NORTH CANTON — They were teammates on the RJ Flooring team in the Thursday night Northeast Ohio Travel League this season, reaching the playoffs before being eliminated during the first round.
But Alex McCourry and Josh Haddad still nicknamed each other “Wednesday” Alex or “Wednesday” Josh. And it was justified.
The two players individually dominated the Pizza Oven Classic league at Park Centre Lanes on Wednesdays, both finishing the season with multiple 300 games and a trio of 800 series — each with a high of 825 — en route to leading the league in average.
How close was their battle? McCourry, a 27-year-old Canton left-hander, finished at 238.4; Haddad, a 39-year-old Canton right-hander, was at 238.3 — one-tenth of a pin behind.
Between the pair, they had just one series under 600 all season — a 587 in December by Haddad.
“We were both averaging 233 to start the second half, and you know how tough it is to raise averages in the second half,” said Haddad, a technology adviser for TCC-Verizon Wireless. “It was that close.”
Both finished the Wednesday league also with 18 700 series.
McCourry shot 806 during the final month, with a high game of 298.
“I actually did make a couple of ball changes and shot changes,” said McCourry, an Ace Mitchell Bowlers Mart employee. “Before, I was keeping everything slower and just wheeling the lane. Instead, I went to little more speed and up the lane a little more, and that seemed to do it. I shot 822 the first time I did it.”
As for Haddad, who shot 825 in the final month, it was a return to basics this season.
“I was just working on staying slow, staying under control and executing better,” Haddad said. “I just tried to many different things the past two years. I worked on speed and just following through more on shots.”
Both enjoyed the best seasons of their bowling careers.
“This league just seemed like a lot more fun for me,” said McCourry, who was four pins higher than his previous high average of 234. “It just didn’t seem as cutthroat. We kind of made the decision on our Monday team at Stonehedge to do this.
“We just wanted to have fun and see what happens.”
Both also admitted the confidence from Wednesday night spilled over to the traveling league.
“I had a rough first half of Thursdays. I was in the low 200s at the time,” McCourry said. “But I managed to crawl back to 219 by the end.”
“I don’t know if it was the confidence I got bowling Wednesdays, but I had a good year in travel,” said Haddad, who finished at 222 in the NEOTL.
“I got a new ball, but I really didn’t throw it that much on Wednesdays. I put it away for six or. seven weeks and went back to my old stuff, Everything just seemed to work.”
Both will finish their respective bowling seasons the next two weeks in tournament play. Neither plans to bowl summer leagues.
“The balls will go in the basement and I will see them again in August,” McCourry said. “The golf clubs come out now.”
Then the preparation to repeat a 2022-23 season to remember begins.