BOWLING: Paul Buntin fires19 strikes in a career-high 654 series

Paul Buntin is having a breakout season so he’s gonna be mowing down pins and grabbing ink on a pretty routine basis going forward.

And his latest scoring outburst helping confirm a breakout season is a career-high 654 series during which he tattooed the1-3 pocket with his two-handed delivery for 19 strikes including a seven-bagger in a 243 game, and along with deuce games of 210 and 201 corralled his personal-best series to date, a 654.

Let’s look at another item confirming a breakout 2024-25 season. According to his stats on the superb leaguesecretary.com program I use all the time, since week 20 on February 11th when he rolled a 579 and followed each succeeding Kings & Queens League outing he posted scores of 616, 569, 523, 583 and along with his career-high 654 he KO’d 3,524 pins over that 18 game stretch meaning he averaged an eye-popping195.77 over that stretch. And looking at the big picture, it also points to what’s possible with his average going forward.

Now let’s take a quick peak looking over the entire season and we see he’s currently averaging 174, and with the roll he’s on over his last 18 games, here’s betting when he bids adieu to the 2024-25 season he will end with a final average between 176 and 179. Compare that baby in contrast to last season when he finished with a 153 average, and oooh, yeah! He’s having a breakout season!

Yes, he’s steadily improved his average from a 143 from the 2021-22 season when he first changed his zip code to one in Mesquite from The Centennial State, and the leap he’s made with his average this year along with increasingly bigger series and game scores emanating from his powerful two-handed delivery is impressive. No doubt, it’s just a question of when, not if he will be blowing away his current 654 high series mark. And I’d be remiss by not mentioning Buntin credits teammate, Michael Ramirez for his coaching pointers and help he’s provided in helping develop his game.

I’d also be remiss if I didn’t mention Buntin has a career-high 247 and the way he has his game humming that could be soon be wiped out also.

Away from bowling, he also likes playing pickleball, but his real passion is golf and he’s even had a hole in one on two different outings. So it’s not surprising that the one golf item on his bucket list is to one day play the hallowed grounds of Augusta, and Rory McLLroy and Scottie Scheffler are his two favorite pro golfers.

In high school he was on the school’s football, basketball and track and field teams, and also played a year of football in college before a serious shoulder injury put the kibosh on further participation.

Buntin is a humongous fan of the Denver Broncos, the Avalanche, the Rockies and has also attended some Denver Nuggets games, and along with his wife, Dani, both have been a great addition to the Mesquite bowling scene since they began bowling in the 2021-22 season.

In other pin action, as bowlers already know, scores have lost some altitude over the last couple of weeks. And just one illustration is the fact from the the Monday Scratch League two nights ago when bowlers booked a total of ten 600 series scores.

And of those 10, five were scores of 615, 613, 612, 607 and 603 which aren’t gonna really heat up the scoring monitors. And we’re talking about a league here with many of the top bowlers from both Mesquite and St. George.

However, the good news is as bowlers make adjustments to both the new pins and new oiling machine, scores will no doubt rebound to scoring levels seen during most of the season which often included multiple 700s ranging from five to seven of ’em along with four or five others a mere few pins or a mark or two shy of a 700..

And Dean Baum’s stellar 717 outing last week with 21 total strikes including 11 in a 279 may already have just kick-started the overall trend of scores rebounding to previous levels as he chucked the week’s sole 700.

And while it’s not one of Austin Finster’s 700s of late, he still put together a first-rate 675 affair, and so was Kelly Williamson’s 675 in Gamblers 4 Aces League action two nights ago in which he punched out 22 strikes including a six-bagger in a 256 game, while John Martin’s 671 with 20 strikes included eight in a 244 game.

Meanwhile, Orlyn Meyer continued his good bowling in the Early Risers League with a 660 affair, John Hollaway is a heckuva good bowler who rolled 21 strikes in a 651, and in the Monday Scratch League, Jeremy Turlington did a really great job in executing shots as he only had one open frame in a 649 with 15 strikes.

And without much ink, Doug Schaan is putting together a good season with his latest effort an impressive clean series of 637 with 18 strikes and 16 spares, and as predicted here earlier, with Ricky Trujillo’s 632, he is virtually assured of finishing his first season with over a 200 average.

In other action, Bruce Hooley worked the lanes for marks on 12-of-12 non-split space attempts in a 624 effort in the Kings & Queens League, and Dean Sheppard delivered some good pin action in a 619 effort with 18 strikes along with a clean 225.

Jim Lytle who hails from the great state of Montana popped a 602, and Fred Emmons continued a blistering run of 600s with another one, a 601, but his UCON Huskies ended an amazing March Madness run over the last two years with a gut-wrenching loss ending any hope of a three-peat in the National Championship race.

In single game play, Logan Hendrick (641) ran the front nine before a nasty 4-9 split on his first shot in the 10th put the kibosh on another bid for a 300 as he finished with a 264, Michael “Smurffzzz” Ramirez (676) tossed 10 strikes in a 259, Scott Mattingly (661) posted a 249, and talk about a coincidence, wow!  Anyway, both Dave Cirbo and Bob Marget were bowling on the same lanes (19 & 20), and each tossed eight strikes while shooting identical 247 games.in the Mesquite Merchants Men’s League.

Harry Uncles fired a seven-bagger in a 246, and Octavio Botello was a two-sport athlete at Virgin Valley High School who tossed a career-high 242 in which he ran the front nine which in turn proved pivotal in rolling his first-ever 600 series, a 604.

Jimmy Webb punched out seven strikes in a clean 228, Paul Sullivan tossed a 224, Felix Cruz smacked a 222 and he’s a darn good bowler, while Dale Knight KO’d 216 pins, and Eric Goldfarb toppled 212 in his best game on Monday night.

