Three-peat Perfection

Aaron Garden rolls third 300 game of the season

By John Burbridge sports@charlescitypress.com

CHARLES CITY — When does perfection become routine?

When you’re Aaron Garden.

Nonetheless, Garden says, “You still get nervous late in the game, and you still get that thrill when you get one.”

He’s talking about the range of emotions a bowler goes through on way to rolling a 300 game. And Garden speaks from experience.

On March 24 in Hawkeye League play at Comet Bowl, Garden recorded his seventh perfect game of his bowling career.

It was his third perfect game bowled within the league this season with Unggoy Broadband. With six weeks left in the season, don’t be too surprised if Garden gets a fourth.

“I got a little lucky early,” Garden said of the second game in what would be a 745 series, “but the last six or seven strikes I was dialed in.”

All of Garden’s 300s have come at Comet Bowl. Unofficially, his seventh perfect game at Comet Bowl broke a six-all tie with Scott Girkin, who recently rolled his sixth in Wednesday night 10-Pin Heaven play.

Before early into the Hawkeye season on Sept. 8 when Garden started his impressive roll, he hadn’t bowled a 300 game in three years.

Now carrying a league-high 223 average, Garden’s ongoing season performance has even awed the likes of Brent Gerleman, who recently rolled an 819 series — second highest in Comet Bowl history — but is still looking for his first 300.

“The lanes have been very good this year, and it has been nice to get the support of fellow bowlers,” Garden said. “It still gets real quiet around here when I step (on the approach) for the 10th frame with one on the line.

“But it’s probably more fun to root for someone going for their first 300.”

Garden’s teammate, Matt Weir, has also bowled a 300 this season, and until Gerleman rolled his 819, had the highest series (784) at Comet Bowl this fall-winter season.

Defending Hawkeye champs Unggoy Broadband is currently in first place, but not by much in the ultra-competitive league that employs a points system combining head-to-head matchup scores with team scores.

“If you’re the leadoff man, you’re also bowling against the other team’s leadoff man,” Garden said. “It was a system we went to about three years ago, and we like it. It makes things more interesting.”