Woman bowls 300 at Lucky Strike Lanes
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RONAN — This has certainly been a year of firsts for Lucky Strike Lanes and the local bowling community.
First, the Starkel brothers bowled a 300 game on the same night during league play — something that’s never happened before in the state of Montana.
Next, Julian Dullinger shattered the alley’s 800-series record with an 847 — 47 pins above his average gameplay.
And last week, bowler Megan Jennison became the first woman in alley history to roll a perfect game.
“It’s been a long time coming in this old joint,” Lucky Strike owner Tim Corbett said. “With better equipment comes higher scores. It was going to happen sooner or later, we just didn’t know when. We have a very good group of women here, they work hard at it.”
Corbett added that while the lane has seen only three women bowl a 700 series in the history of the alley, five women have scored higher than 700 in the past year.
“There’s a group of five or six girls that could break loose any night,” he said.
Jennison is certainly one of these women.
A bowler since she was 16, Jennison said she only has one word to describe her first 300 — crazy.
“I guess it’s a little surreal or unreal,” Jennison laughed. “Very exciting, but hard to believe I guess because no woman has ever done it. It’s not that I didn’t have confidence, but you don’t think you’re going to do it. It was amazing.”
Jennison’s 300 was enough to bring her 3-game score to 769; the highest three game series for a woman the alley has ever seen. To Jennison, the 769 was her most valued accomplishment.
“That’s what I told my stepdad and husband,” she said. “It was nice to have a high series with the game, there’s a lot of men who bowl 300 and barely get 700 on the series, so it was nice to have that series as well.”
AJ Bigby, a regular at several bowling alleys in the Mission Valley, said he was amazed and excited for Jennison when he heard the news.
“I was stoked about it,” Bigby said. “She’s always been close to hitting 300 and she’s a good bowler, so I just thought it was one of the coolest things.”
Jennison said her average on the season is roughly 185, meaning her 300 game was nearly double her yearly average.
Even with the huge game and understanding that if she rolled a 300 once she can do it again, Jennison set her next goal at a more attainable level; she wants to average 200 per game.
“It won’t be until next year, but that’s my goal,” she said.
In reference to the secret to her success, Jennison asked, “Do I have to have one?” and laughed, saying “I don’t know. I just love to bowl. It sounds corny, but I do.”
