Hello once again to all of you keglers out there. And to you horror fans still celebrating Halloween: I'm baaaaack!
In the first two months of the fall/winter season, leagues are in full swing and the action is heating up.
One location where the ball is really flying down the lanes is at Selinsgrove's Best Bowl.
Less than a month into the season I received a fax from the alley's new owners: Wayne and Lisa Pierson.
One of the things the fax said was that Heidi Beaver, the coach for Mifflinburg High School's bowling program, had rolled a 300 game on Sept. 9.
Beaver is no stranger to those who follow the area bowling scene. With seven perfect games, three 800 series, two PA State Queens titles (in 2006 and 07) and one women's house record (at Wilcox's Lanes), Beaver has been a fixture in the sport for quite some time.
And what was just a typical night of bowling with some good friends turned into a memorable evening for Beaver, 32, of Mifflinburg.
While bowling with her team, Peach's Orchard, in the Thursday Night Ladies League, Beaver was surprised by the unexpected appearance of her parents.
"Strange thing about that night, we were about done with our first game and someone said to me my mom and dad were there. I remember saying no they weren't, and I turned around and there they both stood," said Beaver. "My parents had come down to watch me bowl. My dad said they wanted to see me shoot another 500 series, because in the weeks before I didn't bowl so hot.
"We all stood there and had a good laugh over that, and my parents ended up staying to see me shoot my 300 game that night."
Beaver, who finished with a 657 series that night, seems to have overcome her problems from the beginning of the season.
But there have been plenty of struggles for Beaver over the past couple of years since Wilcox's Lanes has closed down.
That's because Beaver not only had to find a new place to bowl, she also had to find a new place to work.
And the fact that the transition has been difficult for Beaver is no surprise.
"The closing of Wilcox's Lanes has hurt my skills," said Beaver, who carries around a 225 average. "It's tougher to go to practice now that I have to drive further and now that I work later. Before I was one mile from the center, but now I'm about 12 miles from a center.
"You get spoiled when you don't have to change after so many years," Beaver added. "I don't have the access to the equipment or the coaching like I used to have."
In addition to her competing in the Thursday league, Mifflinburg's high school teams practice and play their matches at Best Bowl, where Beaver is trying to mold the future members of the sport as a coach of the alley's junior program on Saturdays.
It's just another chapter in a successful and memorable 22-year career in the sport for Beaver, who met her husband, Matt, through bowling at Wilcox's Lanes where she also competed as a four-year member of the Wildcats' bowling team.
"It has been 22 great years of getting to know some of the greatest people, making great friends from all over and getting to know the best husband in the world," said Beaver.
WEEKLY BESTS
Men: Skip Bryner Jr. had a 793 series and a 269 high game in Best Bowl's Monday Night Men's Early League and a 778 series and a high game of 278 in the Thursday Night Men's Early League at the same alley.
Women: Sandy Herrold had a 739 series in Best Bowl's Early Thursday Ladies League. She had games of 257, 247 and 235.
Until next week, stay out of the gutters.
n Brian Holtzapple is a correspondent for The Daily Item. Email comments, results or news to keglerskorner@dailyitem.com.
