By BILL SNIER
Bowlers use summer leagues for a variety of reasons.
It could be to test themselves on difficult patterns (see the many sport shot leagues), test new equipment or to work on changes to their games.
But there still are others who just want to have fun and use the period to stay loose as they prepare for the 2024-25 fall-winter season.
But that doesn’t mean there aren’t some big numbers to be shot.
Louisville right-hander Chase Barstow and North Canton right-hander Brandon Clifford proved that recently at Eastbury Bowling Center and Park Centre Lanes, respectively, with both adding to their 800 series and 300 game career totals.
Here’s a look at how both performed in summer league action.
MOVE WORKS FOR BARSTOW
Barstow, a former OHSAA Division I state individual runner-up and Walsh University player, said the way he threw his “nice and old” 900 Global Zen proved “in the end to be good enough.”
Barstow, who now owns three career 800 series, had his career best in the Tuesday Night Trio league with games of 270, 300 and 247 for 817. It was his fifth sanctioned 300 game.
“I was struggling early staying left and trying to get the ball to the pocket,” the 21-year-old two-hander said. “So I decided to go back to doing what I do best: move right and throw it really hard.
He started with a pair of nine spares in the first two frames before running the sheet. After following that with 300, he had four spares the last game with no holes to complete his run.
Barstow, who was runner-up in the John Klonowski Memorial this season at Eastbury, returned to bowling for Walsh after taking time off.
“It went about how I expected after only bowling half of a season (before leaving the team for personal reasons) and not really bowling much on the tougher stuff,” said Barstow, who will be entering his final semester in the fall with an accounting major. “I just came in to do what I could do to help the team.
“With the stuff that happened during the season, I think we accomplished more than what was expected of us. So that was a good step toward going in the right direction for the future.”
Barstow also had a solid season in the Northeast Ohio Travel League, finishing as the individual points leader.
“I felt short of my average goal, but I was pretty happy overall,” said Barstow, who will return to the NEOTL next season after averaging 232.59 this season. “I enjoyed my team and my teammates.”
Although he could graduate early Barstow, who already is doing an internship in corporate accounting at The Timken Co. this summer, plans to continue his studies in the fall and do another tax-related internship in the spring.
“I’m hoping to bowl for Walsh the first half of the season and then do the internship,” Barstow said. “I want to cover most of the fields open to me and see what suits me best, but there is more I want to learn before I graduate.”
Overall, summer is just a fun time for Barstow.
“I just use it to relax from league and college competition and have fun with (teammate) Jordan (Norris),” Barstow said.
BALL CHANGE WORKS FOR CLIFFORD
Clifford did not like the look he was getting in Game 1 of the Tuesday Trio league at Park Centre.
“I just made a lot of bad shots at the beginning of Game 1. The ball was pushing too far down the lane and I had no carry,” said the 44-year-old. “I left two 7-pins and a 10-pin, so I decided to change.”
He went from throwing the Roto Grip Optimum Idol which he usually throws to a 900 Global Eternity Pi, which he had Frank Testa at Ten Back Pro Shop drill up “just because of the way it looked.”
It produced two more milestones.
Clifford, who owns a career-high 866 series at Minerva Bowl, had games of 244, 279 and 300 for 823, his 13th career 800 and his 44th 300 game.
“I switched balls and moved way right and started going up nine and 10 (boards),” Clifford said. “The rest of that first game all I left was a seven or six count on my fill ball in the 10th and ran strikes.”
He started with five more strikes to start Game 2 before leaving a 10-pin. After converting that spare he began another run.
Clifford didn’t miss the rest of the night.
“I hadn’t been able to use that ball here, but the other one was pushing so far down the lane,” Clifford said. “I used it at one of (Jeff) DiMarzio’s tournaments and shot 300 with it, so now I have an 800 and another 300 with it.”
The UniFirst employee said the lanes were playing “a lot different than they did during the season,” when he usually moves left and throws right. He bowled two leagues this season, both at Park Centre.
“I just try to stay loose during the summer. I know a lot of guys like to bowl sports shot leagues and things like that,” said Clifford, who is heading to the USBC Open Championships in Las Vegas in July. “I plan on the same two leagues in the winter, but I want to bowl as many tournaments as I can.”