It’s Pure Perfection High-Rollers Strike It Big With Perfect Games And 800 Series In Lilac League

Bowling a 300 game is something a bowler will remember the rest of their life. The Lilac Mixed Five league at Lilac Lanes has produced some great memories the past few months.

On March 10, two members of the coed league, Steve Toland and Chad Price, bowled perfect games, and a third bowler, Mel Foster, rolled a three-game series of 805. This impressive evening of bowling came a few months after the 300 games started to pile up in the league.

On Nov. 25, two members of the McKeever Insurance team, Tom Moore and Julie McKeever, bowled 300 games side-by-side. McKeever is the first woman to bowl a 300 at Lilac, but she was not the only woman for long. On Dec. 2, one week after McKeever threw her 300, Jenn Stewart became the second woman in Lilac history to bowl a perfect game.

All had a similar experience when they got close to a perfect game: no one would talk to them.

“After 11 straight (strikes) no one will talk to you because they do not want to jinx you,” said Toland, who has been bowling for 24 years. His highest previous game had been a 297.

“I was numb until the eighth frame,” Toland said. “It was the 10th frame when I realized I had a chance to get a 300.”

Price, who turned 17 on April 8, is in his first year of adult bowling. The 300 was his first, although a week earlier he bowled a 299.

“I just stayed calm and hit my mark,” Price said. “I hit a lot of pins.”

A student at Spokane Valley Alternative, Price started bowling when his parents introduced him to the sport at age 6. He immediately took a liking to it and has been bowling since. In last year’s Washington State Junior Championships, Price took first place in the singles, doubles, team and all-events competition.

While Price and Toland were reaching perfection, Foster was quietly putting together the best three-game total in the league this year.

“Everyone has a night when everything comes together,” Foster said of his series.

Although the 805 was his best three-game series, Foster has bowled a 299 game and has thrown 17 strikes over two games.

Foster took up competitive bowling after his children graduated from high school, giving him more free time. He currently bowls three nights a week in four leagues.

Moore, a lefty, and McKeever, who is right-handed, were feeding off each other’s success when they scored their 300s.

“You do not talk too much in that situation.” McKeever said. “We were concentrating on each other’s games.”

All the bowlers said they were not thinking much about their accomplishment when it was happening.

Stewart knows the pressures of coming close to perfection. Two weeks before her 300, she had a bid for a perfect game halted after nine strikes.

“I like to get up and do it before anyone talks to me,” Stewart said. “But I was getting words of encouragement from my mom and my boyfriend.”

While the bowlers may try to not think about the perfect game while it is happening, they definitely will remember it for a long time to come.