COLUMBUS — Sandy Valley High School junior Raven Cordia has gone through plenty of changes during the 2021-22 bowling season.
She moved away from a four- or five-step delivery to three steps just over a month ago and everything that goes along with that.
Then on the eve of participating in her second OHSAA Division II Girls State Championships at Wayne Webb’s Columbus Bowl, she had to get a new ball drilled up because her other ball was damaging her thumb.
“We drilled up a Phaze 2 at the center and she didn’t use it until today,” Sandy Valley coach Joe Boyer Jr. said. “We tried to move her around the lanes, but she just couldn’t get comfortable. She was having trouble coming around the ball the same.”
Cordia was a member of the Cardinal team that earned a 2021 state berth, finishing 11th overall, but didn’t throw a ball during the three regular games. This season, she qualified as one of two individuals out of the East District with a 557 series.
“The nerves were bad at the start, but I got over them as we went through the games,” said Cordia, who averaged 143.7 during the conference season. “I would hit one mark and it wouldn’t work. Then, I would move and hit another mark, and that wouldn’t work.”
Cordia finished with a 377 series with games of 121, 139 and 117.
Boyer said the three-step delivery came from making Cordia more comfortable.
“We do drills with one-step and three-step deliveries and she did well with that. She had a really hard time keeping her timing with five-step and four-step deliveries,” Boyer said. “It seemed like the three steps got her into time.
“She was throwing the ball nice and seemed more consistent with her release doing it that way.”
But it’s probably not going to stay that way, according to Boyer.
“We let her do what was comfortable this year,” Boyer added. “We will be working toward trying to get her to either a four- or five-step next year. The problem with what she is doing is trying to get better ball speed and consistency in the release.”
Cordia also knows the Cardinals could make another run as a team next season with five juniors who will be seniors.
“I’m going to be practicing a lot over the summer and doing whatever I can,” Cordia said. “I have to get used to the new ball.”
“Getting a kid down here is always a good thing and getting that experience with all the pressures, either good or bad,” Boyer said. “We’ve got a couple of young freshmen coming up to go with our experience so we should be competitive in making another team run next season.”
NOTEBOOK
TIGHT RACE: Going into the three Baker System games during qualifying, places seven through 14 were separated by just 101 pins, and places eight through 12 had just 24 pins between them.
YOUNG TEAMS: Triway, Minerva and Batavia were the only three teams in the field without a senior on their state rosters.
DUAL CHAMPS: Both the boys and girls champions this season also had the individual champs on their rosters. Triway topped the girls led by gold medalist Emma Yoder, who set the Division II state tourney record for series with 718. Mechanicsburg topped the boys standings with Peyton Lesson winning the individual crown with 684.
STARK CONFERENCE FIRSTS: Carrollton’s Cailyn Bright and Perry’s Josh Dewees are the only two Stark County Conference players to win individual titles before Yoder. Triway’s girls are the first team champion.
DOUBLE TITLES: Yoder winning the individual title along with Triway taking the team title marks the first time a team has done both in the OHSAA era since Coldwater’s Erika Hartings took the 2013 gold medal and the Cavaliers won the state title.