Week #14 Results

Upon our arrival at Pinole Valley Lanes, we were astonished to find the stat sheet showed us still tied with The Icemen. This was interesting since we were tied entering last week and won four points while The Icemen won only three. Olivia asked Pam about this apparent discrepancy and she was told The Icemen won four points last week. Reggie Van Hook told us his Icemen won only three, so we can't help but wonder if the scorekeeping is on the level.

No matter. We remained as determined as ever to regain sole possession of first place. 2 Much gave us just about all we could handle but we were up to the challenge. We hammered them hard in the first game with a 540 (our high game for the season). 2 Much came right back in the second game with a heavy salvo of strikes from Olive, Heavy, and Marcus to even the series. In the third game we were behind nearly until the end. Down to our last frame, The Coach picked up a clutch ten pin and filled it with an 8 to give us a victory by three pins. We also had the edge in total pinfall for the series so three of the four points were ours.

On the lanes to our right, it seemed that The Icemen would be able to keep pace. However, they suffered a monumental meltdown in the third game and suffered a 1-3 defeat at the hands of Incognito.

Incognito won the first game but The Icemen won the second. Reggie fired nothing but strikes at the start of the third game as The Icemen built up a large lead. But Incognito came back strong to close the gap. As the game neared its end, The Icemen watched Incognito wrestle the total pinfall lead from them. They could still pull out a split if they held onto their lead in the final game. But Incognito wouldn't cooperate there either.

Incognito surged ahead to take a slight lead in the tenth frame. Unfortunately, the comeback appeared to be doomed. With only a spare between Reggie and Mike (Stan was absent), The Icemen could still win it. Reggie's first shot left a six pin which looked like an easy spare. However, he missed it for an open frame. All was not lost, though. Mike needed only a nine to tie or a mark to win. But Mike inexplicably rolled a gutter ball on his first shot. His second shot hit the pocket but the 6 and 10 pins wobbled and refused to go down. The 8 count was one pin short, giving Incogito a one-pin victory and 3 of the 4 points for the night.

In the matter of a few minutes, we turned defeat into victory as The Icemen turned victory into defeat. That two-game swing represents the lead we now hold over the Icemen. Our record stands at 39-17 while they are 37-19.

Next week we go head-to-head with The Icemen. We'll be practicing several times during the next week for this one. Considering how sheepishly Reggie slipped out of the house after his embarrassing choke Monday night, maybe he won't be running his mouth so much before next week's big grudge match.