By BILL SNIER
KENT — It took just three regular games to determine which teams were going to be heading on to district play.
It took just one game to determine that Rootstown High School’s girls were going to lead the parade.
With junior Emma Day shooting the day’s high game of 255 in Game 1, the Rovers roared out to a 98-pin lead and cruised to first place during the Northeast Ohio District Division II Tri-County girls sectional tournament Monday at Spins Bowl-Kent.
Rootstown, which shot 987 in Game 1 — the high game of the day and one of only three 900 team games — finished with 3,808 total pinfall, 250 pins ahead of second-place Triway (3,558).
East Canton, the defending sectional champion, was third with 3,488, followed by Garrettsville Garfield with 3,118. The G-men finished 281 pins ahead of fifth-place United Local.
The top four teams and top four individuals who were not on advancing teams moved on to the NEO District tournament, set for 10 a.m . Feb. 24 at Rebman Recreation in Lorain.
How dominant were the top four teams? The quartet recorded 13 of the top 14 individual series on the day, led by Day’s 615.
“We came in today wanting to shoot above average, which would have been around 3,590, so we bowled above our expectations,” Rootstown girls coach Andy Day said. “They stayed calm and ran down spares.”
Rootstown seniors Natalie Hammerschmidt and 2023 state qualifier Payton Curall backed up Day with 567 and 542, respectively, and senior Maggie Frick added 516. All three finished among the top nine individually.
“Emma has been struggling the last couple of events and struggling on the shot in practice, but she turned it around today,” Andy Day sad. “It’s good to see. Every week, every tournament it’s been a different girl stepping up for us.”
Individuals advancing to district included Ravenna sophomore Alanna Raffa (513 series), Ravenna Southeast senior Abby Smith (472), United sophomore Brooklynn Herold (463) and Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary junior Emma Ariyajasingham (458), taking the final spot by eight pins.
CHASING THE ROVERS
Triway, the 2022 state champion making its first appearance in this sectional after being at Medina in the past, was led by junior Kennedy Finley with 583, good for individual runner-up honors, senior Emma Yoder with 574, freshman Raya Fiesler with 536 and senior Addy Meshew with 516.
“Rootstown shot that big game off the get-go. We bowled a decent game (874), but at that point is was just trying to stay in there,” Triway coach Corby Anderson said. “You want to see how far ahead you were from the fifth spot.
“It was more like play it safe and get to the next weekend.”
But Anderson was impressed with Game 3, when Triway shot 915 with their two top players — Yoder (199) and Meshew (159) — not hitting 200.
“That really showed us something. We bring (sophomore) Morgan (Covey) off the bench and she shoots 179. That’s her highest game ever,” said Anderson, who also got 209 from Finley and 216 from freshman Raya Fiesler in that game. “She had 132 the last game, but that’s more like the norm for her. If we get 170-130 out of her, that’s a bonus.”
Anderson knows what he has with state tourney veterans Yoder and Meshew, but likes the progress in the remainder of his team.
“We know what we have with Addy and Emma, but if we get Raya to shoot 200 and she bowled decent, and Kennedy had 580 and started rolling the ball really well,” Anderson said. “If we have those four, I feel really good about where we’re at. Then, it’s about making shots and making spares.”
Sophomore Madison Lint led East Canton with 552, senior Rachel Simpokins added 522, sophomore Logan McDonald had 510 and senior Hannah Spencer 494. East Canton coach Craig Linerode said the goal was to move on.
“We know how good Rootstown is and with Triway coming over, we knew what they could do. And Garfield is a perennial team in here,” Linerode said. “We just wanted to make the top four.”
Linerode used the opportunities during the Baker round to see “how the girls looked on the pattern.” He cited the play of senior Alayna Boling, who “out of four Bakers had only one spare and one open and the rest were strikes.”
“She gives us a good option if we need it,” Linerode added.
The G-men hit coach Howard Moore’s goal of 750 per game in two of the three regular games, but the ultimate one was reached.
“We averaged out to where we wanted to be. But to get to the dance, you have to make the cut,” Moore said. “I thought we were good enough to get out of here. But it’s the same thing I tell every kid, you have to make spares. You can’t leave them out there.”
Junior Haley Thompson led Garfield with 484, followed by freshman Joy Justice with 464.
INDIVIDUALS ADVANCE
A 206 in Game 3 by Raffa enabled the sophomore to move on after games of 157 and 150.
Herold shot 176 in Game 1, but shot just 146 and 141 her final two games to hold on to the third individual spot. It was similar for Ariyajasingham, who had 168 in Game 1 followed by 142 and 148.
But the real test is next week at district.
“The big thing is trying to get past the pressure of the next level. East Canton has never had a team get to state, boys or girls,” Linerode said. “It just a matter of having that confidence that they belong there, they should be there and they deserve to move on, then getting them to buy into that.”
Linerode tried to put some pressure on his girls heading into the final Baker game, when they led Triway by 13 pins in the race for second place.
“I told them if we had a nice sixth game, we could pass them. But they shot their lowest Baker game of 118, so lesson learned,” Linerode said. “The less they know, the better.”
Even though Day said the Rovers were “so-so” in Bakers, they exceeded their goal.
“Our goal was to get back to district and then to state,” Day said. “But I didn’t think we were going to win.”
NOTEBOOK: Ravenna and Crestwood had just four bowlers each and had their players competing only as individuals with no Baker System play. … There were only six 200 games thrown, with none coming in Game 2. … Each of the teams bowled on their own pair of lanes, moving after every game and every two Baker System games. … Triway recorded three of the top seven individual scores along with Rootstown. Only East Canton’s Lint joined that group, finishing fifth. … Rootstown turned in the high Baker game of 232 in Game 6 — the lone 200 game shot — while there were nine sub-100 games. The Rovers finished with 1,045 in Bakers, with Triway second at 934. … Tickets for the district tournament are available online only at https://www.ohsaa.org/tickets Prices are $8 for adults and $5 for students.
