I entered and bowled the first squad of the first day. Unfortunately I found out the night before that my favorite ball, Storm Attitude Shift, was cracked from the middle finger hole all the way around half of the ball. I knew I couldn't use it so I was limited to my Storm Special Agent and Storm Rapid Fire.
If being limited to 2/3 of my ball arsenal wasn't bad enough I had tried to throw my Storm Special Agent and realized that my hand was swollen and the ball was hurting my hand (I have been changing my grip specs since coming back). Now I was limited to a single ball, Storm Rapid Fire, that I had just drilled two days prior. This ball was intended to be the weakest reacting ball in my bag so I know I would have to play the right side of the lane.
Well the first game did not go as planned. I could not find a line around the second or third arrow at all and I had two 2,8,10 splits in the first four frames. Some strikes, washouts, splits and open frames later I rolled a 153 game. I pretty much resigned myself to a tournament loss at that point.
We switched pairs and I continued to find a shot, moving to the first arrow, and I struggled with open frames again but managed a 199. Finally the third game on the third pair went my way. I moved to the 14 board and targeted the 5 board at the arrows. I stoned a 10 pin and picked it up in the third frame but struck in every other frame until the 10th frame.
A few of the strikes were less than perfect and I had some carry on my side but had a 279 working until the second shot in the 10th frame. I swung the ball out to the 3 board and the ball bit the lane and came in high and sharp leaving an 8 count which I spared for a 267. This helped me to win the high game side pot for $20.
After the series, 679 with handicap, I found out I was the squad leader. This caught me by surprise since I shot a horrible 153. I was also leading the Sweeper with 504. Well later that day the scores were pouring in and the cut became +90 causing me to miss it by 11 pins. The good news was that with my 504 Sweeper score I was able to take 1st in that side pot and winning $112.
Winning a total $132 without making the cut made my first tournament after my come back a success. I think it is safe to say that I AM BACK!
