Right Up Their Alley!
Cheryl Fensom wanted to get started. Ricky Hurley just wanted to get done.
At Hampton's Sparetimes Alley on Nov. 24, Fensom and her squad, Deuces Wild, were locked in a tough league match. The team had won the league title three straight years, but fell short in 2007, and the new season wasn't off to the best of starts for Fensom.
"I'd been struggling a little bit," said the retired Army major. "I couldn't seem to get the carry, and I wasn't shooting well. I had good games, I had bad games."
Five days earlier in Peninsula High School League competition at AMF York, Hurley had already rolled two games for his York High squad, and scored in the 180s in both. When he opened his final game with a few strikes, no one really noticed - yet.
The same thing happened when Fensom kept making X's in the scorebook through her first few frames. The proud owner of a 185 average, she'd ventured into 280 and 290 territory several times, but had never managed to go all the way without missing a pin. Neither had Hurley.
Still, as the two kept making it through their frames with a single toss, many in the alley started to take notice. As Fensom kept striking, more and more fans and participants gathered near her alley to check out the action.
"You try not to focus too much on it, or you get too wrapped up," Fensom said. "My mind was saying, 'OK, you've got a good game going; the ball is working. Just keep doing the same thing you've been doing all along.'"
By the time Hurley banged out his ninth strike, just about everyone at AMF was behind him - in every sense of the word.
"Basically, everyone in the whole bowling alley was around my lane," he said. "By the last frame, I was shaking. I wasn't saying much. It was nerve-wracking. Everyone was yelling, but I was sitting to myself."
Both players roared past the ninth frame, then opened the tenth with a strike. Then another. Fensom picked up her 14-pound ball, monikered "Agent Orange," and looked toward the 10 obstacles between her and perfect.
"I was very nervous, but at this point, everyone had stopped to watch, and everyone knew it would be my first," she said. "My knees were knocking, and the ball felt extremely heavy. I tried to disassociate from everything going on around me and focus on what I'd already done. I let the ball go and prayed."
Hurley stepped toward the line, brought his arm back, and rolled.
"My knees were shaking," he said. "I had confidence, though."
Fensom watched her ball take off. Then it took a quick turn.
"The ball went out to the right a little farther than I wanted it to go," she said. "I started praying, and it came back. I started to think I had a chance. Then it hit the pins, and I got a good mix."
Hurley didn't have as much to worry about.
"It was perfect," he said of the shot.
The ball hit the pins, and his friends and teammates hit him, tackling him to the ground. He'd just rolled the first 300 game in league history.
"I was excited," he said. "I couldn't believe it. I was shocked. I definitely thought someone else had done it."
Fensom's mix was just good enough - all the pins went crashing down.
"I was ecstatic," she said. "I jumped. Everything that I'd been doing all along came together - all the hard work, all the practices. You don't forget that. I don't think there's any words to explain it. I was just super ecstatic. This was good for my ego. I needed a boost. I knew the game was still there. I hope this is what I need to jump-start my game."
Now both are looking toward the rest of their season. Hurley's ends in February, while Fensom's goes until May. Hurley's perfect game raised his average to 200, good enough for second in the league.
"I want another 300, to make my average higher," he said.
Fensom's thinking the same way.
"Bowling is a strange animal; you can bowl everyday, but you can't get to 300 everyday," she said. "You keep trying to perfect the routine that you have, so you can always be the repetitious machine, getting the same shot, getting the same feel every time you throw the ball. That's my goal, getting the same shot every time.
"I want to get another 300, and another one. I want an 800 set. I don't discount the fact that I got the 300, but that doesn't mean that it's good enough for me. I want to keep doing well."
