By BILL SNIER
NORTH CANTON — It’s been a difficult season for 47-year-old right-hander Tony Godden.
Living in Girard, working late hours for University Hospitals, personal life issues and having to commute back and forth to Stark County to bowl have been difficult.
Godden usually bowls every other week in his two leagues, including the Northeast Ohio Travel League.
“There were times where I just didn’t want to be there, and I feel sorry for my teammates when I’m like that,” Godden said. “It’s rough with those late nights on Thursday, but I know I only have a couple of more months to stick it out and deal with it.
“But I could care less about me now; it’s all abut the team and my teammates.”
But it didn’t stop him from achieving a personal first and another milestone recently in the Pizza Oven Classic league at Park Centre Lanes.
Using a new bowling ball fresh out of the box, Godden had games of 279, 260 and 263 for 802, his 22nd career 800 series to go along with 36 career 300 games.
“Having a fresh ball in my hand made me even prouder,” Godden said. “It’s something I’ve never done before.”
It was a ball he wasn’t planning to buy. He had another one in mind, but Ten Back Pro Shop operator Frank Testa suggested an alternative.
“I was going to go with the (Motiv) Venom Purple. But I was talking to Frank for a couple of weeks and he suggested I go with the (Columbia) Piranha to see what it does first,” Godden said. “I liked the rotation of it in practice and I never moved the whole night.”
Godden stayed in his usual line around the 15-to-20 board.
“I was surprised I could use it for one game,” Godden said. “But I was coming in light to the pocket and carrying, but not burying the pocket. So Frank told me to just move my feet up a little bit, and I stayed right there.”
He left just an 8-pin spare in Game1. In Game 2, he started strike, spare, strike before running the sheet to the 10th frame. The only pressure moment came in the 10th frame of Game 3 when he left a 3-6-9-10 split — and he needed count to secure the 800.
“It just came off my hand a little softer. I just hit it a little too hard and it went though the nose,” Godden said. “If I would have been in deeper, I would have been all right.
“I knew I didn’t have it locked. I had an 800 last year, but it had been five or six years before that for the last one so, yeah, I was a little nervous.”
With the way things have gone this season, Godden was reluctant to buy another ball.
“The balls I have are good, but they’re getting old,” Godden said. “I wanted something more reactive and more aggressive that hits harder. I just can’t believe how hard this ball hits for me.”
For now, it’s getting everything in his life in order.
“With my game, I know it will come back,” said Godden, who averages 223 at Park Centre and 205 in the NEOTL. “I’ve got plenty of time. I know I’m getting older, but I’m not that old.”
Another milestone proved that fact.