An overnight freeze seemed to chill the Alley Cats at the start of Saturday's match against Greater Cleveland Interscholastic Bowling League (GCIBL) foe Benedictine, but the Wildcats warmed up in impressive fashion.
Led by head coach Jim Viets, the Alley Cats recovered from a slow start to overtake the Bengals in the scratch, baker, and handicap categories, picking up the OHSAA point to advance to 4-2 on the season.
All five Saint Ignatius keglers posted outstanding scores to help the team succeed in every area.
The morning started off with the first scratch game, which turned out to be a tough one for the Alley Cats, as the Wildcats dropped a 770-748 decision.
The second scratch round went much differently. Devin Vinczel started the second stanza off with four strikes, and picked up a critical 3-pin split and later a 4-9 split in the ninth frame. Vinny Doran and Joe Johnson ended the contest with five strikes apiece, cementing a win for the Wildcats.
The Alley Cats finished with a dominant 983-878 victory, a huge improvement from the first contest.
As Coach Viets explained, the Alley Cats had to adjust to the different conditions in Buckeye Lanes. While the lanes in the previous two tournaments were dry, Buckeye Lanes traditionally features an oily section at the front part of the lane.
Thanks to Viets' wise guidance, the Saint Ignatius keglers adjusted in the second match and put forth a dominant effort.
The third scratch game saw a continuation of the Wildcats' dominance. Vinczel led the way with a 245, the best score of the day by a Wildcat kegler. He also finished as the overall leader with an impressive 655 series, helping his team capture a critical 1,050-806 victory.
At the end of the scratch games, the Wildcats had a wide margin in total pinfall, 2,781-2,454, an advantage of 327 pins. The Alley Cats also won the handicap, 2,991-2,973, a much slimmer margin.
As impressively as the Alley Cats performed in the last two scratch games, the Wildcats' efforts in the baker games stood out even more.
The Wildcats' keglers posted one of the best 4-game baker scores you'll ever see. The Alley Cats finished with a baker series score of 920.
For the casual keglers fan, the winner in both scratch and baker games is determined by the total number of pins knocked down – the team with the higher pinfall wins. The difference between the two is that baker games are bowled as a team, not individually. A team of five keglers will have each bowler throw two frames in a 10-frame baker game.
Each Saint Ignatius bowler performed well in the baker games, as the Wildcats won 236-147, 214-201, 243-135, and 227-130, a brilliant performance for the team.
The Wildcats' five varsity keglers – Vinny Doran (552), Joe Johnson (495), Nick Frank (515), Devin Vinczel (655), and Anthony Doran (564) – should be very proud of today's performance.
The Alley Cats will look to keep the good times rolling next week, as the Saint Ignatius bowling squad will head to Wickliffe next Saturday to face Westlake.