A Fort Belvoir bowler recently placed her name in the Bowling Center's record books as the first female to bowl a perfect 300 game in the facility's history.

Marie Anderson, a member of the Castle "First Ladies" and the Belvoir Officers' Spouses' Club league teams, cleared the pins in every frame during a match Jan. 14, a feat that left teammates and spectators in awe.

"It was so cool -- the burst of screams and cheers that came out of the quiet that had come over this bowling alley. It was so exciting," said Castle teammate Marcia Siegert. "She got the turkey (three consecutive strikes) and when the fourth strike came I said, 'OK, we'll call that a leg of lamb.' Then she went up to five and I thought, now what? We'll call that the front leg of the cow. The sixth strike we decided to call the other front leg, so now she had half a cow. By the time she got to eight strikes she had a 'whole cow' and people were starting to notice and it got really quiet in here. When she got the three strikes in the tenth, I said, 'You get a whole elephant!' I was almost as fun for us just being here as it was for her."

The historic game finish surprised no one more than Anderson herself, a 25-year bowler who maintains a 179 average.

"I just never thought I could do it; I just never expected it," she said. "I'm not a big high roller with a 179 average. I would have expected a bowler with something like a 220 average to score a perfect 300. Not me."

Anderson attributes her success Jan. 14 to simply having one of those good nights, common to all athletes across the spectrum of sports.

"I never practice; I just play Monday nights and Wednesday mornings every week. That night everything was right in the pocket," she said. "I couldn't believe it; I wish I could repeat that, even just halfway."

Anderson said jitters didn't start becoming an issue until the very end, when word of her progress began to spread through the building.

"On the tenth ball, though, I got really nervous. Everybody else had finished, and our ladies' league is usually the last," Anderson said. "Then I noticed no one was leaving and I turned around and everybody was standing there. Then I was very nervous."

"One of the bowlers was running over saying 'Marie! Marie' and I grabbed him and said 'Stay away from her; she doesn't need someone to tell her she's on eight strikes,'" said Siegert.

Despite the pressure and the spectators, however, Anderson pulled it off and claimed an eternal place in Fort Belvoir's history books.

For more information regarding the Bowling Center's leagues and activities call (703) 805-2991.