Everyone at Thunderbird Lanes had stopped whatever they were doing to gather around Baldwinsville girls bowler Andrea Peterson as she took one of the most pressure-packed shots of her bowling career.
In the third game of last Wednesday’s CNY Counties League first-place showdown between the Bees and West Genesee, Peterson had rolled 11 strikes in a row, reaching the brink of perfection.
Now, Peterson took one more shot. It looked good through the pocket, and the pins fell — all except the 10-pin, that is.
That single pin separated Peterson from a 300, but it still amounted to a 299, the best game bowled in the CNYCL this winter, and it played a big role in B’ville’s 5-2 victory over the Wildcats.
With that victory, the Bees improved to 7-0, dropping WG’s mark to 7-1, and Peterson’s vast improvement from the beginning of the match to the end counted a lot.
Peterson only shot a 169 in the opening game, on a par with her fellow competitors. But somewhere in the second game, she hit a major groove, and a string of strikes led to a 236 that set the stage for her brush with perfection.
Rachel Thompson was a bit more consistent, managing a 663 series without any game higher than 236. WG’s top player, MaryBeth McNally, could only manage a 588 set.
As a whole, it proved to be a triumphant day for B’ville as the boys team also beat West Genesee by a 5-2 margin.
Ryan Kratz put together a 662 series that included a high game of 259, while Dan Snyder matched Thompson’s consistency, a 644 series that included a high game of 227.
The Bees are back in action Monday at its home facility, the B’ville Sports Bowl, as it faces Utica Proctor.
