By BILL SNIER
OAKWOOD — Dean Vargo had what he termed “a not so pretty” chat with his Fairport Harbor Harding High School girls bowling team following Game 2.
“That happens with us on occasion,” the Skippers head coach said. “The important thing is, they responded to it well and they took the message well.
“Our communication in Game 3 and in Bakers was much better than in Games 1 and 2. Ultimately, that was the deciding factor with this team.”
The Skippers earned their sixth trip to the state tournament overall and third straight by topping a 14-team field during Saturday’s Northeast District Division II tournament at Roseland Lanes.
Fairport Harbor finished with 3,586 total pinfall to top the field by 36 pins and earn one of four state berths. Also heading to state are Struthers (3,550), Open Door Christian (3,429) and Rootstown (3,302), which earned the last spot by 46 pins.
The top four teams and top four individuals not on advancing teams earned state trips, with the format being three regular games and six Baker System games.
The individual qualifiers have a distinct Stark County High School Bowling Conference flavor with three — Triway’s Kennedy Finley, East Canton’s Madison Lint and Canton Central Catholic’s Frances Palaski — coming from the league to join Firelands’ Katie Smith.
The OHSAA Girls Division II State Championships are set for Feb. 28 at HP Lanes in Columbus.
SKIPPERS STRUGGLE EARLY
The Skippers led after Game 1, but shot just 764 in Game 2 to fall to fourth in the standings.
That’s when Vargo delivered his message.
“They have skills, no doubt about that, but there was a much better team atmosphere after Game 2 when they got the message,” Vargo said. “Then they cleaned up the culture, got it back to where it should be and they did just fine.
“A lot of it was a lack of communication, frustration on both sides. We got back to it in Game 3, communicated a lot better and the coaches communicated a lot better with them.”
The Skippers placed three bowlers — seniors Mackenzie Pilny (572 series) and Jillian Justinger (553) and junior Sophia McLaughlin (550) — among the top eight to earn all-tournament honors.
“We got some help from our supporting cast although they you really can’t call them that because they are all big guns,” Vargo said. “Not to sound arrogant, but I’m honestly not surprised that we put three in the top eight.”
The Skippers shot 896 in Game 3 to take a 20-pin lead into the Baker portion. They then averaged 180.8 in Bakers to secure the district title.
“If the culture stays where it needs to be, I think we’re going to be in for a fun weekend (at state),” added Vargo, whose team won the state title in 2018 but missed the cut to match play a year ago.
COPPOLA LEADS WILDCATS
Senior Clare Coppola led Struthers to its fourth straight state trip and seventh overall by topping the individual field with a 593 series, including 223 in Game 3.
“I just focused on making my spares and not getting mad at myself if I missed one,” Coppola said. “I was a little disappointed that I didn’t get to 600, but I will get that at state.”
The Wildcats struggled out of the gate with 700, falling 56 pins out of fourth place.
“We caught a bad pair that had some out of the bounds to the right,” Struthers coach Bob Eisenbraun Jr. said. “We left a lot of splits and missed a couple of spares.
“Its like, ‘Oh my gosh, we’re 56 pins out.’ But we caught the next pair and started rolling better from there.”
The Wildcats, who return three seniors and one sophomore from last year’s state team that failed to make the cut to match play, also got 534 from sophomore Angelina Donofrio and 491 from senior Sofia Previte.
“It’s OK. You’re going to face some adversity, but it makes you better at the end,” said Eisenbraun, whose team jumped to third following the three regular games and then shot a tourney-high 1,111 during the Baker round (185.1 average) to finish as district runner-up.
“The Bakers went pretty well, but we caught that same pair (Lanes 31-32) that we did in Game 1 and it still had a lot of hang to it. But that’s OK .. the goal was to advance and that’s what we did.”
HOLDING ON
Rootstown was in the third spot after Game 2, but then fell to fourth and remained in that position the remainder of the tournament to earn their second straight state trip after finishing fourth a year ago. Only two players return from that team, and both saw limited action in a senior-heavy lineup.
