By BILL SNIER
COLUMBUS — The last five seasons have been a tale of two tournaments for the Green High School girls bowling team.
For the fifth straight year, the Bulldogs were able to reach match play with a top-eight finish in the OHSAA Division I State Girls Championships on Friday at HP Lanes, ending up as the No. 7 seed.
The problem is, the Bulldogs drew No. 2 seed Perry during its quarterfinal match.
“It came down to spare shooting again. It was happening to me all day,” Green coach Alex Snowberger said. “If we could have made a few more of those during qualifying, we could have been a higher seed and missed Perry. But give credit to them.”
Instead, the two Federal League rivals took their battle to the state level, with the Panthers earning a 3-1 victory, including a narrow 160-158 win in Game 4.
Perry won Game 1 196-143 and Game 3 199-174.
It also marked the fifth straight year that the Bulldogs — who have been the No. 1 seed twice during that stretch — have fallen in first-round matchups. Two have been three-game sweeps, two by 3-1 counts and, in 2022 a 3-2 loss to Plain City Jonathan Alder.
“We weren’t as good of a team as we’ve been the last couple of years, and a lot of people told us we shouldn’t have been here, that we didn’t deserve to be here,” Snowberger said after his team finished seventh. “But these girls fought against all the adversity and they got here.
“I’m just so proud of these girls.”
Spares — or the lack of them — were Green’s downfall. The Bulldogs had eight open frames in their three losses, and two in their 167-128 win in Game 2 when Perry had five open frames.
A pivotal point came in Game 4 when the Bulldogs converted a key 3-9-10 split.
“We knew that was a pivotal point in the match. But the pins just didn’t fall for us on the next couple of shots, which was a problem for us,” Snowberger said. “We were hitting the pocket and had a good look during match play, but we just couldn’t get the hits.
“The corner pins just wouldn’t carry on the right lane and that was annoying.”
Senior Madison Perrine led Green with a 552 series, along with sophomore Payton Taylor (547) and junior Miah Adkins (511).
The Bulldogs will return four varsity players next season.
“We’re not going anywhere soon. We gave (Perry) a run. There were some tough games, but it’s good that we have four coming back,” Snowberger said. “They just saw what happened and they won’t forget this feeling. They’re going to remember it.”
SPARTANS MISS CUT
Friday was a disappointing day for defending Division I state champion Boardman.
The Spartans never got untracked during qualifying, finishing with a high team game of 816 and finishing 15th overall in the 16-team field with 3,265 total pinfall, 220 pins out of the cut.
“Honestly, it just never felt like we could get it going. The lanes played a lot different than they did (Thursday) in practice,” Boardman coach Justine Cullen said. “Yesterday, there was more free hook and that was a factor.
“We caught a lot of bad breaks and that can kill your momentum.”
Senior Kaitlyn Greenaway, hoping for her fourth straight All-Ohio honor and the defending Division I state champion, shot 602 to lead the Spartans. But she came up seven pins short of the final All-Ohio spot.
“It was a disappointing day. We let the emotions get the best of us today,” said Greenaway, who will attend and bowl at Youngstown State University in the fall. “We weren’t here today.
“We tried and it’s really hard because it’s our senior year.”
Cullen sensed some momentum building Game 2 when the Spartans shot 812.
“We got to 800. It wasn’t great, but now we were hitting it and getting some tracking. Kate and Rissa (Funk) were firing and we were getting Gabby (Vennetti) going,” Cullen said. “But then we moved again and it was just like, that’s it. It was just an unfortunate day where things just didn’t go right for us.
“Last year, everything went right for us. But that’s the way it is in this game sometimes.”
Funk backed up Greenaway with a 570 series as the Spartans will lose most of their starters to graduation.
“We’ll definitely build back up again,” Cullen said. “We’re going to be competitive, but it’s tough to lose a Kaitlyn Greenaway, who was All-Ohio every year.”
The disappointment was on two levels for Greenaway.
“It would have been a big accomplishment to have been All-Ohio all four years,” Greenaway said. “But I tried my best all four years and tried to show up when I had to.”
WADSWORTH LOOKS TO FUTURE
HP Lanes has not been kind to Wadsworth on either the male or female level.
“it goes all the way back to when I was on the team,” Grizzlies coach Chris Steele said. “They come here and throw good shots and just can’t seem to get the right kind of carry. This place just seems to bring out the worst in us.”
The Grizzlies capped a Suburban League championship season with their second state appearance, and first since 2012. They finished 12th overall with 3,387 — 98 pins out of the cut.
“I don’t think we were nervous. We said the last week or so that no one expected us to be here so this is just the fun part now,” Wadsworth coach Heidi Steele said. “Just go out and have fun today and whatever happens, happens.”
Junior Addison Martin led the Grizzlies with a 555 series, followed by sophomore Aubrey Masada (538).
The Grizzlies, who will return six of their eight players from the state team, may also bring motivation to the boys squad, which failed to advance to state after its Suburban League title.
“A lot of the talk all season was about the guys winning tournaments. That pushed the girls to that underdog mentality that we want to be better,” Chris Steele said. “Now the boys are in that same position and it flip-flops. They were here today to cheer the girls on and they want to be here next year competing. It will give them some fire.”
Magnificat missed the cut by 59 pins after being out of the cut after three games by just 20 pins. It shot just 866 in Bakers, with a 151 game to finish.
Senior Dot Sayles led Magnificat with 663 to earn All-Ohio honors. Junior Ella Smith added 537.
NOTEBOOK: Wapakoneta earned the final match-play spot with 3,485 after being just nine out of the cut after the three regular games. Wapak shot 914 during the Baker portion to earn the spot. … Vandalia Butler finished with 3,824 to top the field, followed by Perry (3,806). Butler shot 889 in Bakers to the Panthers’ 865. Perry held a six-pin lead over Butler entering Bakers. … The format was three regular games and five Baker System games. Bakers were increased from three to five following a vote of coaches a year ago. Match play remained best-of-five Bakers. … Perry had the high team game of 1,055 in Game 2 and was the only team to post two 1,000 games. Butler shot 1,045 in Game 3. … Green posted the high Baker set of 970 (194 average), shooting 215 and 216, followed by Beavercreek (954). … High Baker game was 223 by Beavercreek.