BUTLER TWP — When she first started bowling, Meridith McGinnis' score was easy to tally.

"They used to stick me way down at the last lane on Saturday mornings when I was 4 years old." McGinnis said. "They didn't have bumpers back then.

"I'd bowl anywhere from zero to five there for a while. I couldn't keep the ball on the alley."

On Sept. 11 at Family Bowlaway, the Sarver resident couldn't keep her ball out of the pocket.

McGinnis rolled the first perfect game in 31 years in the Saturday Night Mixed League.

"That's how long our league treasurer (Darlene McElheny) said it's been," said Mike McGinnis, Meridith's husband. "I know we've never seen one."

The couple have been married for 18 years and they've been in the league for 19.

"I was thrilled for her," league secretary Michelle Hindman said. "We've known each other since we were little kids bowling together. I can remember her bowling a zero."

Their Saturday Night Mixed League bowled at Plaza Lanes in Natrona Heights for 18 years before moving to Wildlife Lanes in Lower Burrell for three. This is the league's third year at Family Bowlaway.

"That's as far back as I go in the league," Meridith McGinnis said. "I've been in this league since I was 16 years old."

McGinnis carries a 172 average. She rolled a 704 series Sept. 11, the third 700 of her career.

But she had never gotten higher than the 270s in a game before that night.

"I never went past the eighth frame with all strikes before," McGinnis said. "I was in shock when I stepped up there for the 10th.

"People were gathering around. The teams bowling next to us stopped bowling. ... I told (fellow league member) Randy Caldwell to get up and bowl. I would have told the teams on the other side, too, but their games were done."

McGinnis never thought she would bowl a 300. Neither did her husband.

"I wasn't even aware of what was going on until the eighth frame," said Mike McGinnis, who was bowling two lanes down from his wife. "I glanced up and saw she was perfect at that point.

"I figured she'd screw up on some shot. She'd leave the 7-pin on some shot. That's what always happens to her," he added.

A left-hander, McGinnis admitted she kept waiting for the 7-pin to stand up.

"That's my nightmare," she said. "I cannot get that pin."

After burying her first shot in the 10th, McGinnis thought she had left the 7-pin on her 11th shot.

The 4-pin and 7-pin were both still standing as her ball rolled through the rack.

"My dad up in heaven must have knocked them down," McGinnis said. "I turned back around and those pins were gone.

"When I stood up there for my last shot, I told myself I couldn't blow it after witnessing that. And that last shot was a good strike."

"That's an achievement to be proud of," Mike McGinnis said. "Thirty-one years is a long time."