BOWLING: LARRY WILLIS WILL FOREVER CELEBRATE THIS YEAR AS ONE OF A WEDDING AND A 300 GAME

The Virgin River Bowling Center is still reeling from a pasting delivered by Larry Willis at that venue in City High Rollers League action.

And the drubbing began when he punched out a strike on his first ball of the night, followed by another in the second frame, after which the strikes seemingly continued piling up faster than a bar tab at a bachelor party, and after running the front nine, the adrenaline was palpable.

And he began a pulse-pounding 10th frame with another strike, and reached the crowning achievement of his bowling years in Mesquite by throwing two more rockets to the 1-3 pocket for strikes paving the way for his first 300 game in Mesquite.

Without a doubt, one of the amazing things about his perfecto is the fact that it was only the 7th game he bowled using a Black Window Ghost (White) bowling ball given to him by teammate, Milan Carr. And how much did Willis like the way the ball reacted after the first time using it? Well, he told Carr, “I’ll be throwing a 300 with this baby within two years.” Well, in stunning fashion, his perfecto came in just the 7th game using that bowling ball.

And after throwing his 300 he followed with games of 215 and 165 for a 680 series which raised his average to 208, and his average last season in the same league was a 204 over 66 games.

And another amazing fact about his perfect game is it may never even have happened because he had quit bowling some years back with no plans of ever bowling again. However, a couple of years later after he met and fell in love with Melanie Ray, she indicated she’d like to have him join her in a bowling league, which he did, and that eventually culminated in the aforementioned 300 game. And that’s the perfect segue to mention the last year has been a truly special one for Willis as he also married the love of his life, Mel.

Every bowler has a story and how Willis even ended up living in Mesquite is also super interesting, and here’s a condensed version of it. He was working in upper management at the Sony Corporation headquarters located in Arizona when, in a downsizing move for the company, he accepted a generous buyout offer after which he purchased a new motorcycle and drove to numerous poker tournaments around the country for an entire year, and one of those was a poker tournament in Mesquite. And he never left!

Willis was a four-sport athlete in high school playing varsity football, baseball, basketball along with track & field.

In other sizzling pin action, here’s betting Mike Yoder is headed for a monster 2024-2025 season and he led the week’s the scorching scoring pace with an an eye-popping 760 on games of 266, 258, 236, and John Hollaway’s 744 was one of nine 700s on the week.

Meanwhile, Bob Well’s delivered the signature statement of his years bowling in Mesquite with a 739 set which included running the front nine in a 278, and Austin Finster’s 24 strikes helped propel him to a top-notch 720 on games of 245, 243 & 232, Dean Baum who enjoyed lotsa bowling success during his heyday in Salt Lake City punched out a 719 with a 279, and in Randy Brown’s 718 he chucked 25 total strikes including an eight-bagger in a 267.

And without much fanfare, Mike Rogers (716-267, 225, 224) demonstrated for the umpteenth time he’s a serious scoring threat whenever he steps on the approach, and Chase Evans is an outstanding young bowling talent from St. George who threw 20 strikes in a 707 series with a high game of 265.

And Gil Niimi’s (699) best scoring output of the young season fell a pin shy of what would have been the week’s ninth 700, and in Similar fashion as Niimi, Darren Simonds (699-255) also fell a stick short of yet another 700, while Milan Carr averaged 227 in his two best league outings (682 & 681), and Dave Harris racked up 22 strikes in a season-high 679 scoring feast.

In other league play, Dave Castro was a former speedy running back on his high school’s football team, and these days he still has a formidable bowling game as demonstrated two days ago on Monday when he threw 18 strikes along with clean games of 247 and 223 in a standout 671 set, and Bruce Hooley’s (669-232) strong outing will further ignite his game and take it even higher..

Dave Pershing’s 668 was the best of his four league 600-plus scores, Jake Heaton’s (667-232) terrific effort means a 700 is his next goal, Ernie Kala’s (658-224, 217, 217) first-rate outing reflects the type of consistent scoring top bowlers like to see.

And young two-handed bowler Logan Hendrick (633-234) had a good week and while he’s been close to his first 700 before, he’s determined to corral his first this season, Dave Houghton (638-232,214,192) had his best night of the season, and if Ricky Trujillo (621, 211, 206) can continue his scoring output along the lines of his first three weeks of the season, the former Virgin Valley High School baseball standout has a legit shot of finishing the season with an average in the upper 190s or even a deuce.

