After shooting his 11th career 300 during Game 1 of the Saturday Night Fever Mixed league at Park Centre in early November, Dustin Dingler was just enjoying a good time.
“We were kind of clowning around a a little bit, enjoying the night. I don’t know, maybe it was the Captain Morgan or whatever, I don’t know,” the 44-year-old Jackson Township right-hander said.
Anyway, after throwing strikes on his first two shots of Game 2, Dingler then threw a third. The problem was, he threw it on the wrong lane.
“So I take a do-over on the other lane and I leave a pocket 7-10 (split),” Dingler said.
But, as Dingler said later, this was one of “those” kind of nights. Instead of spiraling, a supply chain manager at TruCut Inc. ran off the next seven in a row before leaving another 10-pin for a 255.
Then, despite standing 555 after two games, Dingler made a ball change after leaving a 10-pin on his first ball of Game 3. He then ran off the next 11 strikes in a row for 290 and his fourth 800 series and all-time high — 845.
“You only have so many of those to leave,” Dingler said. “So I went to the next ball in the line, got it out and never missed.
“I maybe moved one board all night. I think I might have missed a board or two in all night. It was really solid.”
Dingler, who opened with the Roto Grip Idol Solid and then went to the Idol Pro in Game 3, also had made a grip change a week prior to his milestone.
“A month or so ago, I talked to Frank Testa after seeing the different looking grips he was using. They were Vacu Grips, and they kind of float in the hole and it gives you kind of a glove feeling,” said Dingler, who is averaging in the 220s in two leagues at Park Centre and 211 in the Northeast Ohio Travel League. “So I went to Les Mann and had him switch all my grips over.
“It’s just one of those things after all these years where you learn something new. The ball is just coming off my hand great.”
Going into the 10th frame of Game 3, it was not a matter of getting to 800; it was a matter of how high.
“Every year, you maybe have two nights where you get into that zone when you just ride it out and mix in a couple of lucky shots,” said Dingler, who bowls with his girlfriend, Melodie, in the league. “We were having a real good time and you kind of get tunnel vision where you feel you can’t miss.
“I didn’t know what I could get to, but I knew it would be my best.”
Dingler also paid tribute to Chris Schlemmer of Roto Grip for his assistance through the years.
“He’s always been with me for the past about 15 years providing support,” Dingler said.
Dingler’s 800 came a week after his doubles partner in the USBC Open Championships, Mark Suchan, also shot 803.
“We kid each other all the time that one of these years we’re just going to click at the same time,” Dingler said. “He came up to me right after the 845 and said we need to do that at nationals.”
BIRTHDAY 300
Also at Park Centre in the Hannan Electric league, right-hander Adam Southall celebrated his 42nd birthday by rolling his third career 300 game.