BIG STRIKES
6/2/03

The first "official" champion in CSA Bowling history was crowned when Big 10 Pins outlasted three other teams in a two game total score final to win the league championship.

During the regular season, team handicaps were used in a head to head match-up format with 10 points being available each week. This system was used to balance competition during the regular season.

For the playoffs, the handicaps were thrown out and the nine teams were split into three groups. Each group would have a one game, highest score play in to the finals.

Out of group 1, regular season champion Bowl Thugs N Harmony advanced to the finals, the high score of group 2 was Big 10 Pins, who posted a first round total of 694, and group 3 had a tie between Ghandi Rules and Onity King-pins at 667.

Those four teams all advanced to a two game championship.

In game 1, it was Ghandi Rules that led the way. They posted a total score of 648 and had a 45 pin lead over Big 10 (603), in third was Bowl Thugs at 593, and Onity was last with 583.

In the second game, both the leader Ghandi and Bowl Thugs slipped off the pace and they were never really a factor. Ghandi posted a respectable 556 and Bowl Thugs put 547 on the board.

They weren't a factor because Big 10 Pins went crazy at the beginning of the second game. They started a run in the second frame of eight consecutive strikes. This run erased the 45 pin deficit they had against Ghandi and put them in the drivers seat. Led by Bob Weidler's 208 in game two, Big 10 posted a team score of 689 and they had a combined total of 1292 pins.

But Onity didn't go away. They kept on pace with Big 10 on the strength of five consecutive strikes by Tim Nummy (who finished with a 216) and the play of regular season individual scoring leader Charles Soukhathivong. In the title game, Soukhathivong finished with three strikes in the tenth frame.

The match came down to the last two frames. Both Nummy and Soukhathivong would have to post marks to give Onity a chance. In the 10th, Nummy dropped eight on the first ball and managed to slide the 10 pin over, but it did not go down. This somehow jammed up the machine that resets the pins and resulted in a 10 minute delay.

When play resumed, Nummy knocked one pin down and it seemed that if Soukhathivong closed with a turkey (three consecutive strikes), Onity would pull out the victory. He did exactly that and finished the game with a 224, but when the final scores were totaled up, despite putting up a team total of 705 (the high for the day), Onity fell four pins short.

Big 10 Pins were crowned the CSA Spring Bowling Champions

BIG 10 PINS
Jody Watson
Adam Smiddy
Bob Weidler
Mike Hewitt

Did Not Play
Mike Braswell