NORTH CANTON — At one point, Brian Reichard wondered whether his decision to move to urethane equipment from reactive resin was costing him high scores.
“I thought maybe it was holding me back a little,” the 44-year-old Akron right-hander said. “But it helped me so much on the wet-dry conditions, and it has been consistent for me.”
He put that decision to rest last season with his first 800 in nine seasons at Park Centre Lanes, He followed it with another, an 827, in April at the same center.
Then he completed the triplicate with games of 264, 280 and 276 for 820 again in the Pizza Oven Classic league at Park Centre. He also bowls on Thursdays at the center, averaging 226 and 230, respectively, in the two leagues.
“I had been struggling a little to start the season,” Reichard, a senior financial analyst for Cleveland Clinic, said. “But I’ve been playing with it a little bit and figuring it out.”
Reichard, who has 16 career 300 games to go along with five 800 series, has never shot 300 with one of his milestone series.
“I had 18 strikes in a row at one point, and I was really concentrating on trying to get that 300 and go possibly 844 if anything else,” Reichard said. “Working with numbers is what I do, so I knew where I stood.”
Reichard started Game 1 with eight strikes before leaving a 3-6-7-10 split, getting three for his only open of the night.
“I just threw it really badly,” he added.
In Game 2, he started with a strike before leaving a 9-pin in the second frame and beginning his string of strikes into Game 3.
“Usually, a high hit leaving a 4-pin or a wiggling 9-pin will tell me when to make a move,” said Reichard, who stayed around the seventh and eighth boards all night with his Purple Hammer. “That night, those shots carried and I just had to make like half-board moves.”
In Game 3, he started with the front eight strikes before ending his run with a 10-pin.
“It was a little bit of a flat-10. As soon as I threw it, it was like, please, don’t be an 8-10,” Reichard said. “That was probably the only pressure I felt all night — picking up that 10-pin. Of all things, I had to leave a stupid 10-pin.”
He then struck into the 10th frame before a 7-count on his final ball with the 800 well in hand.
“With that kind of run, it was a little disappointing I didn’t get the 300. I’m one of those people that is always expecting more, and I’ll probably remember that more than the 820,” Reichard said. “But I was super calm all night and was on a good pair for me (Lanes 1-2) where I shot an 800 before.”
After going nine years without an 800 series, what has changed outside of using urethane equipment?
“I’ve gotten more consistent it seems, and I’ve worked on using different hand positions to get the roll I want,” Reichard said. “I’m just trying to drop the ball more and let the ball swing my arm, trying to get more free and easy.”
And it has brought results.
“I guess, for me,” Reichard added, “it was easy. I was right there all night.”