​​​​​Three bowlers. Three perfect games. One remarkable night at Potter’s Alley in Morton — where perfection seemed contagious.

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Adam Wilcoxen, Bobbie Sweet and Justin Hartzel turned a regular league night into an unforgettable one, when all three recorded 300 games.

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The night was extra special for Wilcoxen and Sweet, who rolled a perfect game for the first time on the same night.

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It began when 37-year-old Wilcoxen opened league night by rolling his first career trey and finished with a 707 series in the Thursday Night Businessmen’s League.

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He had come close before — very close — but perfection had always slipped away at the end.

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“I’ve had three 290s,” Wilcoxen said. “I had one where I had the front 10 at state this past year. I buried the 11th shot and left a stone 8.”

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That didn’t shake his confidence. Wilcoxen, who has carried a high average of 217, said he’s been throwing the ball well and knew it was only a matter of time.

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“I had a feeling I would end up throwing one eventually,” he said. “But I just didn’t know when. Last year I thought was going to be the year. This year, I’ve just been off a little bit. But then tonight, I was just locked in on that first game.

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“And I was nervous,” he added with a grin. “The last shot, I was up there, and I was shaking. But as soon as I stepped up there, I took a deep breath, went up and threw the ball in the same spot, and as soon as I let go of it, I knew it was there.”

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He was bowling with the new Hammer Black Widow Tour V1.

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“I literally just got it yesterday, and the 300 was my first game with it,” Wilcoxen said.

Two games later, Sweet delivered a perfect game of her own — the first of her career, and one that had been building for weeks. Six weeks earlier, she came within a pin of perfection on her way to her first 800 series, an 813 on games of 257, 299, and 257.

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“I stuffed a 4-pin on my last shot of the 299,” Sweet recalled. “Tonight, the 11th ball came in a little heavy. I carried when it tripped the 4-pin forward. I was like, ‘Don’t do that again!’ I’m pretty sure the last shot was pretty flush!”

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Sweet said she was probably more nervous going for 300 than when she chased the 800.

“On the 800, I thought I had blown it already,” she said. “I didn’t want to do the math, because then I probably wouldn’t do it. I started doing the numbers and said, ‘Well, I better punch out to make sure.’ So, I think the 800 came a little easier.”

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After an opening 189 game, Sweet found her line with a Storm Road Warrior ball, shooting 246 in Game 2 and then striking 13 straight to close her 735 series.

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Her husband, Donnie — who had rolled his own 300 in the same league two weeks earlier — had the night off and missed seeing Bobbie’s big night.

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Bowling on the same pair, Brandi Johnson nearly joined the fun, starting with 10 straight strikes before leaving a solid 10-pin on her 11th shot. She settled for a 288 game and finished with a 739 series to lead the team.

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Josh Barnwell added a 245 finish and Kevin Tockes with 223 for a 1,056-team game. That will among the national leaders at the end of the season for a two-man, two-woman lineup.

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And then came Justin Hartzel, who had to wait a few minutes for the lanes — and the celebration — from Sweet's closing 300 to clear before stepping up for his own shot at perfection.

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“I was sitting back and was just kind of waiting, watching Bobbie finish her game,” Hartzel said. “Then I had to go and throw after that. So that was a lot of waiting.”

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It was worth the wait. All three of his strikes in the 10th frame were solid hits.

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Hartzel admitted that even after rolling eight previous 300 games, he still felt the nerves in the 10th frame.

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“They were all good strikes except for the third frame,” he said. “It was a problem, but I got a late pin to fall. Other than that, they were all good.”

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After starting his set with back-to-back 236s, Hartzel was actually thinking of a different kind of milestone.

“I was going to go for a triplicate,” he said with a laugh.

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Instead, he punctuated the night with his ninth career perfect game and a 772 series — a fitting exclamation point on an evening when 300s came in threes.

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“It was one of those nights where every lane seemed to have something special going,” Hartzel said. “You could just feel the energy building after Adam and Bobbie did it — by the time I got lined up, everyone was watching. You don’t see three 300s in one night very often, and it was just cool to be part of it.”

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For everyone at Potter’s Alley, it was the kind of night bowlers dream about — when the strikes come easy, the pins seem to listen, and perfection proves to be not just possible, but contagious.

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Yet another 300 at Potter’s Alley

 

Not to be outdone, Lisa Feger rolled her second career 300 game at Potter’s Alley earlier this week – more than 17 years after bowling her first one.

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It was her first game of the night, bowling with a Storm IQ ball. She added games of 213 and 245 for a career-best 758 series.