D
Dinoforthe3
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300
I think my weekend was better than Joe's!!!!
Pro Bowlers Association star Steve Jaros may have won yet another PBA title in Madison over the weekend, but he wasn't the biggest star on the local lanes.
While Jaros earned $2,500 for winning the PBA Pepsi Open at Bowl-A-Vard Lanes, Shannon Dins of Madison earned four times that amount for shooting a perfect game in the Badgerland 300 Club Shootout Saturday at Schwoegler Park Towne Lanes.
Dins said that he was only a little nervous during his momentous game, though he definitely knew there was a $10,000 prize for anyone shooting a 300 during the first two games of the three-game tournament.
"I think I didn't let myself understand how much it really was," he said. "I just kept thinking, 'Just keep going.' So I didn't think I realized it was $10,000 for that one last ball."
Dins said he was helped by having had his first two career 300s as well as a 295 during league play at Village Lanes during the 2002-03 season, when he improved by focusing on making good shots rather than feeling the need to strike.
"I've had the experience of both sides of getting the 300 and having 11 in a row and not getting it and I think that definitely helped a lot," the 28-year-old right-hander said. "I think I was more focused on the 300 than I was on the money."
In the pressure of the final frames, Dins consistently rolled his Ebonite Vortex into the 1-3 pocket, including a textbook perfect strike on his 10th ball and a slightly light shot on his 11th ball that had power enough to carry out the 10-pin.
The final shot, though, didn't hook enough and came up light, leaving the 2-pin standing for a few agonizing seconds until the 4, 5 and 8 pins tumbled together and rolled into the 2 from behind, toppling it forward.
"I was in such a good rhythm," Dins said. "I was hitting my mark. That last shot I hit my mark but totally did not hit it whatsoever."
In layman's terms, that means Dins didn't put his normal revolutions on the ball, resulting in less hook than normal and the light hit.
I think it was better it was that light; otherwise I probably would have left a 10-pin," Dins said. "It was really kind of weird because at one point it took forever. But then it happened so fast that I really wasn't thinking a whole lot.
"When it was standing there it was, 'Oh no,' and then it fell over and it was just so much excitement. I was screaming and jumping up and down. It was just awesome to have another 300 game and the money to go with it."
Dins wasted little time with his approach to each shot, and said it also helped that he bowled on the same pair with Marc McDowell, the retired pro bowling star.
"On the way to the center I was just going to have some fun and then I found out I was on the same lane as Marc and I thought, 'Man, during Saturday junior leagues I used to watch the guy on TV,' " Dins said. "And I just love his style."
McDowell an avid fisherman who said he got up at 4:30 a.m. Saturday for the fishing season opener, talked with Dins about fishing to keep his mind off the building pressure. It's a move akin to baseball teammates avoiding talking to a pitcher about a budding no-hitter.
Dins, who had 244 his first game, followed up his 300 with a 157, but held on to also win the $500 first prize in the tournament, which included bowlers who shot 300s during league play at Badgerland Bowling Centers in the 2002-03 season.
When the tourney was over, Dins had a couple beverages and let the other competitors and fans nearly run off the extra $500 at Park Towne's bar.
Dins, who averaged 218 at Village and 213 at Park Towne during the season, plans to put his bowling balls away until next season.
The self-taught bowler, who competed for UW-Whitewater and bowls a few tournaments now, says his next goal is an 800 series - he has twice shot his career high of 779.
"I definitely bowl for fun," he said. "I like to do really good but I'm not cutthroat."
I think my weekend was better than Joe's!!!!
Pro Bowlers Association star Steve Jaros may have won yet another PBA title in Madison over the weekend, but he wasn't the biggest star on the local lanes.
While Jaros earned $2,500 for winning the PBA Pepsi Open at Bowl-A-Vard Lanes, Shannon Dins of Madison earned four times that amount for shooting a perfect game in the Badgerland 300 Club Shootout Saturday at Schwoegler Park Towne Lanes.
Dins said that he was only a little nervous during his momentous game, though he definitely knew there was a $10,000 prize for anyone shooting a 300 during the first two games of the three-game tournament.
"I think I didn't let myself understand how much it really was," he said. "I just kept thinking, 'Just keep going.' So I didn't think I realized it was $10,000 for that one last ball."
Dins said he was helped by having had his first two career 300s as well as a 295 during league play at Village Lanes during the 2002-03 season, when he improved by focusing on making good shots rather than feeling the need to strike.
"I've had the experience of both sides of getting the 300 and having 11 in a row and not getting it and I think that definitely helped a lot," the 28-year-old right-hander said. "I think I was more focused on the 300 than I was on the money."
In the pressure of the final frames, Dins consistently rolled his Ebonite Vortex into the 1-3 pocket, including a textbook perfect strike on his 10th ball and a slightly light shot on his 11th ball that had power enough to carry out the 10-pin.
The final shot, though, didn't hook enough and came up light, leaving the 2-pin standing for a few agonizing seconds until the 4, 5 and 8 pins tumbled together and rolled into the 2 from behind, toppling it forward.
"I was in such a good rhythm," Dins said. "I was hitting my mark. That last shot I hit my mark but totally did not hit it whatsoever."
In layman's terms, that means Dins didn't put his normal revolutions on the ball, resulting in less hook than normal and the light hit.
I think it was better it was that light; otherwise I probably would have left a 10-pin," Dins said. "It was really kind of weird because at one point it took forever. But then it happened so fast that I really wasn't thinking a whole lot.
"When it was standing there it was, 'Oh no,' and then it fell over and it was just so much excitement. I was screaming and jumping up and down. It was just awesome to have another 300 game and the money to go with it."
Dins wasted little time with his approach to each shot, and said it also helped that he bowled on the same pair with Marc McDowell, the retired pro bowling star.
"On the way to the center I was just going to have some fun and then I found out I was on the same lane as Marc and I thought, 'Man, during Saturday junior leagues I used to watch the guy on TV,' " Dins said. "And I just love his style."
McDowell an avid fisherman who said he got up at 4:30 a.m. Saturday for the fishing season opener, talked with Dins about fishing to keep his mind off the building pressure. It's a move akin to baseball teammates avoiding talking to a pitcher about a budding no-hitter.
Dins, who had 244 his first game, followed up his 300 with a 157, but held on to also win the $500 first prize in the tournament, which included bowlers who shot 300s during league play at Badgerland Bowling Centers in the 2002-03 season.
When the tourney was over, Dins had a couple beverages and let the other competitors and fans nearly run off the extra $500 at Park Towne's bar.
Dins, who averaged 218 at Village and 213 at Park Towne during the season, plans to put his bowling balls away until next season.
The self-taught bowler, who competed for UW-Whitewater and bowls a few tournaments now, says his next goal is an 800 series - he has twice shot his career high of 779.
"I definitely bowl for fun," he said. "I like to do really good but I'm not cutthroat."