After a promising start to the season, the Saint Ignatius varsity bowling team has found itself down in the gutter.
The Alley Cats were confident leading up to this weekend’s match, despite the absence of a few key players. The team entered the weekend with a 2-0 OHSAA record in Greater Cleveland Interscholastic Bowling League (GCIBL) play.
With two of the team’s regular varsity players having to miss the match vs. Lakewood on Saturday, the team brought up freshmen to take their spots. While the young Cats certainly did their best, the match ultimately went to the opponent.
Not shaken by this loss, the Alley Cats moved on. The squad went into their first tournament of the year – the first annual Saint Ignatius Invitational – eager to make up for the previous day’s loss.
What ultimately determined the outcome of the team was simple –the oil pattern. Most don’t think about it, but the lanes at a bowling alley are covered in a coating of oil, which aside from protecting the lane itself, provides an extra level of difficulty to the sport.
At your regular bowling alley, you will almost certainly encounter a house pattern, one that is specifically designed for you to succeed. It is dry on the outside so the ball will hook in towards the pocket, and oilier on the inside so the ball will maintain its path to the pocket. When bowling in a tournament match, however, the oil pattern is changed up, so as to test the player’s skills even further.
At this particular tournament, the Rollhouse (formerly known as Brookpark Freeway Lanes) made use of the “Tokyo” oil pattern, which proved to be difficult to maneuver on. The pattern resulted in the ball losing spin, and not hooking in as far as it would on a normal shot. As a result, the Wildcats missed far too many strikes and spares to make it into the final five.
The team scored a 724-857-841 (2422) in the first three games of the day. The Alley Cats then bowled baker scores of 121, 143, 148, 172, and 137 to finish sixth out of 17 teams.
What all of this has taught the team is a valuable lesson – spares matter. You might think that getting strike after strike is what makes a good bowler, but what really puts one to the test is how consistently they make their spares. The Alley Cats continue to practice this week, and look forward to their next match vs. Olmsted Falls on Saturday at Buckeye Lanes.
Here are the individual scores from Saint Ignatius vs. Lakewood and from the Saint Ignatius Invitational:
Saint Ignatius vs. Lakewood:
-Andrew Fornadel: 78, 99, 111
-Ryan Wallenhurst: 137, 141, 133
-Alex Madeja: 82, 101, 102
-Dylan Huss: 160, 167, 150
-Anthony Doran: 146, 174, 175
Tournament Scores:
-Anthony Doran: 144, 198, 176
-Vinny Doran: 168, 192, 216
-Alex Gehrlein: 118, 159
-Dylan Huss: 149, 152, 158
-Ryan Wallenhurst:156, 165