By BILL SNIER
NORTH CANTON — As 28-year-old Massillon right-hander Austin Reese completed Game 1 in the Pizza Oven Classic league at Park Centre Lanes, all eyes were on another pair of lanes in the center.
Team No. 8 had just come off of Game 1 with a pair of 300 games and a 262 to have the players talking.
But just starting big had Reese hopeful that a big night was ahead.
“I’ve had a good start to the season but it seems like I have sucked in the first game,” said Reese, manager for Freedom Hobby and Gaming in Jackson Township.
His previous three league appearances, he had started with 170, 200 and “the two-teens,” but didn’t shoot a game under 240 the rest of the night each time.
This night was different.
After a pair on single-pin spares in Game 1, Reese followed with 257 and 278 for an 803 series — his first sanctioned 800 to go along with four 300 games. His only previous 800 came in an adult-junior nonsanctioned trio summer league at Park Centre when he was just 17.
“I wasn’t really thinking about it as we went to Game 3. I had enough things going on to distract me,” said Reese, who helps operate the side action for the league with his father, Bill Reese.
Bill Reese, a Greater Canton Bowling Association Hall of Famer and Massillon left-hander who still works as a part-time manager at the center, owns 74 career 800 series.
“Oh yeah. We’ve been bowling together for about three or four years now,” said Austin when asked if completing the milestone on the same team with his father carried additional meaning. “When I first came into the league I was bowling with Kenny (Burkholder), but I was able to swap over.”
Austin also bowls on his father’s team in the Northeast Ohio Travel League, where he had a pair of 790 series a year ago in his quest for the 800 milestone. His averages range from 220 to 225 in his three leagues (he also bowls in a biweekly Sunday mixed league at Park Centre).
How was Austin in the 10th frame en route to the milestone?
“I was actually pretty good. I would say the first strike was probably lucky, but the second one was better,” added Austin, who used a Brunswick Melee Jab for his milestone. “The third one really didn’t matter and I left a 10-pin.
“This feels pretty good and it has some meaning because it’s my first sanctioned 800.”
BIG TEAM NIGHT
Also in the league, Team No. 8 went on a roll starting with Game 1.
Lefty Dan Block and righty Michael Emerick Sr. had 300 games while righty Eric Long added 262, leaving only a 4-6-7-10 split. The team finished with 1,276 scratch in that game.
At the end, Emerick led the way with a 761 series, followed by Long (746), Block (716) and left-hander and 2024 Stark County USBC Hall of Famer Jeff Mowls (711). Only leadoff Tony Impagliozza (661) failed to shoot 700 as the team finished with 3,595 scratch.