For a brief moment on Sunday, the Cicero-North Syracuse girls bowling team was leading the race for the Section III Division I and Class A championships.
That moment did not last, but the Northstars still did more than enough to gain a second-place finish behind Rome Free Academy in the sectional tournament held at Flamingo Bowl, while host Liverpool gained fourth place.
Led by Katie Cloonan’s 199 and Jessaia McGriff’s 196 in the first game of the morning session, C-NS posted a team score of 911, taking the lead as Liverpool was second with 855.
However, the second game turned the tournament in RFA’s favor for good, with the Northstars falling to 787 as the Black Knights got 941 and then added a 933 to complete the morning session at 2,707, more than 100 pins ahead of C-NS’s 2,591.
All that the afternoon session did was reinforce RFA’s advantage. With four of the top 22 individual scores (including MaryKate Weyant’s 1,132 pinfall), the Black Knights eventually posted 5,213 to prevail by 244 pins.
The battle for second place continued, but C-NS won it with games of 796, 856 and 726 to finish at 4,969 and hold off Baldwinsville (4,904), while Liverpool finished at 4,867 to easily top Utica Proctor (4,779) for fourth place.
Individually, it was the Warriors’ Ashley Hardy having the best day among the local bowlers. On her home lanes, Hardy opened with 214 and 196, and added a 201 at the start of the afternoon on her way to a six-game aggregate of 1,126, good for seventh place.
Just behind her, C-NS’s Trinity Drozdz led her side, overcoming a slow start to shoot 211 in her third game and then post 202 in the afternoon on her way to finishing ninth among individuals with 1,069.
McGriff had a 991 to make her way to 23rd place, while Cloonan got 980 for 27th place, one spot ahead of teammate Elianna Pitts, who shot a 977. Mikayla Drozdz finished 37th by posting 952.
As for Liverpool, the best bowler besides Hardy was Dominique Cimini, who grabbed 25th place, her 216 in the fifth game part of a 984 series as Riley Warren had a 914 series for 43rd place.
Vernon-Verona-Sherrill’s Mackenzie O’Herien shot the best game of the day, 253, and finished with a 234 as her 1,320 claimed the individual title by 122 pins over Fulton’s Alexis Ingersoll.
Camden (4,905) edged VVS (4,866) for the individual team Division II (small school) crown and will join RFA in the team portion of the state tournament next month at Strike-N-Spare Lanes.
