The Monday Night Strikers League at Joey Armadillo’s got to see something that no bowler has ever seen in Niles.

Local bowler Mike Vanderbuttes shot an 858 series breaking the previous Niles city record of 827.

Vanderbuttes shot games of 279, 300, and 279. At one point, he had thrown 29 strikes in a row. When all was said and done, he had finished the evening with 33 strikes out of a possible 36 strikes. His only non-strikes on the evening were two 10 pins that kept him from shooting an unimaginable 900 series.

The record setting performance from Vanderbuttes came as no surprise to fellow local bowlers.

“He bowled like Mike Vanderbuttes. He is the smoothest and most comfortable bowler I’ve ever seen. I’ve never seen anything like that. He was there every shot,” said Vanderbuttes’ teammate Jerry Marlin Sr.

“He was bowling like it was his job,” said league bowler Dave Lembke.

For his part, Vanderbuttes said he was just attempting to stay focused on frame-to-frame shot making and trying not to think about the potential series he had going.

“I realized obviously what was going on but I didn’t think about it.

“You can’t think about it in those situations because then you’ll start put pressure on yourself each shot,” he said. “I am pretty happy with that series though.”

This is just another accomplishment in a long line of them for Vanderbuttes who held the previous city record of 827

He is also credited with holding the highest average ever recorded in one season for Niles bowling when he averaged 232.5 two years ago in the Wednesday Night Men’s League at Joey Armadillo’s.

The 800 series was the sixth of his career and the 300 game was the fifth such game of his time bowling.

Vanderbuttes said he is undecided on whether he will bowl in the Michigan Masters tournament or the Michigan USBC State tournament but noted that he may bowl in the Stanley Open at Joey’s.