By BILL SNIER
WOOSTER — It took Karlie Way 20 years to achieve one of her top bowling goals.
It took her less than three months to double the accomplishment.
The 27-year-old Wooster right-hander and Triway High School bowling coach put together games of 278, 259 and 279 for an 826 series, racing past her own house record at Ballerz Sports Club (former Triway Lanes) by 20 pins in the Triple B Heating and Cooling league.
“There are just no words to describe it. I’ve had a lot of 250, 260 and 270 games this season,” said Way, a Schaeffler Transmission Systems electrical apprentice.
“It’s just a testament to all of the practice and stuff I did last summer working with Mike Burns, who just got back to bowling himself this season. I didn’t have any perfect games, but I would take two 800s over a 300 (she has three in her career) any day.”
Using the same Hammer Scorpion Low Flare that she used on her initial 800, Way started the night with five straight strikes before leaving a 10-pin in the ninth frame. She converted the spare and then threw strikes until leaving another 10-pin on her final ball.
In Game 2, she left 10-pin spares in the first and fourth frames before leaving a 2-pin spare in the sixth.
“I honestly thought I threw it really good, but it didn’t react the say I expected it to,” Way said of the 2-pin.
The 10-pin wasn’t through with Way yet.
She went off the sheet in Game 2 before starting Game 3 with the first eight strikes. But the ninth produced another 10-pin.
“My nerves weren’t nearly as high this time around. I’ve been rolling the ball well, but I haven’t been scoring as well because my spare shooting has been a little off,” Way said. “I just got a new spare ball so I guess I could blame it on the ball a little bit.”
But after picking up her previous 10-pin spares, Way had to talk her way through this final one.
“The way my spare game has been, I just said to myself, ‘OK, take a deep breath, get it out on the lane, hit your mark, and you will be all right,’” Way said. “I picked it up and it was kind of smooth sailing after that.”
Way plans on doing “a lot of practicing and quite a few tournaments” during the summer season. After cashing during a Professional Women’s Bowling Association regional event earlier this year, she also plans to bowl more regional events and, possibly, the PWBA Summer Series, which is set for May 27 through June 2 at Yorktown Lanes in Parma and includes three events in one week.
“I’m going to try and figure out my schedule and vacation times to see what availability I have to do that,” Way said.
But the Titans bowling teams will not take a back seat.
“After the first season, I was trying to just get into the swing of things. But next season, I really want to start working with them early,” said Way, who guided the Titans boys team. “We graduate two seniors, but we have a lot of returnees.
“I want to use this summer to get them better, work on spare shooting … especially spare shooting. But we also have a lot of strong freshman females coming in together and I think we can have a strong girls team in the making.”
After her first 800 in March and being inducted into the Stark County High School Bowling Hall of Fame in April, Way said, “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.”
That has continued on the lanes.