By BILL SNIER
NORTH CANTON — Frank Testa was not looking to bowl in league play that Monday night at Park Centre Lanes.
In fact, with his stepson Cooper Smith watching his Ten Back Pro Shop at the center, Testa was preparing to watch his wife, Mandi Testa, bowl in the women’s league.
“I saw that Chuck Spencer’s team had a blind in the league next to Mandi’s pair. So about 10 or 15 minutes before, I said something to him if they needed a bowler,” Testa said of the Honeymoon Grille league. “I hadn’t been practicing that much in about a month and I wanted to get some competitive practice in before the weekend.”
But when Spencer’s team no longer needed him, Testa was just planning to watch Mandi. But his other stepson, Andrew Smith, was on a team that needed a sub another pair over from Spencer’s team.
“I told them that if I knew they had a blind, I would have bowled,” the 41-year-old Massillon right-hander said. “They were in a couple of frames, but Mandi hollered over to Andrew if he wanted me to sub, and he said it would be great. So I agreed.
“I was going in cold and I’m no spring chicken anymore. So I grabbed one ball and my shoes from the shop and walked right over there. Things just fell into place.”
Using that one ball, a Radical Breakaway that he had drilled up earlier in the day, throwing about “six or seven shots” to check the feel coming off his hand, Testa ran off games of 279, 247 and 300 for an 826 series, his second 800 of the season and 65th of his career.
“Earlier in the day, when the seniors were there, I practiced for about an hour and a half before the shop opened with other stuff, just to get the cobwebs off,” Testa said. “When I grabbed that ball for the league, honestly, I just wanted to see what it would do.
“I like trying to showcase some of the newer stuff just so the bowlers can see what is new out there. Unfortunately, you really can’t try before you buy in this business most of the time. If it rolled good, fine, and if not, the bowlers would still have seen what the ball was going to do.”
Standing around 35-board and looking around 18 to 19 at the arrows, Testa said he just kept inching his feet and target left to make sure he didn’t get the ball too far right.
“I was surprised by the ball reaction. I was not expecting that ball to be that good for that long,” Testa said. “I was figuring probably around Game 2 or going into Game 3 I would have to get out of it and go back and get something weaker.”
But that never happened. He did leave four spares in Game 2, which produced his biggest fear — covering a 10-pin.
“I started to get nervous in about the fifth frame of the last game because I knew if I didn’t strike and left a 10-pin, I would have to adjust,” Testa said. “Fortunately, that never came up.”
He did have to cover a pair of 10-pins in Game 2, but it “really made me focus on keeping my hand being the bowling ball and not rotate it at all.”
After striking out in the 10th frame of Game 2, Testa did contemplate a ball change.
“But I wanted to see its limits. I wanted to see if I moved farther left and got my hand around it a little more, how it would react,” Testa added. “After the first two strikes in Game 3, I just stayed with it.”
HIs previous 800 this season came at Wabash Lanes during a doubles league.
Although he had thrown an 800 with a new ball before, this was unexpected.
“It absolutely means more now,” said Testa, who had four 800s in one season when he was younger along with three 300s. “I wasn’t nearly as appreciative of honor scores as I am now.
“There’s no outrunning Father Time. You just never know so you try to make the best of every opportunity you have.”