Mancuso Bowling Center league bowler Alishia Foss overcame the “10th frame jitters” last week to record her first United States Bowling Congress-certified perfect game.
Admitting that her hands were trembling as she picked up her Storm Phaze III ball, Foss, a 30-year-old Brockport resident, nonetheless came through with a 12th consecutive strike in the second game of the Toyota of Batavia 4-Man League on Thursday night.
The 300 game surpassed her previous high game of 244 by a wide margin. Foss, who entered competition that night with a 186 average, finished with a 638 series.
Foss, a child resource and referral specialist for Community Action of Orleans and Genesee, said she wasn’t thinking about a perfect game until the ninth frame. But after that ninth strike, nervousness set in.
“When the 10th frame came along, I kept thinking to myself just keep the ball on the lane,” she said. “The first ball was just like the other strikes (in the 1-3 pocket), so I was able to smile and take a deep breath.”
As other league bowlers gathered around lanes 13-14, Foss said she got the 11th ball a bit wide of her mark but it came back strong for another strike.
“Now for the last ball, my nerves were getting to me I started thinking about how this is the real deal,” she said. “I picked up my Phaze III, noticing my (right) hand was trembling trying to hang on to the ball. I went to my normal position spot on the line got set and went for it.
“The ball left my hand and I kept thinking get to the pocket. Everyone was yelling get there and it hit between 1 and 3 pin but started to push through the pocket leaving the 4-7. But then another pin slid across … and wiped out the 4-7 just enough to knock them over.”
She credited her cousin, Curtis Foss, for drilling the ball out of his shop at Oak Orchard Bowl in Albion, and her boyfriend, Corey Winters, and family for their support. She bowls on the LandPro team with Marshall Merle, Chase Cone and Sean McClellan.
The 300 was the first by a woman in the Genesee Region USBC since V.J. Frew’s perfect game at Mount Morris Lanes on Nov. 20, 2021.
- Chris Armijo, a professional drywaller and Warsaw resident, spun his first 300 game on Monday night in the Mancuso Real Estate Doubles League.
The 35-year-old left-hander’s games were 300, 171 and 213 for a 684 series – upping his 186 average. He said he was using a Storm Axiom ball.
"It was probably one of the quietest 300 games ever," Armijo said, noting that everyone kept on bowling and didn't realize that he had nine consecutive strikes entering the 10th frame on lane 5.
His previous high game was a 298 last season in the T.F. Brown's Adult-Child League at Mancuso's.
- In the Wednesday Community League at Medina Lanes, Mike Schepis hit the 800 mark for the first time -- registering a 296 game en route to 800 on the nose.
For a list of high scores for the week, click on the Pin Points tab at the top of the home page.
