BUTLER TWP — Bill Krause Jr. and Jim Mazzanti became good friends through bowling.

Now they share a milestone.

Krause turned 50 on Friday. Mazzanti is 55. Both have been league bowlers for years and have been teammates in the Lads and Lassies League at Bon Aire Bowl for the past two seasons.

Neither had ever bowled an 800 series — until doing so three weeks apart during league play recently.

Krause rolled an 825 series — highest in Butler County this season — on Jan. 23, putting together games of 299, 267 and 259. His highest previous series was a 767.

He has never bowled a perfect game. Krause rolled a 298 in 2008.

“That will come someday,” Krause said of the 300. “That 825 is pretty special to me. It's so rare to put together three games like that.

“There was initial disappointment when that 299 happened in my first game. I took a couple of minutes to compose myself, people were congratulating me on the game and everything.

“When I got going with a good second game, I was thinking ... 'This could be a pretty good night here,'” Krause added.

On Feb. 13. Mazzanti stepped into the league spotlight when he bowled a 300 in his first game. It was the second perfect game of his lifetime, the first coming in October of 1999 at Family Bowlaway.

“That was in the Tuesday night Strikes and Spares league,” Mazzanti recalled. “We're talking 16 years ago. You start thinking you're never going to bowl another one.”

When Mazzanti bowled a 279 in the second game, he started doing the math for what it would take to get an 800. His previous high series was a 779.

He kept the suspense going through the final shot of his final game, when he polished off a 226 to complete an 805 series.

“I felt more pressure on that shot than trying to get the 300 because an 800 is something I'd never done,” Mazzanti said.

“A girl on our team was calculating what I needed during that last game. I knew I was somewhere close to it and got a strike on my first ball in the 10th. When I followed with an eight-count, she screamed: 'Yes! You got it!' I was relieved more than anything.”

Much like Krause, Mazzanti had to settle himself down after a memorable first game.

“You bowl a 300, everyone's coming around, talking to you about it ... I had to refocus after that,” Mazzanti said.

Mazzanti is averaging 215 this season. Krause's average is 208.

Both treat the Lads and Lassies League, a mixed couples circuit, as a “fun” league.

“I'm relaxed in that league, even though there's plenty of good bowlers there,” Krause said. “I'm not one of those guys who shows up to bowl with a bunch of balls and equipment.

“I bring one ball, try to figure out the shot and make it happen. Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't.”

For Krause and Mazzanti, it happened on one respective night like it never had before.

So what's next?

“Some guy bowled a 900 (in Massachusetts) a few weeks back,” Mazzanti said with a grin. “You never know.”