Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, April 11, 1995 TAG: 9504120018
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: STAFF REPORT
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
There were no reports of tremors Monday night on the north end of Williamson Road, but pins were falling at an earthshaking rate at Hilltop Lanes.
In what surely was an unprecedented night of bowling in the Men's Major Scratch League, three competitors provided those assembled with an evening to remember.
Alan Clemons rolled his second 300 game in a week, but his team lost. That's because Tim Nagel was bowling against him in the anchor position. All he did was roll a 299.
In the same game. At the same time. Against each other.
Sufficiently inspired by what had taken place just two lanes away, Scott Wright rolled a 297 in his third game.
It was the fourth perfect game for Clemons, but ``it's always a new experience,'' he said. ``I was hoping I would do it again and the thought was in the back of my mind that I would.''
Clemons ``realized in the eighth frame'' that Nagel was keeping pace with him. He finished his gem two balls before Nagel and watched as Nagel left the seven pin standing on his final throw.
Clemons, from Salem, carries a 207 average in the league and has been bowling for 16 years.
Nagel, a Roanoker, has two 300 games in a 30-year bowling career. He said his last ball was ``a little light,'' but he thought it was good enough to complete a perfect game.
Wright saw what had transpired in the second game of the set and was ``trying to compete with him [Clemons] but just fell shy.'' He said he knew when he released his final shot that his hopes of a 300 game were dashed. His biggest disappointment was in not getting one more pin, which would have earned him a ring from the Roanoke Bowling Association.
Wright had a 299 game a month ago and is convinced he'll ``hit it one of these days.'' The Roanoker has been bowling for 15 years and carries a 204 average in the league.
``My time is coming,'' Wright said.
by CNB