Dale Davidson who ran marathons all over the state of California uncorked his first 600 of the season, a 605 with a 256 game, and John Gerger who played a guitar in several rock-n-roll bands in his younger days rolled a 602 series with a 218 game.

On the single game front, Michael “Smurffzzz” Ramirez rolled 20 total strikes in a 689 including a 10-bagger in a 289 gem last week Wednesday, and two days ago in Monday’s Gamblers 4 Aces League raised his average to 222 with a 682 and another big game of 268, Ryan Baeza (649) smacked a 269 and similar to his standout golf game, he makes throwing good bowling scores look easy, and Sal Diaz (649) who can also dial up lotsa strikes registered the next best game, a 266.

Roman Perez will get his first league 600 this season and last week uncorked a seven-bagger in a 259, Mike Foote who’s booked a 300 game in St. George tossed a 258 in Mesquite Merchants Men’s League play, and Allen Cope (640) merits ink for shooting a season-high 255.

Chance Evans (674) logged a 247, Michael Donovan is enjoying a really good season and also smacked a 247, David Walker (626) is new to the Mesquite bowling scene and logged a 246, Dave Newman (619) pocketed a 236 and with his skill-set should be throwing scores like this and even higher on a weekly basis, while Britt Kesl (629) put together a five-bagger in a 235.

Duane Sullivan (596) racked up a 233, Brian Rasha tossed five strikes in a season-high 228, Jeff Harmes tallied a 223, Mike Dunlop popped a 219, and  Ken Meacham shot an impressive clean 215.

Stan Benally posted a 204, Robert Melendez (598) who played a vital role in communications during the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City chalked up a 202, Nick Paul is an avid UNLV sports fan who cranked out a 200, and a clutch strike in the 9th and two in the 10th proved pivotal in Richard Long also finishing with a 200 on the nose.

Meanwhile, women bowlers also enjoyed a really good week led by Sandy Sheppard’s stellar 666 including a seven-bagger in a 248 and raised her Kings & Queens League average to an eye-popping 211. And two days ago in the Monday Scratch League she tossed a total of 16 strikes in a 625 effort, while Lee Ann Harmes fired 17 total strikes in a 607 outing which included a five-bagger in a 235, and Diane Marget (598-202) fell two sticks shy of a 600.

MaryAnn Davis (594-229) is having a first-rate season in her Early Risers League, and it was great seeing Molly Gomes pound out 14 strikes in a season-high 587 on games of 201, 201 and 185.

And Mary Posey (563-203) put together a gratifying outing when she marked on all 15 of her non-split spare shots, while Judy Heileson captured her first ink of the season for a top-notch 548 effort which included clean games of 185 and 181.

Jane Burgoyne put together solid games of 178, 178 and 176 on the way to a 532,  Chery Rogers is a really good senior athlete who booked a 526, and Frances Harper, the secretary extraordinaire of the Early Risers League uncorked a 522 with a 196 game.

In the single game arena, Autumn Telford (560) popped a 214, both Lynae Page (540) and Reiko Schultz (557) booked a 204, and Linda Bonino picked up a 200 Game Award for a 202 rolled in the Early Risers League.

Barb Windberg hails from the Windy City and received a 175 Local Game Award for a 182 bowled in the Early Risers League … Ron Johnson was stoked after picking up the 4-7-10 split.

Al Gans 673-235; Mike Saldivar 667-259; Scott Mattingly 664-233; Jim Lytle 641-231; Orlyn Meyer 636-236; Max Burgess 633-232; Jeremy Telford 632-215; Dale Knight 631-219; Doug Love 629-257; Dylan Kesl 610-225; Steve Serrano 606-225; Max Snyder 605-233; Jeremy Turlington 604-215; Adam Lemus 233; Dan Erhart 233; Brent Schlesinger 232; Eric Goldfarb 228; Bobby Dixon 225; Jeff Harmes 223; Bob Marget 222; Jerry Holloway 221; James Hartley 221; Max Snyder 217; Paul Buntin 215; Bryan Pierce 214; Chris Scott 211; Rob Cormani 211; Dean Sheppard 210; Vic Reading 209; Alan Jacobson 208; Jose Martinez 208; Mark Brackelsberg 207; Ted Mickelson 205; Dennis Craft 204; George Huston 203; Jimmy Webb 203; Max Baarz 203; Bill Rife 202; James Hendrick 202; Angel Hernandez 201.

Georgia Godfrey 524; Vickie Martinsen 511; Debbie Hansen 506.