet in the left.  Everybody looked pretty worried, but I just got back up and laughed it off. I continued practicing, and decided I had my best look with the Hammer Black Widow Pearl.  After practice was over, I had the pleasure of bowling the Pro-Am with the juniors. It was a blast as always!  Any time I get to bowl with the regulars at the center, it's always a great deal of fun, and it's something I truly enjoy doing.  After the Pro-Am though, I was beginning to figure out why everyone looked so concerned when I took my spill.  My right hip was turning a new shade of purple, and it was pretty sore.

Qualifying began just the way I had hoped it wouldn't.  I was making the cross with Corey Husted, Mike Danielson, Scot Archibal, and my dad who came with me to bowl as a guest.  During our 15 minutes of warm up, I couldn't quite get loose.  To make matters worse, the lanes seemed to be playing tighter than they had in practice, which isn't entirely uncommon.  My reaction was absolutely terrible.  I was sailing the ball right through my break point, and wrongfully attributed it to poor leverage at the foul line.  In reality however, it was just bad ball reaction.  I struggled for an opening game of 152, effectively digging myself in a giant hole, and that is something that isn't easily afforded when the scoring pace is this high.  Games 2-6, I turned into a whole new person.  I switched to a very tame Hammer Black widow with 4000 abralon.  The surface of the ball gave me the extra reaction I needed, and the tame layout provided a nice smooth transition.  I pulled myself back in the hunt for the cut to the tune of a 230 average the next four games.  Game 7 I whiffed an easy 7 pin late, but squeaked out a 198 by striking out in the 10th.  Going into the last game, I was sitting at +77.  13th place, which was the number who would be making the cut, was projected at +140.  It wasn't going to be impossible to make it, but things certainly weren't looking my way.  I needed a big last game, and I needed the number to come back to me somehow.  I went into game 8 trying to throw the Hail Mary, but a 258 game just wasn't quite enough.  My final total - +135.  13th Place - +161.

All in all, it was still a great weekend. Erik Hohlbein ended up winning, as he did the last time we bowled on Cheetah.  Congratulations go out to him! The staff at Bowlaway Lanes was great and I thank them immensely for taking such great care of us.  I really hope that we come back next year, because this was easily one of my favorite stops.  Also, to all the folks that came out to bowl the pro-am, you guys were fantastic.  I should be getting my new Columbia equipment fairly soon, so keep your eyes peeled for that.  Until then, time to start getting ready for Reno!

-Shawn