It took less than 72 hours in 2017 for a pair of East Syracuse Minoa bowlers to reach a single-game number they can’t possibly top for the other 362 days of the year.
Freshman Hunter Borkowski, on the boys side, and junior Haley Youker, on the girls side, accomplished that feat last Tuesday afternoon during the Spartans’ pair of 3-0 victories over Christian Brothers Academy at Strike-N-Spare Lanes.
Already, the ESM girls were off to a 4-0 start and had reached the top of the Onondaga High School League standings before taking on CBA. Throughout that run, Youker had consistently put up the top scores.
Yet Youker topped herself here, stringing together 12 strikes in the first 300 game by any Section III girls bowler this winter. Two other big games helped produce a sectional-best series of 797.
To put that in perspective, ESM’s America Carhart had a strong three-game total of her own with 571, but that was 226 pins behind Youker as Carhart posted a 215 high game. CBA’s best efforts came from Molly Oyer, with a 387 series, and Claire Jeschke, with a 357 set.
Meanwhile, Borkowski put together his own 12-strike masterpiece as part of a 637 series, but he was far from alone. Ryan MacCombie roared to a 748 series, with a 267 high game, while Dan Marriott was steady in his 690 series, which included a 248 high game. CBA’s David Hoag, with a 473 series, was five pins ahead of teammate Vincent Carno.
On the same Tuesday as those perfect games from ESM, Fayetteville-Manlius was in that same Strike-N-Spare facility, beating Syracuse City 3-0 on both the boys and girls sides.
F-M’s boys saw Syracuse’s Isaiah Days nearly get to perfection with 10 straight strikes in his 289 game that led to a 789 series. Even with that, and despite a 592 series (236 high game) from Days’ teammate, Joe Lee, the Hornets won as John Buonfiglio got a 571 series and 213 high game, with Kevin Winschel adding a 566 series and Isaac Blanford earning a 537 series.
In the girls match, Marta Polosky had a 431 series to lead F-M as Julianna Buonfiglio’s 172 game led to a 417 series and Haelie Clark had a 348 set. No Syracuse bowler had better than Nariba Jackson’s 314 set.
On Friday afternoon at Green Lakes Bowl, F-M’s boys lost a tough 2-1 decision to Baldwinsville. Winschel improved to a 578 series (207 high game), while John Buonfiglio got a 522 series and Blanford’s 190 led to a three-game total of 516. Four B’ville bowlers shot series of 532 or better, with Jarrod Williams leading the way thanks to a 630 series and 234 high game and Tanner Rozycko adding a 600 set.
