After starting the 2021-22 winter season strong, Alliance right-hander Richard Stoffer admitted October and early November were a struggle.
“If you ask my travel league teammates, they’d say I took a vacation in October and when I came back, I was still in vacation mode,” the 43-year-old MAC Trailer employee said. “It wasn’t until the middle of November that I got back to throwing the ball well.”
Bowling in four leagues at three centers plus the Northeast Ohio Travel League, Stoffer had one career quest he hoped to accomplish this season — rolling his 60th 300 game.
Recently in the Friday Night Merchants league at Eastbury Bowling Center, he got to No. 59. En route to another milestone, he also fell just short of that goal.
Stoffer had games of 300, 227 and 279 for an 806 series, his 27th career 800 with a high of 855. It came after he threw just two practice balls.
“I pretty much started where I usually do at Eastbury, playing 15 (board) to 10 (board),” said Stoffer, whose averages range from 225 to 230. “I sat there the whole game and never moved.”
With 300 No. 59 out of the way, Stoffer’s shot changed. After going the whole way with the 900 Global Wolverine in Game 1 and starting with it in Game 2, he felt a change was needed.
“It was the first time I threw the Wolverine, and I had a good look until the fourth frame of the second game when I left a 9-pin,” Stoffer said. “The lanes were getting a little snappy, so I knew I had to move in deeper, but that ball was just dying out.
“I made three or four ball changes that game. It kind of became a spare fest. In the seventh frame, I got into the (900 Global) Volatility Torque and I didn’t miss after that until the 10th frame of the last game.”
He started Game 3 with the first nine strikes in his quest for 300 No. 60
“For some ungodly reason, I was really nervous in the 10th frame. I was shaky and just tugged the shot inside,” said Staffer, who left a 10-pin on his first ball in the 10th. “No. 60 was just in my head.
“Shooting 800 was not even in my head at all … I was just worried about the 300. Then I saw everyone standing behind me and realized I could shoot 800. But I had to cover that 10-pin, which can be tough sometimes. Once I did that, I knew I had it. I labeled the last shot.”
Stoffer has been with 900 Global for about four seasons. With the Wolverine, he’s had several nights with nine strikes in a row in that quest for 300 No. 60.
That night, he did not have an open frame.
“I’ve been throwing it really well,” Stoffer added. “It’s just a matter of actually throwing the ball.”
And finding his way to another career milestone.