Kober bowls perfect 300

Whitefish local Jamie Kober, 31,

recently bowled 12 consecutive strikes to complete a perfect game

at the Pin & Cue bowling alley. According to Vince Red Elk of

the Pin & Cue, it may have been the first time a woman has

bowled a perfect 300 at the alley.

Kober’s top score was no fluke. She’s

been bowling for 26 years, joined her first league at six years old

and currently averages 202 in the Whitefish league. The Pilot met

up with Kober last week to find out more about her 300 game.

Q. Tell me about the final frame in

your perfect game? Were you nervous?

Kober: Everyone stopped and gathered

around to watch. I was a little nervous. My first ball in the 10th

frame was awful — it was very high, but they all fell. Then the

11th ball, I was still very nervous, and it was a bad shot, too,

but it carried. Then my last ball, it was just beautiful, and there

it was.

Q. In baseball during a perfect game,

it’s an unsaid rule that no one should mention anything about it to

the pitcher or else he’ll be jinxed. Does the same rule apply in

bowling?

Kober: These bowlers here know not to

say anything because they’ve all been there. But there are some

bowlers who are like, “Hey, three more and you get a perfect game!”

and it gets in your head. But these bowlers here know that would be

the kiss of death. Nobody was ribbing me.

Q. How close in the past have you come

to a perfect game?

Kober: My best was a 286. I think it

was 10 strikes and a spare.

Q. Do you have any superstitions or

follow a certain routine before each roll?

Kober: When I played volleyball, I had

to bounce the ball an odd number of times before a serve. But in

bowling, I just kind of wiggle my hand, do a little shimmy and away

I go.

Q. Do you bowl with many other

women?

Kober: I bowl with my parents and

another woman in the Bigfork league.

Q. Are male bowlers intimidated by

you?

Kober: Mostly in Bigfork, yeah. It’s a

male ego thing, I guess. They voted in their men’s scratch league

that women can’t bowl in it. But here in Whitefish, this was

originally a men’s league, and the women petitioned to let them in

and they did.

Q. Did you do anything special to

commemorate the game?

Kober: I get a 300 ring from U.S.

Bowling Congress, and I called my mom and dad.

Q. How hard do you think it will it be

to bowl another perfect game?

Kober: I don’t know, I’m not a pressure

bowler at all. I think I got lucky. It was a little bit of skill

and a lot of luck. If the planets are aligned just right, I may

throw another one.