Dodgson, Davis Freight win state title

Talk about it

Casey Dodgson and the Davis Freight bowling team had a doozy of an ending to their season.

Dodgson placed third in the Scratch All Events, fourth in Handicap All Events and teamed with Mike Harris, Jason Frenzel, Ron Morlock and Kirby Weller to bring home the team championship at the North Dakota State USBC Bowling Tournament.

The 4-week event came to a close on Sunday at Mandan’s Midway Lanes. Dodgson and Davis Freight actually competed in the opening weekend of the tournament on March 27. That’s when they posted their score of 3,427 and it stood up for the rest of the tournament, which featured over 250 teams.

“Your goal every year is to try and win it. That, obviously, doesn’t happen. The competition is pretty strong, so we were pretty excited about winning it,” Dodgson said. “Going into the last weekend we had a 200-pin lead on the second-place team. We knew the Mandan teams were going (last weekend), so we weren’t sure what would happen, but it worked out.”

Davis Freight’s total was 47 pins better than runner-up Missouri River Pages No. 1 of Mandan, which finished with 3,382.

Winning the state’s top tournament is a significant achievement, especially considering Buffalo Lanes in Jamestown uses wood lanes, opposed to the synthetic track the state tournament was played on.

Synthetic lanes play oilier, with not as much traction as wood lanes. Dodgson said their team worked hard preparing for the tournament.

“We didn’t really know what to expect especially with it being on synthetic lanes, but we felt like if we bowled well, we’d have a chance,” he said.

They certainly delivered.

Of the 5-person team, nobody had less than a 3-game total of 650. Dodgson’s 739, or 246 per game, led the way.

“It’s not something where you can go in and bowl at par and expect to do much,” said Dodgson, who is co-owner of Buffalo Lanes and IDK Bar & Grill. “You have to put five guys together that are going to be able to bowl three quality games just to have a chance.”

Dodgson’s total for the tournament of 2,027 was the third-highest in the Scratch division and fourth in Handicap. The Scratch division is the top echelon, where players traditionally average scores of 220 or better.

Dodgson, Harris, Frenzel, Morlock and Weller are among the top bowlers in Jamestown year-after-year, and the core of the group have been bowling together for more than a decade.

“We’ve been together for a while, so that makes it more enjoyable when you’re able to win a tournament like that,” he said. “It doesn’t happen very often.”

Despite winning the state’s top tournament, Dodgson said they could have won by more, but instead had to sweat it out on Sunday.

“When we were done, we actually felt like we left about 100 pins out there,” he said. “Had we not done that, it wouldn’t have even been close.”

Sun sports editor Dave Selvig can be reached at (701) 952-8460 or by e-mail at daves@jamestownsun.com

Tags: recreation league, sports, bowling