By By Mike Carso/The Meridian Star
Dec. 19, 2000
The "threat" came Friday, but the "explosions" weren't heard until Monday in local bowling action. December 11 will go down as one of the biggest scoring nights in the history of Meridian bowling.
The evening began with Robert Brown giving the crowd a thrill as he strung eleven straight strikes in the first game of the evening before just missing his second perfect game and ending with a 298. Most nights that would have been excitement enough. But this wasn't "most nights!"
In Game 2 of the evening, Randy Rives put together all twelve strikes for the tenth 300-game of the season. Want more? The monitor had barely stopped proclaiming the good news when four lanes over Fred White punched out the eleventh perfect game! It was the first time in the history of local bowling that two men recorded 300 Games in the same night, literally within minutes of each other.
But the action didn't end there. Along came Game 3 and John Lott stepped to the approach where he promptly knocked out eleven strikes in a row, only to tug the last ball a little and conclude the scoring with a 297 game!
In addition to all this, the Miller Ball Resurfacing team consisting of Andrew Clayton, Greg Goddard, Milton Hudson, Ken Miller and Jeff Gaines pounded out the second highest scratch game ever locally with a combined score of 1250.
The night ended with a total of nine 700 Series, ranging from James Bloomer's 701 to M.A. Copeland's whopping 773 series. Brown finished the night with a 747. Lott recorded a 733 while White added a 724 and Rives carded a 761. Robert Trout blasted out a 743. Alan Hand and Jeff Gaines rounded out the big evening with a 708 and 704 respectively.
Congratulations to all these bowlers and thanks for treating us all to an exciting night of bowling.
In other action over the past week, James Bloomer added a 770 Series, Bill Fike recorded a 738, Randy Rives chalked up a 744 and Mike Cothern chipped in with a 724.
As for the ladies, they are doing their share to keep things lively by blasting out a few big numbers of their own. Billie Coleman stayed hot by taking the High Game of the week with a 256 game/620 series in the Ball &Chain league. Shirley Gaines was not to be outdone, however, as she pitched in with a252 game and a week-high 664 set. Not wanting to be left out, the "Kemper County Flash," better known as Janie Tisdale recorded a nice 253 game.
Congratulations are extended to both Lisa Willis and Marlene Cacapit who each rolled their first career 200 Games, despite a "slight interruption." Willis put together a nice 223 game/532 series and Cacapit knocked down enough pins to garner her first "2" with a 210.
League play for the first half of the season concludes this Friday. All leagues will be off next week for the holidays and resume play Tuesday, January 2, 2001. We would like to take this opportunity to thank all of our bowlers for a successful year. It is only with you and your support that we can continue to keep the sport of bowling alive and well in the Meridian area. We wish you all a very happy and joyous holiday season and look forward to another great year in 2001.