CENTRAL NEW YORK – Strong scores on a consistent basis has allowed the East Syracuse Minoa boys bowling team a chance to establish its credentials as a championship contender.
A clear illustration of this was last Monday’s match against Fulton at Strike-N-Spare Lanes, where the Spartans, improving to 3-1 on the season, pulled out a 5-2 victory over the Red Dragons.
Luke Liedka shot a second-game 246 on his way to a 623 series, while Alex Locke was consistent with games of 199, 203 and 213 during his 615 set. Both topped the best Fulton series of 596 from Mason Fuller. Zach Kassel closed with a 206 to get to a 541 series, while Ryan Dablock started with a 183 in his 516 series.
ESM’s girls lost 7-0 to Fulton, though Ruth Birmingham shot a 501 series with a third-game 183 and Alana Tuberville opened with her own 182 in a 476 series. The Red Raiders’ Alex Wilcox shot an opening-game 259 in her 627 series to lead her side.
Facing Baldwinsville two days later, ESM’s boys were quite impressive in a 7-0 shutout of the Bees.
Joe Gardner’s games of 227 and 248 concluded a 661 series ahead of Liedka, whose 267 game was part of a 647 set. Kassel had a strong 258 game to close his 620 series as Mike Saunders had a three-game total of 587. E
On the girls side, ESM lost 7-0 to B’ville, the reigning state Division I champions. Jewelianna Hallock led the Spartans, shooting a 436 series, while Nicole Baker put up a three-game total of 424.
When Christian Brothers Academy met Homer last Tuesday afternoon, Elianna Occhino again dazzled during the girls’ 5-2 victory over the Trojans.
After initial games of 203 and 204, Occhino rolled 10 strikes in her final game for a season-best 279 to close out a 686 series, well clear of the 415 set from teammate Sophia Ciereck and Homer’s best series of 443 from Olivia Hamilton.
In the boys match, CBA got a 498 series from Tom Dearnaley and 478 series from Porter Matt, back of the Trojans’ top efforts as John Bishop had a 603 series (high game 247) and Caleb Hamilton had a three-game total of 568.
Occhino followed up with a 716 series in the Brothers’ 7-0 shutout of Solvay on Thursday, with games of 222, 258 and 236. Sierra Burke stepped up with a 180 game during her 419 series.
As that went on, CBA’s boys topped Solvay 5-2, with Dearnaley’s 200, 216 and 202 part of a 618 series backed up by Matt’s three-game total of 446, both of them overcoming a 661 series from the Bearcats’ Justin Zimmerman.
Speaking of strong games, Fayetteville-Manlius witnessed one last Monday from West Genesee’s Lorelai Leskoske at Green Lakes Lanes during the boys Hornets’ 5-2 defeat to the Wildcats.
Bowling with the boys team because there is no girls team at WG, Leskoske had games of 203 and 182 before stringing together 11 consecutive strikes in her final game. With everyone on both teams cheering her on, Leskoske shot for a perfect game – and left the seven-pin on her last shot.
Still, it was a 299, part of a 684 set that, along with Alex Bigelow’s 615 and Jason Clifton’s 592, overcame strong F-M performances from Gabriel Williams, who had three 200-plus games in his 631 set, and Sean Bird, who opened with a 234 in his 604 set.
F-M went up against Cicero-North Syracuse on Thursday and, in a match with great scores on both ends, lost 5-2 to the Northstars.
Bird led the Hornets, his 665 series including games of 225, 227 and 213. Williams bowled well, too, with 224 and 231 in his 616 series, but five Northstars had series of 520 or better, led by Nehemiah Bachmann’s 646 series and Garrett Arnold’s 641 set.
