MATTYDALE – In what has already proven a memorable and historic month for Christian Brothers Academy athletics, eighth-grade bowler Eliana Occhino added to that history.
Already establishing herself as one of the top girls bowlers in the Section III ranks, Occhino became the first player, female or male, to record a 300 game in the section in Thursday’s match against Bishop Grimes at Strike-N-Spare Lanes.
What made it more remarkable was that it came in the third game. Occhino improved as the match went on, shooting an opening 228 and putting together even more strikes in a 258 second game.
That only proved the prelude to a final game where all 12 shots found the pocket. Occhino said she only felt nerves on the final pair of shots, but they proved just as good as the first 10 as she closed out a 786 series.
Cadence Malicek added a 502 series in CBA’s 7-0 win over Grimes. On the boys side, the Brothers also swept the Cobras behind Tom Dearnaley’s 627 series that included games of 220 and 211. Nathan Schultz led Grimes with a 469 series, ahead of a 463 set by the Brothers’ Ryan Mulhern.
As this went on, two other local rivals went at it, with Fayetteville-Manlius and East Syracuse Minoa splitting their match at Strike-N-Spare.
The boys match went 2-1 in the Spartans’ favor, with Ryan Buffum closing with 235 and 264 as part of a 662 series as Joe Gardner and Kyle Nissen both had 518 sets. The Hornets still got a 646 series from Michael Nanno and a 573 set from Luke Teta.
F-M would sweep the girls match 3-0 as Samantha Estock shot games of 235 and 223 in her 626 series. No one on Esm could top a 379 series from Emily Blakeman.
Before all this, ESM got a tremendous series from Buffum during last Tuesday’s 3-0 shutout over Liverpool held at Flamingo Bowl.
With games of 224, 247 and 236, Buffum managed a 707 series, beating the 699 set from Liverpool’s Zach Doing that included a 289 game. Luke Leidka had a 202 game and 534 series as Gardner added a 501 series.
Bishop Grimes split a pair of 7-0 matches with Chittenango last Tuesday at Strike-N-Spare, winning the girls match as Nicalena Thompson’s 319 series edged a 318 set from Stephanie Michlovitch and a 315 series from Tori Coppola. Schultz shot a 480 series for the boys Cobras.
