Cavs place second

After missing the state tournament last year for the first time since the Ohio High School Athletic Association hosted a championship, the Coldwater girls bowling team looked to add a fifth state title trophy to the case at the Division II state tournament on Saturday.

The Cavaliers had a strong qualifying round and made it through the quarterfinals and semifinals before falling to Bryan in four games in the championship match at Wayne Webb's Columbus Bowl.

"They absolutely battled," said Coldwater coach Rick Hartings. "With our experience, I really thought we had a chance to win it. With St. Marys and Bryan in the upper bracket, I had a gut feeling we'd run into one of those teams at the end."

After the Cavalier boys won their fourth state title on Friday, the ladies looked to try and complete the double title weekend for the third time after both teams won state in 2012 and 2015.

Coldwater was sitting in third after the opening round of regulation games in the qualifying round. In the three baker games, the Cavaliers did just enough to move up to second place with a final tally of 3,067. Defending champion St. Marys, which was in second after the regulation games, slipped in the bakers, posting a low score of 453 to slip to the fifth seed but easily making the top eight to advance to the best-of-five game knockout matches.

"The lanes were not that easy," said Hartings, referring to the oil pattern used during the tournament. "Match play started and we bowled really well."

Coldwater faced Girard in the quarterfinal, taking the first two games 200-139 and 223-190 before Girard avoided a sweep with a 141-137 win in Game 3. The Cavaliers bounced back to win the clincher 182-144 to advance and face Wooster Triway.

Meanwhile, St. Marys faced Bryan. The Golden Bears won Game 1 162-153 with the Roughriders taking Game 2 205-163. Bryan came back to end St. Marys' season with wins of 184-135 and 177-175 to advance and face Greenon in the other semi.

Coldwater had little trouble with Triway, dominating the first game 222-111 before completing the sweep with wins of 247-167 and 146-126 to advance to the title match for the third time in four seasons. Bryan moved on by sweeping Greenon.

Bryan took the opening game of the championship 183-161. Coldwater countered with a 193-136 win in the next game to knot the match. The Golden Bears, which finished third behind Coldwater and St. Marys at the district last week, roared back and took the next two games 158-125 and 188-181 to capture the program's first state title.

"We were right there to the end," said Hartings. "We had a few mistakes and missed some spares at crucial times. It is what it is. We bowled well all day."

Coldwater's Ryleigh Brown earned first team All-Ohio honors after finishing fifth in the individual standings with a 586 series (184-180-222).

"She was in the pocket all day," said Hartings of Brown. "She had some really good shots."

Cav freshman Jazmine Schulze finished with a 520 series (25th overall) with Alison Fox taking 26th with a 519. Senior Rachel Miller bowled a 509.

St. Marys had three bowlers earn state honors. Alayna Thornberry rolled a 582 (211-200-171) to place sixth and Samantha Ackroyd finished with a 569 (215-174-180) to take seventh, earning the pair second team All-Ohio honors. Roughrider Jaden Gibson was 13th with a 543 series (178-183-182) to receive honorable All-Ohio honors.