Witnessing perfection
300 games bowled locally in January
Two Walsh County bowling venues had the privilege of witnessing perfect 300 games over the past couple of weeks, something that hasn’t happened in quite some time.
On January 10, Jacob Tessin of Grand Forks rolled a 300 at 12th Street Bowl in Grafton. Two weeks later on Jan. 24, Max Samdahl of Park River also bowled a 300 during Thursday night league play at Bowl-Mor Lanes in Park River.
Tessin, 26, is a blackjack dealer in Grand Forks and bowls on Thursday evenings for the 12th Street Lounge team in Grafton. He said he bowled a little as a kid, but nothing serious.
He’s been bowling competitively in leagues for only a year and a half. Tessin has a bit of an unorthodox style as he bowls with just his first and third finger and not his thumb.
“I don’t really say I have a style, but I bowl without a thumb, so I get a lot of revs on the ball,” he said.
Tessin, who carries a 171 average had a previous high game of 267.
Tessin didn’t throw a strike in warm ups on Jan. 10, but found his groove on the first frame of his first game and kept on going. The most consecutive strikes he had previously gotten was eight.
“I was hoping to get nine or 10 in a row. I just wanted to help our team win.” he said. “On my eighth ball I thought I had thrown it in the gutter but it got to the one board and then came back.”
Tessin said he felt fine until his 12th ball.
“I got a little nervous before the 12th ball,” he said. I had to walk back and calm myself down.”
According to 12th Street Bowl owner Brad Nelson, it was the first perfect game bowled in Grafton since 2009.
Max Samdal
Max Samdal, 24, is the son of Bernie and Tina Samdahl of Park River. According to Bowl-Mor Lanes owner Keith Berg, Samdahl has been bowling since he was six years old and currently bowls on Thursday nights in Park River.
Samdahl came into that fateful night carrying an average of 166 and like Tessin, his perfect game was the first in his three game series.
Witnessing Samdahl’s big event were teammates Samantha Berg, Devon Allen and Keith Berg.
Berg and his wife Deb have owned the lanes in Park River since 1991. He said there’s never been a perfect game in Park River since they’ve owned the place and to the best of his knowledge, it’s the first perfect game there in the alley’s 52-year history.