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St. Mary's Cayden Ballweg celebrates a shot against Celina in the second game at Varsity Lanes on Monday.
ST. MARYS - In the first Western Buckeye League match of the season, St. Marys swept the Battle of Grand Lake in bowling on Monday.
The Bulldog girls took their first loss of the season as St. Marys won 2,560-2,338, and the Roughrider boys prevailed 2,731-2,250 at Varsity Lanes.
"I'd like to see our spare percentage come up a little bit, that was really the difference for us tonight," Celina girls coach Josh Goff said. "We really didn't shoot spares the way we're capable of. Once we get some more consistency with that, we'll really take off."
Celina started four freshman girls but still took the first game 864-852, pulling it out with key shots in the 10th frame. Corinna Westgerdes threw a strike in the final frame, Chloe Bruce hit two strikes and knocked down nine pins with her third shot, and after Chloe Gibson couldn't pick up the spare to earn a third shot, Ryann Eckhardt went strike-strike-6.
Celina's Chablis Krick bowled a 329 series against St. Marys on Monday.
Chablis Krick added a strike on her first shot and then went 6-3 to overtake the Roughriders.
"We're very experienced and talented, and got pushed hard during that first game," St. Marys girls coach Jay Gibson said. "We stayed calm and remained steady and let these attributes shine through."
In the second game, St. Marys got either strikes or spares from four bowlers in four of the first five frames. Allyson Speckman, Kaleigh Caywood and Kayla Homan all rolled strikes in the sixth, and though they weren't able to hit as many spares down the stretch, the Roughriders got at least eight pins from every bowler from the sixth through the ninth frame.
In the 10th, Celina made another push. Huber got two strikes and knocked down seven pins with her third shot, and Eckhardt hit three straight strikes, the third finished off after the eight pin wobbled for a second and went down.
"Ryann Eckhardt's been bowling really well for us," Goff said. "Really, as a team, everyone's been bowling really well. Chablis Krick's been bowling well, she's coming off a real strong season. Ryann's leading as a freshman as well. Tonight was a struggle with consistency, but we have a few kids out with band last week at Disney, and coming off the weekend, getting everybody together can be hard as well."
St. Marys' Allyson Speckman bowled a match-high 424 series and a 222 high game in the girls' win over Celina.
Krick hit two more strikes and added seven pins on her third shot, but Speckman, Ella Kable and Homan all got spares, which was more than enough to finish off an 879-790 win and put St. Marys up by 77 pins.
In the first two baker games, the Roughriders got 15 spares or strikes, and Kayla Homan converted a spare and added nine pins to cap each round. Celina missed eight spares over the same span, and as the Roughriders won the third game 200-124, Goff sent in Piper Gilliland, Mallory Fortman and Sarah Garrett to get some experience.
"When it got to those last couple, it was kind of decided," Goff said. "We were down by a couple hundred, just weren't getting momentum going. I wanted to give some looks to the other ones, find out what we've got. It being early in the year, we're still trying to figure out our rotation, who we have off the bench and who's going to start."
Speckman had the high series with a 424 and the high game with a 222. Homan added a 350 series for the Roughriders, while Eckhardt led Celina with a 360 series and a 191 high game.
Ethan Bruce bowled a 145 in the first game for the Celina boys on Monday.
On the boys side, St. Marys eked out a 20-pin lead over the first eight frames, then stretched it to 61 by the end of the first game.
In the second game, the Bulldogs struggled to finish off spares. After converting four in the first two frames, they only managed 10 over the final eight.
"We're not good enough to miss spares," Celina boys coach Jeff Schott said. "I keep telling them, 'If you can throw seven strikes a game, don't worry about the spares. Otherwise, you need spares.' Just really simple stuff is what we need to work on. But they're young, so they'll get better."
The Roughriders took full advantage, bowling a 900 in the second game to extend the lead. They added another 100 pins onto the margin in the first two baker games to pull away.
Will Ross turned in the high series of the night with a 398, followed closely by Lucas Gray with a 397. Gray rolled a 222 in the first game for the high game of the match.
Cayden Ballweg added a 381 for the Roughriders. Schott subbed out three of his bowlers after the first game, so the only other one with a full series was Quintin Posada, who finished with a 321. Alaric Doner added a 194 game for the Bulldogs.
"We're going to make some moves next week," Schott said. "I know we're going to move somebody up from JV to the varsity and vice versa."
Celina will compete in the Southwest Baker Shootout at Southwest Bowling Center in Urbana at 10 a.m. on Saturday. St. Marys hosts Wapakoneta next Monday in another WBL match.
