BEAVERCREEK — The Clinton-Massie bowling team has been working all season for a day like Wednesday.
When the top two bowlers were not at their very best, the Falcons depth helped propel them to a runnerup finish in the Division II Southwest District Boys Bowling Championship tournament at Beaver-Vu Lanes.
And with that, a berth for a second straight season in the OHSAA Division II Boys Bowling Championship in Columbus next week.
East Clinton and Blanchester also took part in the team competition and neither finished in the top four. The Astros were 13th and the Wildcats 23rd.
East Clinton had an uphill climb after a 2,705 team series. The 1,024 second game, however, was second best behind tournament champ Kenton Ridge.
But the baker games weren’t kind to the Astros and they never threatened to make it out.
Austin Alloy was the top Astro at 598. The final score for state qualifier was 659.
Sebastian Smith had a 559 series for Blanchester.
Clinton-Massie had a consistent day, though not great. The trio of team games were 973, 947, 947 for a 2,867 pinfall total.
That had the Falcons in fifth place, just out of the state qualifying slot.
“The term of the year, the motto was grind out games,” CM coach Tyler Hayslip said. “The patterns always going to play different in every house. We grinded out three games, made a lot of spares. Still had a 191 average. Going in I wanted a 2,900 so just missed that by 33 pins.”
Brandon Moritz, the SBAAC American Division bowler of the year, and Mason Keck, the state tournament runnerup last season, were not having typical days. Keck had a 504 and Moritz had 565, both well below their averages.
But Wyatt Smith had a big day with a 630 while Sam Massie had a 606 series. Corvin Pittenger also came through in the team games with a 562.
“Luckily we had bowlers pick up the pieces when we had bowlers who weren’t on top of their games,” Hayslip said. “We have depth and that’s something we worked on this year.”
In the bakers, though, Clinton-Massie caught fire with a six-game total of 1,230, the best in the tournament.
“Ian Adams came off the bench in the bakers and did what he had to do,” said Hayslip. “He led off for us, coming in cold after not bowling in the team games, is asking a lot of him but he came in and performed (well).”
Baker games were 200, 184, 228, 168, 205 and 245.
“They came together during their snack time (after team games),” Hayslip said. “Brandon told them ‘Boys, if we don’t make it (to state) as a team, none of us are making it’.”
With that, Hayslip believed his team’s chances were good of moving on.
“I knew that we were a good baker team when the lights turned on,” he said. “Baker games are a marathon, this whole tournament is a marathon and not a sprint. Usually we start slow but (today) we had a great start (200) and that led us to a great finish. We took off and never stopped.”
SUMMARY
Feb 21, 2024
Division II Southwest District
Boys Bowling Championship
@Beaver-Vu Lanes
CM: Wyatt Smith 219, 222, 189; Corvin Pittenger 175, 182, 205; Mason Keck 189, 149, 166; Sam Massie 200, 225, 181; Brandon Moritz 190, 169, 206 (973, 947, 947) bakers 200, 184, 228, 168, 205, 245 (1230)
EC: Austin Alloy 224, 196, 178; Preston Behr 152, 178, 172; Denver Day 167, 147, 152; Lukas Runk 148, 245, 156; Ricky Kempke 154, 258, 178 (845, 1024, 836) bakers 145, 197, 209, 153, 164, 115 (973)
BHS: Randy Eckman 134, 159, 190; Sebastian Smith 154, 185, 220; Seth Perkins 101, na, na; Dane Skates 112, 164, 99; Jarod Daniels 114, 155, 179; Austin Dick na, 164, 129 (615, 827, 817) bakers 134, 155, 170, 109, 100, 154 (822)
