MATTYDALE – Just a handful of pins kept the Baldwinsville boys bowling team from earning an opportunity at a state championship.
The Bees planted itself as one of the top contenders in Sunday’s Section III Division I tournament at Strike-N-Spare Lanes, only to take a narrow semifinal defeat to league rival and eventual champion Cicero-North Syracuse.
Prior to 2025 there wasn’t any semifinals or finals in the sectional tournament. Teams simply rolled six games – three in the morning and three in the afternoon – and the top pinfall won.
It changed this year to a four-game format where, at the end of the fourth game, the top four teams in Division I (large schools) and Division II (small schools) would advance to two elimination rounds.
Even more incentive was added for this sectional tournament because whoever finished second would still make the March 14 New York State Public High School Athletic Association championships, also at Strike-N-Spare, as an at-large entry.
Knowing all this, B’ville got underway Sunday morning amid a crowded field of strong Division I contenders. Aside from C-NS, there was also New Hartford, East Syracuse Minoa, Auburn, Central Square and Rome Free Academy to consider, and the top seven would finish within 250 pins of each other.
The Bees, led by 258s from Wes Lell and Liam Curry, opened with a 1,095, just behind Auburn (1,133) and C-NS (1,121), and would remain steady through the next two games posting 1,051 and 1,042 while ESM, boosted by a second-game 1,200, went to the top of the standings.
B’ville’s best game was the fourth, an 1,101 where four players – Lell, Zenon Gasiorowski, Jordan Sevigny and Scott Ritcey – all posted games between 225 and 241 and Liam Curry added a 180.
With its four-game pinfall of 4,289 the Bees were second to ESM’s 4,341. C-NS was third with 4,284 and New Hartford (4,197) edged Central Square by 25 pins for the fourth spot.
They all went to the semifinals under the “Baker” format where instead of individual games, the team bowls together, with no individual getting more than two frames.
B’ville and C-NS knew each other quite well from splitting two regular-season matches, including a 5-2 Bees win on Jan. 16 when Gasiorowski bowled the first 300 game of his career.
In a best-of-five-game series B’ville struggled in the first game shooting just 131 to the Northstars’ 202 but then rebounded to pull even by taking the second game 186-172.
Already the third game was pivotal, and it came down to the final ball. C-NS claimed it by a single pin, 211-210, and the fourth game was nearly as tight, the Bees not quite able to pull back even and falling 220-212.
Adding it up, a grand total of nine pins separated the Bees from an automatic state tournament berth and a final against ESM, who swept New Hartford. Instead, C-NS would advance and edge ESM in a five-game classic.
Lell followed his 258 with two 234s and a 206 to post 932, tying Weedsport’s Ethan Reitema for fourth place not far from the top individual total of 957 from New Hartford’s J.P. Lazzaro.
Gasiorowski’s third-game 268 tied for the fourth-best individual game of the day as he finished with 241 after early games of 193 and 223 for a 925 series, good for sixth place.
Sevigny peaked with a third-game 235 in his 835 series, while Ritcey had a 202, 207 and 225 on his way to an 809 total. Curry could not quite match his hot 258 start but still finished with a 788 set.
As a follow-up B’ville’s boys defeated Syracuse City 7-0 last Wednesday afternoon at B’ville Sports Bowl with some of its other bowlers going to the forefront.
Aiden Wojtalewski opened with a 251, followed with a 237 and closed with 198 for a season-best 686 series. Dayton Goodfellow added a 623 series with games of 233 and 202 as Curry shot a 620 series with a high game of 224. Caleb Hawthrone shot a 223 during a 561 series and Nico Dellomorte closed with a 211 in his 531 set.
The B’ville girls, preparing for their own sectional tournament a few days later, also won 7-0 over Syracuse, with Sam Hass steady as she shot 204, 206 and 195 in a 605 series and Morgan Diecuch added a 509 series. Lizzy Hildreth rolled two games of 183 and 214.