The Rovers’ hold on fourth place had dwindled to 18 pins after the first two Baker games and was at 25 after four. They were bowling next to their closest pursuer — Hubbard — the final two Bakers.
“We were watching Hubbard, especially in the Bakers. But then Garfield also started coming on the last two, so we weren’t sure if we made it or not,” said Rootstown coach Andy Day, whose team shot just 138 and 141 its final two Baker games.
“We picked up our corner pins better, but one-pin spares were still a problem overall. We shot better than we did at sectionals, but that’s not going to be enough at the state level.”
Junior Kaitlyn Hammerschmidt led the Rovers with a 540 series, sophomore Olivia Davies added 531 and senior Emma Day had 484. But Day alternated players through the fifth spot.
“We had some inexperience there, and we had two girls who were just in their first year and the other was in her second,” Day said.
But Day felt the Rovers’ win at the Division II Kickoff Classic in November was a key more than last year’s state appearance.
“We’ve bowled there before and I just have to remind them of that,” said Day, whose team topped Mechanicsburg 460-440 in a three-game Baker final for the title at HP Lanes.
Open Door will be making its first state appearance. The Patriots, who led the field after Game 2 of the regular games and never dropped below third, were led by senior Anna Kolgman with 557 and senior Gabriella Riba with 545.
INDIVIDUAL RUNS
Smith, a Firelands junior was the top individual qualifier, finishing second overall with a 588 series.
Finley, now a Titans senior, will be making her fourth straight trip to state, but the first as an individual. She was in the starting lineup as a freshman when Triway won the state title in 2022.
A year ago, Finley earned second-team All-Ohio status with a 576 series. Saturday, she turned in the high tourney game of 269 in Game 2 en route to a 581 series to finish third overall.
Lint and Palaski will be making history for their respective schools.
Lint, a junior, becomes only the second Hornet to reach state, joining Erika Witter in 2020.
“It feels great, but I don’t feel like I really bowled that well at all,” said Lint, who shot 192 in Game 3 en route to a 545 series. “I felt like I was missing my mark the third game, but I tried to help myself and fix myself and it got better during the Bakers.”
East Canton fell short as a team, finishing seventh overall with 3,161, 141 pins out of the cut.
Central Catholic did send a girls team to state in 2022, but Palaski is the first individual qualifier. She shot 195 her final game to earn the final qualifying spot by six pins with a 540 series.
“I was surprised. We came here to practice Monday and that helped me get used to the lanes,” said Palaski, who was one of two Crusaders individual district qualifiers. “I knew the feel of my ball and I knew where I had to be on the lanes.
“My problems were in hitting my mark and making left-side spares. That’s what I have to work on.”
Her teammate, junior Jessica Jenkins, finished with 465.
At least three teams return to Columbus with state experience.
“I feel like we can bowl against anyone right now. The first goal is to make the top eight and then anything can happen,” Vargo said. “But I will take our girls head-to-head against anyone.”
“We just have to relax and have fun,” Copolla said. “Hopefully, I do a lot better than I did here and we win some more stuff.”
NOTEBOOK: The cut to make the top eight for the all-tournament team was at 540, with no 600 series being shot after the boys scoring spree Friday. …Struthers had the high team game of 907 in Game 2. It was the only 900 game of the day. … There were only three 200 Baker games shot, with Struthers having two of them, including the high of 222 in Game 2. Faiport Harbor had the other. … Hubbard, which was just 25 pins out of the cut heading into the final two Baker games, shot just 100 in Game 5 to drop off the pace and finish with 139. Garfield, which was 98 out, cut its deficit with 184 in Game 5, but shot just 147 the final game to fall short in fifth. … Division I takes the stage for the next two days at Roseland Lanes, with the boys opening play at 10 a.m. Sunday and the girls at 10 a.m. Monday. The boys field has 20 teams and individuals vying for five state qualifying spots while the girls have 19 teams and individuals vying for the same number of spots.