Lake Shore resident Frank Seifert is a dedicated duckpin bowler.
How dedicated? For 22 years he was a right-handed bowler despite a hand that lacked normal strength.
As a physical education teacher in Anne Arundel County, he always has been involved with other sports. When he began to have difficulty throwing a softball, he discovered that tendinitis had developed in his arm.
"The doctor told me not to do that any more," Seifert said. "Just that simple, that difficult. Don't use the arm anymore for throwing;a ball. So I followed the doctor's orders. I don't use the right arm to throw a ball anymore."
For many bowlers, that would have been the end of the bowling career. But Seifert switched the duckpin ball to his left hand and started learning the game again.
When he bowled with his right hand, he carried a 117 average with a career-high game of 182 and a high set of 456. Last year, the first year as a lefty, he averaged in low 90s but is starting to push his average up this year.
"Last year was tough," Seifert said. "It's hard to be in the low 90s when you've spent a lifetime building up an average. This year I'm bowling in two leagues at Riviera Bowl, Friday and Saturday, and I'm starting see some improvement."
He dropped the weight of his bowling balls from the top weight of 3 pounds, 12 ounces to 3 pounds, 6 ounces, and its helped. Friday night in the Sun Valley league on Annie's Orphans team, he is holding a 97, in the Saturday night league the average is about 104. He has posted a high game of 139 and a high set of "If I can get the average up to about 108, 109, that would be great," Seifert said. "But I'm not in any pain now as I was bowling right-handed, and I'm pretty happy with the 104 average."
Better late than never
A few weeks ago Bob Rauser was late getting to Riviera Bowl for his Friday night duckpin league, so late that he missed the first game. So he missed the opportunity to post a career-high three-game series. He did, however, throw the biggest game of life: 194.
"I filled every frame but two," Rauser said. "And I threw six strikes, finished with a triple and could have easily had a 200 game. And I probably would have passed my best series if I'd hadn't missed the first game."
Super substituting
Dave Born of Pasadena bowls in the Sunday night mixed duckpin league at Riviera Bowl and subs in other leagues. He carries a 113 average and has been bowling for four years.
Born has been "bowling great for the last few weeks, but I don't know why. I've had a 447 set and 452 series the last two weeks in the Sunday night league, but I'm not doing anything differently."
And he wasn't doing anything differently the night he subbed in the Saturday mixed league a few weeks ago.
Born posted games of 202, 121 and 156. That means that he shot his career-high game (202) and his high series (479) on the same night as a substitute.
A new way to change scores
Russ Scott has an entirely different way to boost his duckpin scores: Get rid of his bowling balls.
Scott, who lives in Glen Burnie, bowls with his wife, Ellen, in the Friday Colts Corral league at Fair Lanes Southwest. He started bowling when he was 13 and carried a 126 average last year. He's shot a high game of 217 and a high set of 554.
"I wasn't doing too good this year," Scott said. "So I picked up Ellen's bowling balls and started throwing them. And I started to throw some big games."
In the past month, Scott has thrown a 210 and a 200 game in the Colt Corral league.
Crossing the line
Carroll Lloyd lives in Baltimore, but on Mondays he bowls in the Greenway Glen Burnie Early Mixed and the late Doubles duckpin league, and Fridays he bowls in a mixed league at Fair Lanes Southwest.
He has been bowling since he was 10 and carries a 134 average with a career high game of 230 and a high series of 535. On Oct. 26, at Greenway Glen Burnie, Lloyd put together games of 165, 164 and 185.