AKRON — Ty Lachowski admitted his Nordonia High School girls bowling team had its share of struggles during the 22nd annual Christmas Tournament.
“We struggled at times making our spares … everybody struggled at one time or another,” Lachowski said of his defending OHSAA Division I state champion Knights.
“But they just came together as a team. Everybody was there to pick each other up.”
The Knights added their fifth tournament win of the 2023-24 season Wednesday at Spins Bowl-Akron by stopping Suburban League foe Tallmadge 2-1 in a best-of-three Baker System final.
Nordonia won the deciding game 162-127 in Game 3, with a key 3-10 split conversion by Alexis Demarco in the sixth frame leading the charge.
“When she picked up that split it seemed to put a little spark back in the girls,” said Lachowski after his girls won Game 1 179-141, but dropped Game 2 182-148 with a pair of splits and two missed spares.
“This was one giant team effort. Everyone helped in one way or another.”
Kolbey Lewin led the Knights with a 547 series and Grace Bzdafka added 489. Teams bowled three regular games and six Baker System games before the 13-team field was cut to the top eight for best-of-three match play rounds.
Nordonia, the No. 2 seed, swept past Akron Hoban (189-146, 143-140) in its opening match and then rolled past No. 3 seeded Fairport Harbor Harding (206-117, 169-135) to reach the finals.
Tallmadge, the No. 5 seed, stopped Mentor (152-131, 153-110) in its opening match before facing top-seeded Perry in the semifinals. The Blue Devils shot 200 in the final Baker game after being tied at 1-1 to defeat the Panthers (150) and advance. Perry had four opens and a pair of splits in Game 3.
“To be honest, Perry was probably the scarier adversary,” Tallmadge girls coach Cindy Elliott said. “We missed some simple stuff on our end and they were missing some simple stuff. You just can’t miss spares.”
That’s exactly what the Blue Devils did in Game 1 and 3 against Nordonia, missing four spares in the former and then suffering opens in four of last five frames in Game 3 and adding a 7-10 split.
“Was I surprised we made the finals? If you would have asked me four hours ago I would have said yes,” Elliott said. “It was a very demanding oil pattern out there and scores were a lot lower than I expected.
“Bowlers who I expected to do certain things were struggling and some that I didn’t excelled. It was a good day overall.”
The Blue Devils have been in the top five in each of their tournaments and also are 6-0 in the Suburban League with another shot at Nordonia coming up.
“We’re bowling against some really strong teams so I’m happy,” Elliott said. “The goal is to keep getting stronger and be stronger at the end.
“You can’t be mad after that kind of finish. We will see them again.”
The Knights were without starter Brooke Barnes, who is out with a broken foot. But Lachowski expects her to return in mid-January for the stretch run.
“I told the girls coming in this was going to be a grind … like when we bowled at HP Lanes (the Ohio Division I Kickoff Classic),” Lachowski said. “You have to keep fighting, hang in there and get into the cut.
“We have a couple of different goals this season, and we’re going after the first one (Suburban League title). We will see what happens after that.”
NOTEBOOK: The cut to the top eight for match play came at 2,701 total pinfall, with Copley taking the final spot by just 12 pins over Akron Ellet despite shooting identical 147s during its final two Baker games. … Perry finished as the qualifying leader with 3,613, 247 pins ahead of Nordonia, in its quest for a third straight Christmas Tournament win. The Panthers were the only team with four girls shooting 500 series or higher, including Kiele Poling (556), Jenna Boyer (545), Ami King (523) and Arielle Clapper (505). … Cuyahoga Falls’ Lori McCune recorded both the high series (570) and high game (245) in the tournament, which was contested on the 2023 OHSAA sectional-district oil pattern. … This marks the third site for the event in its history, moving from Midway Lanes to the former Stonehedge Family Fun Center (now Station 300 Akron) and now to Spins Bowl-Akron. .. Perry posted the high team game of 881 in Game 3 and the high Baker game of 258. The Panthers had the lone 200 games shot during Bakers in qualifying.
2022 CHRISTMAS TOURNAMENT
(Wednesday, at Spins Bowl, Akron)
Round of eight
(Best-of-three Baker System match)
Perry (154-168) d. Copley (128-135) 2-0; Nordonia (189-146) d. Akron Hoban (143-140) 2-0; Fairport Harbor Harding (112-176-177) d. Cuyahoga Falls (139-120-117) 2-1; Tallmadge (152-153) d. Mentor (131-110) 2-0.
Round of four
Tallmadge (188-180-200) d. Perry (212-171-150) 2-1; Nordonia (206-169) d. Fairport Harbor Harding (117-135) 2-0.
Championship
Nordonia (179-148-162) d. Tallmadge (141-182-127) 2-1.
FALLS TOPS BOYS
Cuyahoga Falls defeated Mentor 2-1 in the best-of-three championship match to claim the boys title during the annual Christmas Tourney on Tuesday at Spins Bowl-Akron.
The Black Tigers, who were the No. 6 seed entering match play, stopped Peninsula Woodridge and Akron Ellet 2-1 in their first two matches to reach the finals.
Perry was the No. 1 seed, ending qualifying with 3,926 total pinfall and finishing 163 pins ahead of second-seeded Nordonia (3,763). Both the Panthers and Knights were eliminated by identical 2-1 scores in the first round of match play.
The tournament featured three regular games and six Baker System games during qualifying with the 2023 OHSAA sectional-district oil pattern being used.
Perry recorded the high team game in the 15-team boys field with 956 as no team shot 1,000.
Rootstown’s Jordan Miller topped the tournament with a 683 series and Nordonia’s Kyan Frehauf added 660. Frehauf also had the high game with 268.
Jonathan Rasch was the lone Black Tigers’ player to bowl all three games in qualifying, finishing with a 591 series.
“I didn’t think we were going to make it after shooting 141 and 140 during two Baker games,” said Black Tigers head coach Tim Wiant, whose team has finished second twice and won once in three tourney outings. “But the 200 the final game got us in. I couldn’t believe we were sixth, but it worked out really well.
“We were watching Mentor against Copley and they just smoked it. They beat us pretty badly the first game, but then we came back and just smoked it.”
Wiant said a key was the a 3-10 split in the final game by both teams; the Tigers converted while the Cardinals did not.
“The momentum just went up from there for us,” he added.
Perry was led by Nck Harmon’s 655, Eli Nave’s 560 and 558 for Nick Goebeler.
The cut to the top eight came at 3,639, with Copley finishing just 29 pins ahead of Austintown Fitch. Copley shot 199 in its final Baker game to the Falcons’ 154.
2022 CHRISTMAS TOURNAMENT
(Tuesday, at Spins Bowl, Akron)
Round of eight
(Best of three Baker System match)
Copley d. Perry 2-1; Mentor d. Rootstown 2-1; Akron Ellet d. Nordonia 2-1; Cuyahoga Falls d. Peninsula Woodridge 2-1
Round of four
Mentor d. Copley 2-1; Cuyahoga Falls d. Akron Ellet 2-1
Championship
Cuyahoga Falls d. Mentor 2-1
