By BILL SNIER
CANTON — Matt Coffelt and Brian Ball bowl together, play golf together and, just last weekend, they faced each other in the finals of a College Bowl Tournaments singles tournament at Eastbury Bowling Center.
Ball also handles Coffelt’s bowling equipment. So he wasn’t surprised when his friend brought him a new set of drilling specifications.
“For old men like us, we have no flexibility in our hands no more,” Ball laughed. “But Matt has a tendency where he hits up and around on the ball. By taking his grips out, there’s nothing to hit up on his ball. It comes off his hand cleaner and more forward plus its more accurate with what he’s been doing.
“I’ve been trying to get him to do that for five years now, but he finally caved in because he was bowling so bad. Now, he’s bowling really well.”
Coffelt, who captured that singles title, was coming off a 564 the night before the tournament.
But, the previous week, the 57-year-old Canton right-hander put it all together with games of 258, 300 and 267 for his fifth career 800, an 806, in the Liberty Vending league at Eastbury.
The changes to his specifications came following a trip to the USBC Open Championships in Las Vegas and a visit to the Storm kiosk set up by Mike Jasnau, teaching pro at the National Bowling Stadium in Reno, Nev.
“We met up out there and I’m part of his Facebook group. We went to the Storm booth and the driller set me up with a new fit,” said Coffelt, who is employed by Hospitality Control Systems. “I didn’t drill anything out there, but he gave me a copy of the specs and I showed it to Brian.”
Among the changes were Coffelt’s span and pitches in his fingers and thumb and, most importantly, getting rid of his finger grips.
“I started off the summer with my old stuff because I didn’t want to chew up any new balls,” said Coffelt, who bowled in a junior-adult league at Spins Bowl-Akron. “It was in mid-June when we started plugging things (to redrill).
“The Spins shot was kind of weird. Physically, the ball felt good coming off my hand, but the scores weren’t there. But I just started things way better.”
There was a caveat to Coffelt’s 800. His team was bowling a ghost team that night and had just three players — himself, Ball and Renae Shafer.
“But you still have to throw the ball well and carry,” said Coffelt, who is bowling in two leagues. “You have to make some adjustments still, but it does make it easier.”
Coffelt finished Game 1 with the last five strikes before his 300. Then he started Game 3 with the front five before failing to convert a 10-pin spare — his lone open of the night — and then striking out.
“It’s so far so good. I’m just getting out of the ball miles better since Brian predrilled them,” Coffelt added.
His last 800 came seven years ago — on the same night as teammate Todd Dorosky also had 800.
BALL STARTS STRONG
For his part, Ball has started the season with a pair of 300 games along with rolling 806 in the Las Vegas Mixed trio league at Eastbury.
“I think I bowled about 12 games before the season started. Throwing the ball straighter has been the big thing,” said Ball, who owns around 150 300 games to go with “about 120” 800 series.
“I’m trying to stay with the lane in front of me and not cover so many boards.”
Ball, a 50-year-old Massillon resident who is employed by Carter Lumber, had games of 248, 300 and 258 using his Track Stealth Hybrid. It is the ball he uses now on the short side at Eastbury.
“On the other side, its the Ion Pro and Virtual Energy Blackout,” said Ball, whose latest 800 came against his children, Branden and Jessica, on the same pair where he threw his first honor score (lanes 31-32) as a 12-year-old.
“There seems to be more oil right now which we didn’t have year ago,” Ball said. “It gets down the lane cleaner and the backends are better. Right now, I’m just having fun.
“I really haven’t changed anything since February when I changed my spans and everything. The big thing also now is I know I can make spares and I don’t think as much about throwing so many strikes. It’s better that way.”
As for tournament play, the weather isn’t to that point yet.
“I’m still thinking about where we’re teeing off on Sunday,” said Ball, who didn’t bowl during the summer. “Once the weather gets worse, we’ll start thinking about it.”
The night before the Eastbury tourney, while Coffelt struggled, Ball had 692. Shafer had 713 while Jessica Ball, bowling as a substitute for regular Don Sprout, had 757. Brian Ball also had 790, with 286 and 269 his last two games, the night of Coffelt’s milestone.
Coffelt also had a top-four finish in the Ohio Matchplay Tournaments’ last event in Columbus. So that part of the season also has begun with a bang for both.