By BILL SNIER
CANTON — The scoring pace has picked up early in the Liberty Vending league at Eastbury Bowling Center.
With another 300 being shot on Friday night, the league already has recorded eight 300 games and three 800 series through just four weeks of league play.
Brian Ball, a 51-year-old Massillon right-hander who will turn 52 in two weeks, finished the 2024-25 fall-winter season with eight 800 series between the Liberty Vending and Tuesday Las Vegas Mixed Trio at Eastbury.
Despite taking the summer off to feed his golf passion, Ball picked up right where he left off with one 800 in each league — including just one pin off of the center record of 875 — and three 300s.
Brett McCourry, a 33-year-old Perry Township right-hander, started the summer league season at Eastbury with an 800 series. He joined the Friday parade with an 805 to start this season, including a 300. Canal Fulton right-hander Matt Frock also had 800 earlier.
“The scoring pace here is pretty crazy right now,” said McCourry, who operates a landscaping firm and also works in season at Cutting Edge Pro Shop at Station 300.
“We could strike with golf balls out here if we had to … the scores are so crazy.”
McCourry, using a new 900 Global Ember, had games of 248, 300 and 257 for 805 as his contribution to the scoring surge. He did not have an open frame.
“I usually find it hard to throw the same ball all night here, but I did then,” said McCourry, who had 21 strikes in a row at one point. “The shot is always there, but it depends on if you get the carry or not.”
TWO BALLS, TWO LANES
Ball, after shooting an 802 early in the season on Tuesday, had games of 278, 296 and 300 for his 874 — one pin off the 875 center mark held by Massillon’s J.D. Jones.
“I drilled up a couple of new balls that really match up with what I’m trying to do,” said Ball, a Carter Lumber office employee. “It seems like the shot is pretty close to last year. There may be a touch more oil with a little more back end.”
Ball practiced just two games before the season started in late August.
“I’ve been doing this since I was 5 … it just seems simpler now to throw it straight than it ever was when I tried to curve it.”
His big score came throwing a different ball on each lane (Lanes 3-4), with the Roto Grip Rock Star and the Storm Ion Pro.
In Game 1, he ran off the first eight strikes before a 10-pin in the ninth followed by a 9-pin on his final shot in the 10th frame. He then ran off the next 11 in Game 2 before leaving an unorthodox 3-4-6-7 split on his final ball.
“I just got stubborn. I was throwing the Rock Star on the left and the Ion Pro on the right,” Ball said. “Lane 3 started to hook and I refused to move left. I was striking, so I just tried to throw it harder.
“I threw that last one hard, but I grabbed it on that shot. The next game, I just moved four (boards) and two left, and I didn’t miss again on that lane.”
That was his only move of the night as he finished with 300 for his big total.
Earlier that same week, he also shot another 300, finishing with a 796 series with another new ball — a Storm Equinox, which was a Father’s Day gift from his son, Branden.
Has age made a difference in his game?
“Obviously, I’m less stubborn now than I was back then. And I can make spares now,” Ball said. “But all the stuff people told me when I was in my mid-20s didn’t kick in until I was in my mid-40s.”
He remembers two statements by Greater Canton Bowling Association Hall of Famers Gary Rebillot and Dick Rinehart.
“When I was around 13 or 14 I shot 299. And about a year later, I had the front eight or nine, missed and kicked the ball return,” Ball said. “Rebby came down and put his arm around me and said, ‘Hey look, just because you hit the pocket it gives you the opportunity to strike, not the right to strike.’ I tried to play by those rules for a while.
“Then Mr. Rinehart always preached you never throw more than one strike in a row. ‘You can’t control what you did, but you can control what you are about to do so you never have more than one strike in a row.’ I kind of live by that now.”
But that hasn’t stopped the strikes from piling up early on Fridays in the Liberty Vending league at Eastbury.