UTICA – A season’s worth of hard work was rewarded for three members of the Liverpool bowling teams.
With fine individual performances during Friday’s Section III Shootout at Utica’s Pin-O’-Rama Lanes, Ashley Hardy, Mackenzie Gill and Zach Doing all earned places in next month’s state championships.
There was plenty of incentive since, once again, the state tournament will take place close to home at Strike-N-Spare Lanes March 11-13.
Only the top two girls and boys would advance out of the shootout, joining four others who held the top averages in their respective leagues – the SCAC, OHSL, Tri-Valley League and Center State Conference.
On the girls side, Hardy and Gill would finish 1-2. Opening with a 242, Hardy then rolled a 210 and then peaked in the third game with a 268. Then she rolled 247 in the fourth game, finished with games of 215 and 216 and had a total pinfall of 1,398.
Gill blazed to an opening 259, then slumped to a 177 before a steady performance the rest of the way. Games of 227, 211, 214 and 228 produced a 1,316 aggregate that clinched the second spot, 63 pins ahead of Fulton’s Hailey Pavement.
Makenzi Orsmby also bowled well for the Warriors, taking fifth place with 1,119 and a high game of 232.
Moving to the boys side, Doing started with a 213, then jumped into contention with a 257. Games of 202 and 216 followed before a fifth game where, with 10 strikes, he posted 267.
Even with a final-game 194, Doing, with 1,349, beat Holland Patent’s John Manion by 18 pins for the second and final state qualifying berth. Beaver River’s Ethan Crouse was first with 1,397 as Cicero-North Syracuse’s Nehemiah Bachman was seventh with a 1,273 series that included a 258 in the second game.