Alan Pearson tossed six strikes with one open in a 211, Louis Dilisio smacked six strikes in a 209 and he’s a huge fan of all Philly sports teams and especially the Eagles & Phillies.

Brent Young merits kudo’s for a dang nice 209 game, and in Dick Lonick’s 208 he picked up the 3-6-7 split ,but when you’ve been a huge Broncos and Avalanche fan for as long as he’s been, it’s not a surprise that he can still pull off clutch shots like converting that aforementioned split.

Jessie Dixon logged a 205 and he throws a darn good hook ball which helped him roll a 300 in St. George bowling, Chris Scott’s 203 included six strikes with only one open, and Tony Urias also chucked six strikes with a single open frame in a 203.

Martin Carrillo likes baseball and the MLB season is about to get underway, and something else he likes is throwing 200 games, like his 203 last Thursday, Johnny Harper also chucked a 203 in E.R. League play after making the weekly trek to bowling from his home in Apple Valley, Utah.

And Joshua Kaschmitter’s 201 with six strikes shows the potential big upside to his rapidly improving game, and it will happen as he continues reducing the number of open frames which helped pave the way for his 203 and a 189, and Terrull Benally reached a milestone in his young bowling career with his first-ever deuce game, a 202 game with six total strikes including a five-bagger, and with his nice hook ball more 200s will surely follow.

In other action, Jacoby Ford and Gage Hughes, are both in their first year of adult league bowling and continue making impressive progress. In fact, Ford has already racked up some standout scores in his frosh season including a 201 last week while still battling a wrist injury. And Hughes is a rapidly improving two-handed bowler who tossed an impressive clean 201 last week and already’s rolled his first 600 series and is also determined to learn as much as possible about the important, but often neglected mental aspect of the game.

And Javier Delgadillo muscled the pins for a 200 on the nose, and to see Jimmy Ruvalcaba throw five strikes in a 200 game from a wheel chair is awe-inspiring, Al Legan merits ink for a 196 and here’s betting his Chicago Bears will be a much improved team next season, and Bob Morgan, the most popular, best known and admired nonagenarian in Mesquite bowling rolled a heckuva nice 190 game.

Finally, Randy Kezior also merits a salute for toughing out a season of bowling after being forced to bowl as a southpaw due to an injury and to see him throw a 173 is also uplifting. But I guess when you hang around with friends from Alaska, and also a dude named, The Krusher, it speaks volumes about Kezior’s own strong mental toughness and determination.

On the women’s side of the ledger, LeeAnn Harmes sprinted to the head of he pack and never looked back as she delivered top-notch back-to-back outings en route to averaging a lofty 208.5 over six games in her K&Q and City High Roller League sessions.

Specifically, Harmes began the week with a 631 set including a 246, and two days later in CHR League play thumped the lanes for a 620 with 16 strikes including a seven-bagger in a clean 256, and Sandy Sheppard, fueled by a 268 gem logged the next best score, a 624.

And Cheryl Rogers, while not confirmed, is reportedly working with an agent on making some guest appearances on The Food Channel regarding her growing fame in making without any equivocation at all, the absolute best tasting chocolate chip cookies on the planet. But darn it, since this is a bowling column let’s shift gears here and talk about her latest bowling venture and it was a heckuva good one. In fact, she pounded the lanes with 15 strikes in a terrific 604 effort on games of 189, 181 and a clean 234.

And Georgia “GG” Godfrey proved again she can deliver good scores when she brings her A game as she did in a 569 performance with a 210 game, and Reiko Schultz delivered a dang good scoring output in a 572 on games of 200, 190 and 182.

Meanwhile, Sheila Green merits ink for throwing a season-high 564 set  in Ladies Trio League action, and Krista Kilpatrick, a former high school basketball star in Wyoming uncorked a 540 with quality games of 192 and 189.
In single game scoring, Bev Cormani saved room for a 215 in a very competitive 570 effort, Kim Marshall (521) popped a 210, and Evelyn Hooley (507) delivered her umpteenth deuce with a 207.

And Ashlee Yokoyama’s 564 included a pair of good games, 206 and 196, and Charlene Heiden (505) 203 on Monday even beat the highest game rolled by her by her husband, Doug with his anemic 171 high game. Whoops!!

Finally, Jamie Turlington (518) checked in with a 199, and in St. George she rolled a career-high 289 game in league play at the former Sunset Lanes, and Lanae Page (504) logged a 191

No scores were available on league secretary when I checked before noon today, but we’ll get them in next week once they post.

Milan Carr 635-225; 637-237; Dylan Kesl 631-225; Jeff Harmes 620-225;Doug Love 615-236; Mike Gentry 613-223; Sal Diaz 608-230; Dave Pershing 609-209; Mike Yoder 607-214; Mike Rogers 603-221; Larry Willis 595-223; Darren Simonds 227; Chuck Youngdale226; David Harris 225; Jared Bundy 225;Paul Sullivan 224; Shaun Edwards 224; Jim Rappe 223; Jan “Kooz” Kusy 220; Angel Hernandez 216; Robert Melendez 215; Alan Jacobson 214; Dan Aslin 213; Gary Smith 213; Ernie Kala 212; Al Gans 211; James Hartley 209; Jack Northover 203; Tim Usher 203; Bob Wells 203; Jake Swingler 203; Bobby Dixon 202; Juan Morgana 202; Frank Addamo 201; Tim McNees 201; Harold Hendrick 201; George Huston 201; Ken Schloman 201; Ken Moeller 200; Steve Helbig 200.

Cathy Gardner 569-223; Mary Posey 534-199; Gayle Parison 517-180; Vickie Martinsen 501.