Steve Brownlee

Now that the high school bowlers have completed some stellar seasons, I’ll play catch up on several adult men who have created their own news on the lanes.

Mike Trickey, 60, of Marquette shot a perfect 300 on Feb. 13 during the Monday Northern Electric Automotive Industrial League at River Rock Lanes in Ishpeming.

I can tell you about it since “Trick” bowls just before me in the lineup on our Republic Memorials team.

Using his 16-pound Storm Optimus reactive resin ball, he rolled his second career perfect game as the middle game of a 685 series that started with 211 and ended with 174.

He said he tried to keep up his ball speed — “a rocket to the pocket” — but pulled his 11th shot a bit inside toward the middle of the lane.

When I saw it, I worried about it going way high on the head pin for a split, and when it didn’t, then I worried about him leaving a flat 10-pin since the ball wouldn’t have a nice finish at the end.

But neither happened, and after his 12th and final ball was also a bit inside, but not nearly as much as the 11th, I thought quickly as it went down the lane, “He can carry this!”

And he did.

Trickey said he recently had the first eight strikes to start another game in the Wednesday Trio League he’s secretary-treasurer of, but made a mess of the ninth shot.

“I kept talking to myself before every shot, telling myself to keep my chin down, stay in tempo and hit my mark,” he said once the string got going in his 300.

Going to the next youngest, Tom Seeke, 50, of Marquette Township rolled a 298 opening game in a U.S. Bowling Congress honor series of 806 in the Tuesday Night Mixed League at Superior Lanes in Marquette on Feb. 21.

The Marquette Senior High School math teacher rolled 298, 259 and 249, leaving what he believed was a 4-7 combination on the 12th and final ball of the first game while going for 300.

Like Trickey, he’s also doing the “rocket to the pocket” thing, though for him it meant pulling out an old resin ball, a 16-pound Storm Ace, and throwing harder and playing straighter from near the gutter.

“I’ve just been having all kinds of problems when I try hooking it more,” he said, adding that he made the move about six to eight weeks ago, though it wasn’t until that night that it really started clicking.

“I went back to what I used to do (years ago), but now, I just have to make sure I don’t ‘hit’ the ball,” he said.

Explaining more, he said that means he can’t try to put extra lift when he releases the ball — he just wants to let go of the ball and let it do all the work.

He said he never had to move his targeting position that night, one of the advantages, at least part of the time, of playing a straighter line.

Now we come to the 20-somethings.

Two-hander Glenn Ayotte, 29, of Ishpeming dropped his lofty 232 average a fraction of a pin with his 15th 300 on Feb. 7, the opener of a 654 series with a 187 opener and 167 close.

“That was actually the lowest series I’ve had since Thanksgiving,” he said at the time, figuring he was averaging an even crazier 243 since the turkey holiday.

He used his 15-pound DV8 Diva Pearl resin ball for the feat.

And to our most youthful big shooter, there’s 20-year-old Jesse Bianchi of Marquette, who rolled 300 in the final game of a 760 series last week in the Wednesday Industrial at Superior.

He opened with 288 and 172 and those games were just as interesting as his “3.”

He admitted he actually opened the big first game with a gutter ball. Nonplussed, he picked up the spare and immediately threw 10 strikes in a row before finishing with an 8-count. So technically, that’s 11 consecutive shots knocking down all 10 pins.

He said he lost that line in the second game, and decided partway through to change balls to his 15-pound Storm Snap Lock resin. That has to be called genius-like inspiration, considering what happened the next game.

Bianchi actually got a crossover “Brooklyn” shot in the first ball in the 10th frame in the 300, then went a bit light but got an excellent mix of the pins on the next shot before the final one just smashed the pins to smithereens.

Lucky me, I was bowling two pairs over from him when he did it.

Steve Brownlee can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 252. His email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.