Dead heat finish for Rocky Rollers and Cool Kids
Senior Bowling Column
On Tuesday, April 15, two-thirds of the Polson Fun Seekers Senior league will be end-of-league season partying with snacks and two fun bowling games.
One of the games will reward the kegler who is most pins over average for that game with a prize. The other game will test who can get the last two digits of their score closest to a target score. The target will be determined by the last two serial numbers from a randomly selected dollar bill. Example: If the serial number ends in "57," scores of 57, 157 and 257 would all be winners and the prize would be split. It's fun game that combines skill, strategy, and luck. I once bowled in a league where you paid $1 a week for your chance to win the pot on an exact match. As I recall, it took eight weeks before someone won about $220.
While the Rocky Rollers and the Cool Kids will have their scores count in the fun games, they will be involved in a potentially gut-wrenching competition to determine who will be crowned league champion.
The two teams met seven times during the regular season. The first four times, they both won eight points; the last three conflagrations resulted in the Kids torching the Rollers for 11 of 12 points. No wonder they are considering a name change to the Demolishers.
On the morning of the last day of the season, the Rollers were in first place with a two point lead over the Kids, whom they were facing in a position round battle. The Rollers team of Betty Zimmermann, Gene VanVoast, Sotero Muniz, and Don Lawrence needed only 1.5 points to become league champions for the fourth consecutive season.
,The Kids, Bob Cooley, Edna Elder, Anita Swope, and Don Coughren, would earn the championship title if they swept all four points. By winning three points, the Kids finished deadlocked for first, making the roll-off necessary.
All three games resulted in tenth frame battles with the Kids winning 875 to 838 and 795 to 784. The middle game was won by the Rollers 818 to 789. The Kids, who captured total pinfall by 19 pins (2459-2440) were led by Don Coughren 582/203 (+48), Edna Elder 468/174 (+36) and Anita Swope 468/164 (+3). Don Lawrence paced the Rollers with 603/212 (+51) as Sotero Muniz stroked 570/194 (+42).
League member Jeanne Windham, President of DOVES (the domestic violence organization), was not available to comment about whether Bob Cooley, 90, and Edna Elder, 89, could be charged with senior abuse for their mistreatment of the Rocky Rollers. Their treatment has indeed been cruel and inhumane.
In other position round contests, The Floaters swept four points from the Alley Cats as they finished the season on a 13-point winning streak. Taking full advantage of a 274 pin handicap advantage per game, Wilhma Delaney tossed 319/144 (+37), Jeanne Windham 294/99, and Don Basta 585/240 (+33).
,Jeannie almost had triplicate scores of 99, but fell three pins short in the first game. All three of her games were over-average and that's a difference maker in a 100 percent handicap league!
The Alley Cats were paced by Vivian Ross 420/195 (+27) and Pat Reagan 243-254-199=696 (+12). The Cats ended the season 4.5 points out of first and 5.5 points ahead of the Floaters.
The Awesome Foursome finished last by a half-point despite sweeping the Gutter Dusters. The husband and wife team of Dave and Fran Basta were awesome as they combined to capture King and Queen of the hill honors. Dave blasted 231-230-279=740 (+74) while Fran belted 200-184-171=555 (+75). Aiding their cause was 22-year-old Jonny Baker with 404/166 (+29) and his mom Debbie 425/156 (+8).
Turning in positive performances for the Gutter Dusters were Sam Reynolds 438/191 and Jane Johnston 397/168 (+1).
Next week's column will be our last for the season. We look forward to reporting an exciting conclusion to a marvelous season. In the three-game playoff, the Rocky Rollers will be giving the Cool Kids (they formerly called themselves the Cool Elders) 22 pins per game - an extremely nominal handicap. Unfortunately, we don't have non-alcoholic champagne for a locker room dousing on the heads of the winners…