By BILL SNIER
WOOSTER — It has been quite a stretch for Karlie Way.
Not only did she set the woman’s house scoring record at Ballerz Sports Club (former Triway Lanes), but she participated in her first Professional Women’s Bowling Association regional event in Detroit.
And, she just completed her first season as coach of the Triway High School boys bowling team.
As for the record, the 27-year-old Wooster right-hander didn’t want to know where she stood as she entered Game 3 in the Triple B Heating and Cooling league.
“I actually didn’t want to focus on it. I knew I was close, but I kept saying to myself, ‘Don’t do the math,’ ” the Schaeffler Transmission Systems electrical apprentice said. “Let’s just go up there and throw good, consistent shots.”
This came after Way opened with 279 in Game 1, leaving only a 10-pin spare in the seventh frame.
Then, in Game 2, she made her only poor shot in the second frame, leaving a 1-2-4 spare, but was able to cover it. She had just one more spare the rest of the way for 258 to give her 537 after two games.
Way admits Game 3 is “kind of fuzzy.”
“I was really amped up,” said Way, who opened that game with a spare before running off seven strikes in a row before another 10-pin spare.
She knew she needed good shots in the 10th frame to close out the milestone. She started with a strike.
“”Even before I went up and threw that very last ball, I knew this was it,” said Way, whose previous high came during the Inter-City tournament at Holiday Bowl in Struthers with 788.
“I started tearing up as soon as I saw it off my hand. It was a good shot, and I just started crying. It was just so overwhelming. I’ve been bowling for 20 years and this was bittersweet.”
She left a 10-pin on that shot in the 10th frame, but it mattered little, finishing with 268 for an 805 — and the house record.
“I actually didn’t even know what the house record was at Triway until Kim Mann told me,” Way said. “That just put me over the edge.”
Way used a Hammer Scorpion Low Flare for her milestone, a ball she’s had for about three months, keeping a tight line straight up all night.
Then, just last weekend, she participated in her first pro tournament near Detroit, coming home with a cash spot by finishing 18th in a field of 75 bowlers at Vision Lanes in Westland, Mich. She averaged 196 for the tournament.
“I threw the ball really well all day. I made a huge jump left during the fifth game, playing inside second arrow, where I was able to play the rest of the day,” Way said in a Facebook post.
But bowling was forced to take a bit of a back seat to coaching. Way had served as an assistant to former girls coach Corby Anderson at Triway for a couple of seasons, but this was different.
“I has been very overwhelming. I was an assistant, but having to do everything behind the scenes as well, I didn’t realize how much it entailed,” Way said. “Once I started getting the ball rolling a little bit, maneuvering matches, transportation and making sure the kids had what they needed, it started getting a little easier.”
Triway finished with a 7-3 record in the Stark County High School Bowling Conference National Division, losing the division title to Louisville on a tiebreaker.
“Overall, the season went really well. It started off a little rocky, but we definitely progressed and created a very strong team. It didn’t really show at sectional, and we’re a little bummed about that,” Way said.
“But I don’t want to be as much a coach as an instructor. I want to be able to show kids what I’m asking of you is the same things I’m doing myself. I want to set a good example.”
With her recent performances, Way is doing exactly that.