It has been a tale of two cities when it comes to the Streetsboro boys’ and girls’ bowling teams as the boys had yet to hit their stride and the Rocket girls have already experienced some success in the Metro Athletic Conference. The Rocket boys finally earned their first league win as they bested MAC foe Akron Springfield 2324-1548. The girls were defeated by a 1920-1687 margin last Thursday at the Kent Lanes Bowling Alley.
“We were really close in two matches and were within about 40 pins or so against both Cloverleaf and Norton.,” Coach Matt Stump said of the boys’ victory. “I think the boys understand that we are in a rebuilding year and the wins might not be as frequent as we would like but we are very happy to get one in the win column for sure.”
Senior Connor Stevens paced the Rockets (1-5) by rolling a 423, followed by freshman Grayson Gano who knocked down 386 pins, senior Jayden Singleton scored 374, freshman Bentley Mrak rolled a 328 and senior Preston Lytle knocked down 279 pins.
According to the first-year coach, the Rockets received a boost when the freshman Gano rolled a 206 in the first game, sparked by recording four consecutive strikes in the first four frames.
“I like to put a pretty solid bowler in that first spot just to set the tone but a 206 from him definitely got everybody on the right page and like I said, four strikes in a row in that first game just set the table and set the stage for how we would bowl yesterday,” he noted.
The Rockets also had an advantage by having one extra bowler as the Indians only had four bowlers eligible to compete. After rolling a combined score of 864 in the first game, Streetsboro kept surging and knocked down 926 pins in the second game. Stump said that one of the goals Streetsboro has set for itself this season is to score over 1,000 in at least one game this season and the Rockets inched closer to their goal with their highest combined score in a game on Thursday.
“Most spares got cleaned up,” Stump added. “When we are bowling a 923, that is about a 185 average. I am not necessarily expecting clean games throughout but if we can keep most of them full rather than open, then we will be in really good shape. They really did a good job. If we are bowling 180s or so, we are talking only about a couple of opens per game.”
As electric a start as Gano had, Stevens once again was the Rockets’ leading scorer, as after only scoring 180 in the first game, he bounced back by knocking down 243 pins in the second game.
Streetsboro’s momentum carried into the three Baker game series, where they posted a total score of 584 compared to Akron Springfield’s 314.
On the girls’ side, they suffered their second league loss of the season as they got off to a slow start by knocking down only 1337 pins in the first two games compared to the Indians rolling a 1453 and could not close the gap in the Baker game series as Akron Springfield edged them by a 467-350 margin.
“Bakers really even the playing field but as I said, we have a couple of green bowlers, and they are going to leave a few more lanes open than others,” Stump said. “If we are close to 700 on the girls’ side, then that will play but that second game was a little bit off.”
Junior Kendall Clark led the Rocket girls (4-2) by knocking down 359 pins, followed by sophomore Amy Rein who rolled a 323, freshman Natalie Southerland scored 265, freshman Gianna Wiley rolled a 235 and freshman Lindsay Gallavan recorded a score of 165.
Despite not having any seniors on the squad, the Rocket girls have found immediate success in Streetsboro’s first season fielding a girls’ team in several years. While Stump has acknowledged this season has been about building the foundation on both sides, it appears the Rocket girls have already found their core to build around.
“The fact that we are bowling as well as we are in year number one means a lot,” he said. “There is maybe an expectation when you have a new team that they are probably not going to win a lot of games and the fact that we are above .500 and bowling well, I could not be more proud of them.”
Following a home league match against MAC foe Field on Thursday at the Kent Lanes Bowling Alley, Streetsboro will return to action following New Year’s Day when they hit the road to face MAC rival Norton at Charger Lanes on Jan. 6 beginning at 3:45 p.m.
