Being in the groove means staring down a spot on the lane and everything seems to find its way to it. Negative thoughts shouldn't get in the way, but Joe Current had good reason to worry.
The Bethlehem Township resident had a career-best 278 game. But the downside is that the 33-year-old dumped one of his final offerings in the ditch. So, how would he react the next time he maneuvered himself into that position?
Turns out it had a huge impact.
Current began his night in the Bar-Don 800 League with the front five. The next delivery went dead left crossing over but rebounded nicely with three more setting him up for a jittery final frame.
''There was no way I was going to do this,'' Current said. ''I could barely hold the ball, and I know everyone could see my jeans shaking.''
He managed to nail down a strike but the old demons resurfaced and suddenly the gutter loomed large.
''Oh man, I couldn't send the ball to the right," Current said. "I didn't want to throw it into the gutter. It went right down the center and it was another crossover strike. The last ball I did the exact same thing, same spot and I thought there was no way I was going to strike again.''
But Current's ball nestled into the 1-2 pocket and he scored his first career 300.
''I was in shock,'' he said. ''I almost fell to the ground. I couldn't believe it happened.
Current said that following the 300 he lost focus and his scores dipped to 185 and 169 for a 654. Although he said his entire team beat him for series, no one could equal the 300 and his set helped bolster his 192 average.
Dave Bast bowls once a week and said he's just fine with it. His goals are to shoot 300, 800 and garner a hole-in-one in golf.
The 43-year-old from Bethlehem Township has five 300s and thanks to a recent 802 in the Merchants League at Bar-Don, he's two-thirds of the way to his sporting trifecta.
Bast opened with 278, which included a 4-7 in the sixth. He finished the second game with 245 and knew if he were to get to 800, he needed a big volley.
''I got to six or seven and believed I had a chance. I left an odd 10-pin in the ninth and knew I needed to make it and double in the 10th.''
Bast covered the corner pin and quickly doubled. He said he only wanted to avoid going the nose on the final ball. That didn't happen and the result was a 279 and an 802.
Bast's 802 tops his previous high of 794 from last September and his average is at 222.
Rich Kopfer had a slim chance of shooting his first 800 when he opened with 212 in the Sunday Nite Mixed League at Town & Country. But the strikes came in 23 of the final 24 frames and Kopfer wound up with 298 and his third-career 300 game for an 810.
Joe Slater came within six pins of Blue Valley's house record. His 280-300-278--858 is the Wind Gap center's second-best series ever and Slater's personal best.
The Express-Times area's 300 total is within one of the record 208, and Craig Stewart helped that total with his first in the same circuit as Bast.
Ryan Hauck joined Slater doing the double with 300 and 806 at Blue Valley. Dan Schriner eclipsed 800 for the fifth time this season thanks to an 804.
The venerable Bob Shoemaker has 300s in six different decades and might just be tuning up for the next decade as he tossed another 300 at the Bethlehem Panthers.
Lu Rush topped a field of 82 at Bar-Don to be crowned the 2013 Easton Women's USBC Princess Tournament champion.
Rush's 610 was 13 sticks high than Melissa Ruschak's 597. Pauline Fry was third at 585.