BOWLING: Jeremy Turlington throws 27 strikes in stellar 777 series

Perhaps Jeremy Turlington’s game will cool off at some point this season, but it hasn’t happened yet. And if you’ve seen him bowl, you’re already thinking the odds of that happening are between slim and none.

True, there might be a rare off night, but not a scoring funk of any length. In fact, odds strongly favor his off nights are already over with and happened in his first two weeks of the 2023-24 season with less-than-cheery series scores of 581 and 597 leading to a bad case of indigestion.

Well, not surprisingly given his talent level, in the following five weeks he ran roughshod over the Virgin River Bowling Center with series scores of 710, 770, 629, 663 and 777 for a jaw-dropping 236 average over those 15 games.

And in his 777 series in the Virgin River Scratch League, he began the night with a clean 247, followed with a 244, and put an exclamation point on an already strong effort by running the front 10 in his third game before finishing with a 286 gem for a stratospheric 777 series with a total of 27 strikes.

And it should be noted, the only higher score at the VRBC this season than his 777 and 770 is Jeremy Telford’s mind-boggling 813 series.

Turlington’s resume includes one 800 series (840), six 300 games, two 299s, a pair of 290s, a string of 17 straight strikes in his 840 series, and a personal-best 220 average over 72 games in the 2021-22 season in St. George.

While he garners most of the headlines, another family member has bragging rights to a whopping 289 game and that’s his wife, Jaime, and their daughter Jerra finished with the highest average (145.20) for girls in the 2022-23 youth bowling season in St. George.

He was an outstanding three-sport athlete at his high school in Baltimore, Maryland where he led his basketball team to the Maryland State Championship Finals, was one of the top hitters on the baseball team, and as a standout quarterback in football was named to the all-city team. And that recognition resulted in being recruited to play football at Dixie Junior College in St. George by then-coach, Greg Croshaw.

Turlington is an avid fan of the Dallas Cowboys and New York Yankees, and is the only bowler I know in both St. George and Mesquite who personally accounted for four touchdowns in a single game, and he did it by passing for two and running for two.

Finally, he’s one of almost 50 bowlers from St. George who are bowling in Mesquite this season due to the sudden closing of Sunset Lanes this past August.

In other pin action, Darren Simonds raised his Mesquite Merchants Men’s League average to 202 with his best overall outing this season, a standout 736 on games of 247, 246 and 243, while Doug Love’s 727 was the next best score and he was stymied again in a bid for his third 300 as he fell strike shy of a perfecto in a 279 effort.

And fueled by a 268 and his lethal strike ball, Koa Paka Ned carved up the lanes with a 700, and after a 699 on Wednesday, Scott Mattingly came back a day later and thumped the lanes with a 700, while Mike Dunlop (687-257) smoked the VRBC with his best scores this season.

Sal Diaz spared on an impressive 11-of-12 non-split spare attempts and put together an 8-bagger in a 257 en route to a 687, and Dan Aslin’s 24 strikes, marks on 10-of-11 spare attempts and a clean 256 paved the way for a season-high 682 and raised his MMM league average to 202.

Mike Yoder (674-256) delivered another strong outing, James Hartley who’s designed a good number of the subdivisions in Sun City fired a season-high 668, and motivated by his Minnesota Vikings winning streak, Bob Marget’s (658-256) scoring splurge points to even higher scores in the weeks ahead, while Gary Smith picked up 5-of-6 10 pins en route to a season-high 621.

And without much fanfare, Dave Harris (610-225) is putting together a good season, and Angel Hernandez (605-247)  who’s game is light years ahead of where it was at the beginning of last season chucked another 600, while John Gerger’s 601 series included a season-high 244.

In single game play, Jim Rappe (583) definitely merits ink for tossing a season-high 242, Mark Brackelsberg a top-notch realtor with RE/MAX in Mesquite booked a 237, and Steve Serrano (598) an outstanding basketball player back in the day in California popped a 226.

And Bob “Mr. 800” Field who hasn’t even had a whiff of a 600 in the last few years (ouch) finally decided to ratchet up his game and almost bagged one with a 590 which included a season-high 226, Myles Benally navigated the lanes for a 219, and Bob Robbins (607) who bowled for years in a bowling center with all of two lanes in Wrangell, Alaska spanked the lanes with a 215.

George Huston (588) put together a good Early Risers League performance which included deuce games of 213 and 204, Mitch Fletcher dialed up a 212, while Bill Smith piloted his way to a 211, and Johnny Harper punched out a 210.

Finally, southpaw Jerry Holloway logged a 204, Jarron Linge racked up a 203, while Mike Carpenter a big Oregon State Beavers fan cruised to a 201, and Chris Westwood gets ink for a 200.

In women’s action, if the last name wasn’t Sheppard, Cormani, Turner or Marget, a 600 has been a pretty rare sighting. Well, only time will tell for sure, but if you’ve seen Kim Marshall throw a bowling ball you already know she throws a heckuva nice hook ball and understands the importance of avoiding lotsa open frames, and did exactly that as she peppered the lanes in City High Rollers League play with a 602 series on games of 242, 202 and 158. Here’s betting as the season continues to unfold she’ll be capturing more ink.

Meanwhile, Lynae Page consistenly rolls competitive 500-plus series scores and averaged 186 between a strong 570 outing in Early Risers League play and a 550 set in the Kings & Queens League, while Sandy Sheppard averaged 181 between two solid outings of 545 and 542, and Bev Cormani (537-199) and Lee Ann Harmes (509) put up the next best scores.

In single game play, Reiko Schultz (525) booked a 237, Ashlee Yokoyama-Kesl (504) tossed a 214, Sharon Stoneman gets her first ink here for a 208, while Diane Marget (566) booked a 204, and southpaw MaryAnn Davis also pocketed a 204.

By the way, bowlers in the Monday Scratch League & Gamblers 4 Aces leagues should be aware that while I’ve always put the results of those league scores in the Mesquite Local News online newspaper which goes online two days later on Wednesday’s. Well, because I’ve been informed the bowling center will no longer be allowed to print out the two or three sheets for me which lists all the scores, the scores from this Monday should be in next week’s issue, as they should be posted on the League Secretary program in time to meet my column’s submission deadline on Tuesday morning.

HIGH SCORES

John Hollaway 694-267; Jim Lytle 669-242; Milan Carr 662-266; Al Gans 659-253; Austin Finster 653-258; David Newman 646-232; Dean Baum 638-255; Bruce Hooley 637-237; John Martin 629-235; Mike Gentry 627-233; Duane Sullivan 622-236; Jeff Branche 617-220; Jacob Martinez 610-218; Gil Niimi 247; Brian Collins 225; Tony Zaccheus 224; Orlyn Meyer 221; Ken Schloman 214; Rob Cormani 214; Ed Hoepfner 210; Ricky Trujillo 209; Alan Jacobson 207; Carlos Baeza 207; Dennis Craft 206; Jedd Fisher 206; Jimmy Webb 205; Randy Kezior 204; Jerry Holloway 204; Max Burgess 203; Chris Scott 202; Red Powell 201; Allen Cope 201; Stan Benally200; Debbie Hanson 501.