MATTYDALE – By the smallest possible margin, Christian Brothers Academy freshman Eliana Occhino missed out on sweeping all the honors from last Saturday’s New York State Public High School Athletic Association championships at Strike-N-Spare Lanes.
Earlier that same day, East Syracuse Minoa junior Ryan Buffun neared perfection in the boys state tournament, ultimately making his way to a top-10 individual finish.
Occhino was part of Section III’s All-Star team, a result of a regular season where she led the Onondaga High School League in scoring average, peaking with a 300 game at Strike-N-Spare in a December match against Bishop Grimes.
Now in the state tournament, Occhino began with a 213, but then slumped to a 163 before she recovered to complete the first session with a strong 247.
The 621 series left Occhino far back of her Section III teammate, Liverpool’s Ashley Hardy, who blazed to a 279 in the opener, then shot 236 and, in the third game, earned the first 300 game of her career for a tournament-record 815 set.
Making up 194 pins seemed unlikely, but in the fourth game Occhino earned nine strikes in a 250 to Hardy’s 201, and then put up a 213 fifth game as Hardy fell off to a 140.
Now trailing by 72, a comeback in the final game seemed unlikely. But Occhino rolled 10 strikes and got a 279, forcing Hardy to shoot a 207 to hang on – which she did.
By a single pin, 1,363 to 1,362, Hardy had taken the individual title, but in the larger picture the duo had spear-headed Section III’s winning team score of 6,244, 76 pins ahead of Section V’s 6,168.
Hardy’s Liverpool teammate, Mackenzie Gill, shot games of 203, 196, 205, 162, 194 and 173, finishing with a six-game aggregate of 1,133, which put her in 29th place.
There was also a 1,214 series from Alexis Ingersoll (Fulton), a 1,098 series from Jenavieve Lyon (West Canada Valley) and a 970 series from McKenzie Pantoia (Rome Free Academy) to round out the team totals.
Going first on Saturday in the boys state tournament, Buffum would lead the Section III All-Stars, who finished sixth out of 11 teams as Section V (6,710) edged Section XI (6,676) by 34 pins for top honors.
Opening games of 213 and 231 put Buffum into contention, and then he tore to a 279 in the third, earning 10 strikes and recording the fourth-best game of the tournament.
Following up that 723 set proved tough as Buffum had games of 184 and 183 in the second session before he closed with a 225 to finish at 1,315, good for 10th place.
Ethan Crouse had Section III’s only other top-25 finish, with a 1,250 set. Kenmore’s Jacob Willard won with a 1,469 series that included a 300 game in the second as Section XI bowler Matt Sundberg opened with a 300.
