Perfect under pressure

John Bassetti Bowling

Ray Kuharich can’t explain the logic of his 300 game in Wednesday Senior Mixed at Wedgewood on Nov. 4.

The perfect game was sandwiched between games of 203 and 209 as part of a 712 series.

“First of all, I didn’t throw any practice balls,” said the 63-year-old Kuharich. “Then I started with a 7 count, missed a spare, got a split in the next frame, then started throwing fairly decent.”

Miraculously, Kuharich then threw 12 strikes in a row and began his third game with a 3-bagger.

“Then I lost it and couldn’t throw a strike after that,” said Kuharich, who actually had six straight spares and didn’t strike until the first ball in the 10th frame.

Including a perfect game thrown in the same league last year, his most recent 300 was his fourth.

“I never had a 300 until 2003, then I had two more until this one,” said the South Side native who has lived in Austintown for the last 31 years.

Ray, who has been bowling since age 9, red two years ago from the Schwebel’s Baking Co.

“I jumped on and off of a bread truck for 31 years,” Kuharich said of working a combined 10 years for Keystone Baking and Stroehmann’s followed by 21 years for Schwebel’s.

When not rolling 300s, Kuharich isn’t rolling high-200 games, either. But, oddly enough, he has poise under pressure when facing a perfect finish.

“Maybe it’s a little bit of maturity because I don’t get excited; I’m able to keep myself pretty calm. Some of my buddies who have thrown 299s and 298s admit to getting nervous when they get up for that last ball. When I’m in that position, I think: ‘I threw 11-in-a-row, so just keep doing what I’m doing.’ ”

Kuharich averages around 200 in the 16-team Wednesday Senior Mixed league at Wedgewood and 186 in Armando’s Saab Classic at West Side.

XJohn Bassetti covers bowling for The Vindicator. E-mail him at bassetti@vindy.com.