By BILL SNIER
KENT — The top three teams during Monday’s Northeast Ohio Tri-County Division II sectional high school bowling tournament remained consistent throughout the day.
Even though the No. 4 team also remained consistent during the Baker System round, the margin between advancing to the next round or staying home came down to less that 10 pins.
Rootstown, which has two players returning from the Rovers team that reached the semifinals of the 2024 OHSAA Division II State Tournament, topped a 13-team field during the sectional at Spins Bowl-Kent.
The Rovers, who took the lead after Game 2 of the regular games and held it until falling behind by eight pins after four Baker System games, finished on top of the field with 3,148 total pinfall.
Also earning spots for the 10 a.m. Feb. 22 district tournament at Rebman Recreation in Oakwood are Garrettsville Garfield (3,112), East Canton (3,098) and Triway (2,953). The Titans gained the final spot by just three pins over Akron Springfield (2,950), which rallied by shooting 184 in its final Baker game after Triway went 134 and 148 over its final two.
Individual qualifiers, based on players who were not members of advancing teams, included Canton Central Catholic’s Frances Palaski and Jessica Jenkins, Springfield’s Aubrianna Buchwald and Our Lady of the Elms’ Jane Then.
The format was three regular games and six Baker System games on the 2025 OHSAA sectional-district oil pattern. The top four teams and top four individuals who were not members of advancing teams move on to district play.
“I did not see this coming. I was hoping for a good year, and I was hoping we could do something here,” said Triway first-year coach Chriss Steiner. “We started this season slowly, but I learned a lot this year in coaching my first year.
“I was able to make adjustments and do what we needed to do to make things better.”
The Titans returned three starting players from the 2024 state qualifiers, but their two big guns — Addy Meshew and Emma Yoder — were lost to graduation.
“We have two seniors back (Dana Armstrong and Kennedy Finley) who were instrumental in the team’s past success along with a sophomore (Raya Fiesler) and a junior (Alexandria Wallace) who was on that team,” Steiner said. “But it was our freshman, a brand new girl (Kadance Duncan), who really came through for us today.”
Finley led the Titans with a 456 series and Fiesler added 454 as the Titans finished with 905 during the Baker round — third highest of the day and just 12 pins behind Springfield, which trailed the Titans by 15 pins heading into the Baker round.
TAKING THE TOP SPOT
Despite topping the field, Rootstown coach Andy Day feels the Rovers are capable of more with junior Katelyn Hammerschmidt and senior Emma Day as the lone returnees from the 2024 state team.
“We were off today and we have to figure something out,” Day said. “It’s about picking up easy spares. It’s in their own heads.
“We have to work on spares, corner pins mostly, even though some the girls picked them up better than normal today. We beed to pick up between 600 and 700 pins at district if we want to go to state.”
Sophomore Olivia Davies led the Rovers with a 509 series, while Hammerschmidt had 475 and senior Cassie Egli and Day added 449 and 448, respectively.
“Our Bakers were just bad. We just couldn’t put anything together,” said Day after the Rovers finished with 853 (142.16 average). “We have one spare, one open or two spares, one open. Just a lot of opens.
“We have a few young players that have never done this before and it’s about getting them experience and getting them comfortable in the moment.”
East Canton, which led after the first regular game, took the lead back after Games 4 and 5 of the Bakers with a 235 after a 110 game. But the Hornets fell behind Garfield with 127 and 124 their final two games.
“They covered the majority of their spares today and that was the key. The lanes transitioned from pair to pair and they made good adjustments,” said East Canton coach Matt Lint, who had had least two players bowl despite being ill. “There was quite a difference between pairs and how they played.
“The shot was pretty much what we expected in Game 1, but it played differently as the day went on.”
East Canton sophomore Madison Lint led the field with a 604 series — finishing 60 pins ahead of runner-up Frances Pulaski of Canton Central Catholic despite feeling under the weather.
“Proud papa moment. She was able to carry better today than in the past and was able to string a couple of doubles and turkeys together,” Matt Lint said. “She missed only two makable spares all day and that was a big key.”
The Hornets finished with 883 in Bakers, in what Lint described as “an up and down day.”
“That 235 … we needed every bit of it to stay in contention,” Lint said. “It was a roller-coaster ride to say the least. But we made more spares today than in the past and we have to continue to do that.”
Behind Lint, juniors Logan McDonald (420) and Tana Alspaugh (414) aided the Hornets’ effort.
Garfield has made 10 trips to the state tournament in its 24-year program history. It was in Bakers where the G-Men shined — turning in the top series of 928.
“We averaged close to 160 (154.6), and on that shot here, that’s pretty good,” Garfield coach Joe Brigham said. “Spares are what we have to work on. We harp on them all the time about that.
“The first thing I say before every match is, we have to fill frames. They’re kids and they’re not going to throw a strike every time. You would like them to, but you have to fill frames. But we’re pretty close to where we want to be right now.”
Sophomore Joy Justice led the G-Men with a 500 series and sophomore Sierra Foy added 496.
INDIVIDUAL QUALIFIERS
Central Catholic missed the cut by 76 pins but had two individual advancers in juniors Palaski (544) and Jenkins (506). Buchwald, a Trojans senior, shot 507 to advance.
Elms junior Then had 464 to earn the final individual spot by just two pins over Springfield senior Mellaena Martin, who was seeking her second straight trip to state. A 112 in Game 3 derailed her hopes.
Division I takes the stage in the Northeast District this week as the Summit sectional is set for Friday and Monday at 10 a.m. at Spins Bowl-Akron and the Stark sectional is set for 10 a.m. Saturday and Sunday at Eastbury Bowling Center in Canton.
NOTEBOOK: The field had 14 teams, but Crestwood only had three individuals participate. … High team game of the day was Rootstown’s 792 in Game 2. There were no 800 games. … East Canton’s 235 was the lone 200 game thrown during Bakers. There were 11 sub-100 games. … Lint had the top individual game with 223 in Game 3 as there were only three 200 games by individuals. In addition to her 600 series, there only were five 500 series.