1st AD Combat Aviation Bde. Company wins intramural bowling

D Company, 4th Battalion, 501st Attack Reconnaissance Regiment, Combat Aviation Brigade, pose after winning the 2012 intramural bowling league May 25. Photo by Sgt. Brian C. Erickson, 24th Press Camp Headquarters.

Sgt. Brian C. Erickson,
24th Press Camp Headquarters:

D Company, 4th Battalion, 501st Attack Reconnaissance Regiment, 1st Combat Aviation Brigade, won the championship for the 2012 intramural bowling league May 25 at Desert Strike Lanes at Fort Bliss.

The intramural league began 16 weeks before the championship with a total of 40 teams from across Fort Bliss. Each team had eight members on its roster.

This year more teams signed up than expected, so to accommodate the number of teams bowling, the schedule had to be broken down into three nights of bowling.

“Not bowling on the same night every week made it interesting,” said Pfc. Kevin Chafins, a team captain assigned to D Co.

In order to bowl on league night a team must have a minimum of three bowlers from the roster present, which is considered a legal lineup under United States Bowling Congress rules. The most that could bowl on a league night is five bowlers.

“Due to unit missions it was nice to be able to have an additional three bowlers available to fill in on certain nights,” said Spc. Richard Rogers, a team captain assigned to D Co.

The top 20 teams in the league at the end of the 16th week qualified for the playoffs. D Co. was in the 17th seed as the league moved into the playoffs.

The playoffs started with the top teams bowling against each other in a best-of-three format, with the winners moving into the next round the following night.

Even though they lost the first game of the playoffs by two pins, they didn’t waiver in their confidence.

“We knew if we bowled like we know we can, we were not going to lose in the first round,” said Chafins.

With that confidence in their pocket they moved into the next round the following night. But they didn’t stop there. They kept going all the way to the finals.

D Co. won the first game of the finals despite a casualty to one of the captain’s bowling balls.

“Attempting to pick up a spare I threw the ball; little did I know it would break apart when it reached the back of the lane,” said Rogers. “Winning the game made the loss of a ball easier to take.”

The second game didn’t go as well as they hoped for, falling to the other team by more than a 100 pins.

Frustrated with how they bowled the second game, D Co. was determined to come back and take the third game.

“When stuff gets tough around the shop, we stick to a motto ‘Screw it, we do it live,’ which is what we stuck to after losing the second game,” said Rogers. “We knew we were going to have to bowl our butts off to win the final game.”

“A thing to remember in bowling, forget the last game and focus on the current game,” said Chafins.

That’s exactly what they did. All five bowlers rolled a good game and they were able to walk away with the first-place trophy.