MATTYDALE – No one in the Onondaga High School League has yet to catch up to the Christian Brothers Academy girls bowling team and its eighth-grade sensation, Eliana Occhino.
In fact, few bowlers, boys or girls, even approach the numbers Occhino has earned, which was evident again in last Monday’s 7-0 shutout over Solvay.
At the same Strike-N-Spare Lanes where she shot a 300 against Bishop Grimes earlier in the month, Occhino alsmost got to perfection twice, first in a 264 opening game and then with a 10-strike closing game of 279.
Combined with a second-game 244, it all added up to a 787 series, a new season mark which was one pin better than the 786 done in the Grimes match. By contrast, Solvay’s best series was a 448 from Ava DiRubbo.
This happened as CBA’s boys took a narrow 4-3 defeat to Solvay, even though Tom Dearnaley shot a 212 in his 565 series and Ryan Mulhern closed with a 225 in his 557 series. Jake Mason contributed a 488 set as Rylan Tarbell (546 series) and Zach Balduzzi (532 series) led the Bearcats.
Again bowling well in the Brothers’ 7-0 shutout of Weedsport Dec. 16, Occhino had steady games of 235, 224 and 206 to finish with a 665 series as Cadence Malicek, opening with games of 180 and 198, concluded with a 531 set.
Meanwhile, the CBA boys bowlers also blanked Weedsport, led again by Dearnaley, whose games of 196 and 206 capped a 572 series as Mulhern opened with a 182 during his 500 set. Mason added a 452 series.
After topping Solvay, CBA bowled again 24 hours later and blanked Chittenango 7-0 on both sides. Occhino this time had games of 258 and 257, with a 230 in between as she posted a 745 series, Malicek adding a 200 game in her 509 series.
Improving to 5-2 overall, the boys Brothers featured Mulhern shooting games of 194, 198 and 180 for a 572 series, with Dearnaley contributing a 522 set as Jacob Podunajec put up a 551 series for the Bears.