MATTYDALE – Make a few more strikes or convert a few more spares, and the Baldwinsville boys bowling team might find itself with a month’s more preparation for the New York State Public High School Athletic Association championships.
That’s how close it was for the Bees in last Sunday’s Section III tournament at Strike-N-Spare Lanes as it hung at or close to the top of the Class A and Division I standings all day long, only to get tuned back by Central Square.
An opening-game team score of 904 left B’ville third, trailing the Redhawks and East Syracuse Minoa. but it stepped up with a 1,015 in the second game before a 918 in the third. At the break, the Bees, at 2,837, were 33 pins behind the Spartans, one ahead of Central Square.
Even with a 983 in the fourth game, B’ville was overtaken by the Redhawks’ 1,003. The fifth game saw the Bees shoot 925 and Central Square 933, leaving the two sides 36 pins apart with ESM in between them and everything riding on the final game.
Shooting 923 in that sixth game, the Bees beat the Spartans’ 891 to overtake them, but with a 933 the Redhawks finished at 5.714, just 46 pins clear of B’ville’s 5,668 as it edged ESM (5,666) by two pins for second.
All the while, Alex Mautz challenged for individual honors. He shot steady games of 214, 205 and 227 in the morning, began the afternoon with another 214 and peaked with 250 in the fifth game before a final-gam 212.
With his overall pinfall of 1,321, Mautz matched ESM’s Ryan Buffum, but was second in the standings because he a better high game than Buffum’s 234. Homer’s Mike Grant, whose 289 was the best game of the tournament, finished first with a 1,338, just 17 pins ahead of Mautz.
Eric Barski’s second-game 247 was part of an 1,168 series that put him in 16th place, while Scott Ritcey, closing with a 211, picked up a 1,080 series for 36th place, two spots ahead of Hunter Garrett’s 1,078 set with a best game of 189.
