Joe Perri doesn't own a bowling ball. He does own a perfect game.

Until recently, he didn't think either was a big deal.

Perri, 46, of Valencia bowls with his wife Sue in the Don and Dave's non-sanctioned mixed couples league every other Sunday night at Mars Lanes. He carries a 155 average, has been in the league four years and never has bowled in a sanctioned league.

"Dave Rosswog and I are good friends," Perri said. "His league needed bowlers, he called and my wife and I decided to join.

"Before that, I don't think I've been bowling since I was 20."

He didn't buy himself a ball. He does own a pair of bowling shoes "because I don't like wearing other people's shoes," he said.

Perri didn't have much time to prepare for bowling a 300-game. It happened Sept. 18, the first night of his league's season, and occurred in the first game — after one practice ball.

"We were running late that night and barely got to the alley in time to start," Perri recalled. "I grabbed a ball off the rack, threw it one time in practice and we started the game."

He left a pin standing after the practice throw.

But that was practice.

Mars Lanes does not have automated scoring, so Perri's building string of strikes wasn't evident to the league's other 49 bowlers at first.

"It was pretty unbelievable," Rosswog said. "We've had this league for six years and two guys have bowled as high as 254 — that's been it.

"This isn't the kind of league that bowls 300-games. But Joe did it."

The scores of Perri's other two games that night were 166 and 156. His previous career-high game was 220.

Rosswog was bowling in the lanes next to Perri's that night. The league occupies all 10 lanes in the facility.

"By the ninth frame, everyone was aware of what was going on," Rosswog said. "By the 10th frame, everyone was down by Joe's lane watching."

Everyone but his wife, that is.

"I was bowling down at the opposite end," Sue Perri said. "I saw everybody heading over there, but I didn't go. I didn't want to make him nervous or jinx him.

"I kept waiting to hear the collective 'Awwwww' after the ball hit the pins. But everyone began cheering after his 12th strike and I ran over and gave him a hug."

Perri didn't immediately comprehend what all the excitement was about.

"Honestly, I didn't think it was any big thing," he said. "Then people I don't even know began walking over to me and saying they heard I bowled a 300 game and congratulated me.

"After a while, I started wondering if bowling a 300 was tougher than I thought."

Perri averaged about 146 during his first year in the league. While steadily improving since then, he doesn't bowl in any other leagues and doesn't practice outside of league play.

His wife averages 108.

"This is a social night out for us," she said. "It's a night to be with friends and have some fun. We don't take it very seriously."

"We socialize with friends and go home," Perri said.

All Perri remembers about his perfect game is trying to keep his feet and release positioned the same way from the third frame on.

"I felt like I discovered something that was working," he said. "But I couldn't do it again."

"He doesn't throw a hook or anything like that, just a straight ball," Rosswog said. "All Joe does is aim it and throw it."

Only, on this night, he was no average Joe.

Fellow league member Gary McGarrity presented Perri with a plaque recently to commemorate his perfect game.

And Perri still doesn't have his own bowling ball.

"I try to find the same one (on the rack) each week, but there's no guarantee," he said.

For one game, at least, it didn't matter.

"That was a special night," Sue Perri said. "It will always be a wonderful memory for us."