Girls bowling: Highland's Gracie Dunne, Buckeye reach district tournament

SPRINGFIELD TWP. — The Buckeye girls bowling team's hopes of advancing to the Northeast District looked sketchy Monday morning after one game at the Summit County Division I Sectional at Spins Bowl. Ditto for Highland's Gracie Dunne, who was bowling unattached because the Hornets don't have a girls team. By the end of the day, however, the Bucks and Dunne had erased all doubt and secured berths in the Northeast District, which will be held next Monday at Roseland Lanes. Buckeye had just one bowler shoot better than 139 in a woeful 664 opening game, leaving it in seventh place with only the top four teams advancing. The good news for the Bucks was a lot of teams also were struggling, so they were just 38 pins out of fourth. A 134-pin improvement to 798 in Game 2 bumped Buckeye to third place, where it remained until falling to fourth midway through the six Baker games. Still, the fourth-place Bucks (3,036) finished 197 pins better than fifth-place Walsh Jesuit. Norton (3,261) was in first wire to wire, followed by Archbishop Hoban (3,191) and Tallmadge (3,080). "It made me a little nervous," said Bucks senior Karlie Cesarski, whose 139 tied for her team's second-best score in the opening game. "It was like, 'What are we doing, guys?' We all blamed the lanes, though, so it was OK. "It's awesome (to reach districts for the first time since 2023). I just had a really good feeling about this year after seeing how well we did in all the regular matches." Dunne, who finished 40th at the state tournament and earned Gazette MVP honors last season as a freshman, opened in the 10th and had no doubles in shooting 164 in her first game. After moving from Lanes 7 and 8 to Lanes 9 and 10, she threw six straight strikes to start her second game en route to finishing second overall with a 558 three-game series (164-232-162). Ellet's Maleah Overholt won the individual title with a 584 series (233-163-188) on oily conditions at Spins Bowl, while Brunswick's Emily Molnar was 16th overall and seventh among bowlers on non-qualifying teams with a 452 (130-169-153). The top four bowlers from non-qualifying teams advanced to districts. "It was an up-and-down day," Dunne said. "It was pretty good, but I wish I could have shot better in my first and last games. The first pair was tough, even for our boys team (which won the sectional title) on Friday. I'm pretty happy I didn't shoot myself out of it and I was really glad I came back with a 232. I wanted to win, but I'm glad I moved on." A two-handed bowler from the right side, Dunne was halfway to a perfect game when she missed the headpin in the seventh frame of her second game. She stayed clean and struck in the ninth, leaving her with a chance to shoot 264, but a pocket hit resulted in a 7-10 split on her first ball in the 10th. "I was lined up and hitting my mark," the 15-year-old said. "In the seventh frame I got really nervous and just flattened out my hand. In the 10th, it was a perfect shot. It just left the stupid 7-10. It was just unlucky." Dunne had four opens through eight frames of her third game, but spared in the ninth and struck out in the 10th, leaving no doubt she was headed to districts again. A member of the boys team during the regular season, most of Dunne's teammates were on hand because they didn't have school due to Presidents Day. Dunne and Hornets coach Brian Esterle requested and were granted permission for her to bowl with the girls from Walsh Jesuit. "I know most of them, so we requested to get on lanes with them," she said. "It wasn't really a big difference without the boys, and most of them were here anyway." Senior and returning All-Gazette pick Cesarski led the Bucks with a 515 series (139-166-210) that placed her third overall, while junior Aubrey Reuter was 18th with a 449 (150-158-141). Addison Fry shot 423 for Buckeye and Grace Miller had 413, while Leah Kaczmarski and Jillian Kollar made contributions while sharing time at the fifth spot. "I knew that we needed to pick it up (after the first game)," Reuter said. "It was all about motivating each other. We all walked in here with a goal, so we made sure we pumped each other up and did it." The Bucks were 130 pins ahead of Walsh Jesuit heading into the Baker games, but that lead shrunk to 120 and then to 88 with four games remaining. It could have been even closer, as Buckeye had 69 through seven frames of the second Baker, but Cesarski salvaged a 120 by doubling in the 10th. The Warriors got as close as 86 after three Bakers — Cesarski kept it from being closer by converting a 3-10 baby split in the 10th — but Buckeye's lead went up to 122, then 166 and finally 197 when it closed with games of 145, 169 and 153 and Walsh Jesuit faltered badly (109, 125, 122). Brunswick's Molnar was elated with the final performance of her high school career after shooting 169 and 153 in her final two games of individual bowling. The Blue Devils also got a 404 series from Grace Mullen (102-157-145). "I was pleasantly surprised," Molnar said with a big smile. "I normally don't bowl that good, especially after a big game. I usually drop way off, but this time I actually did a lot better." Next up for the Bucks and Dunne is the Northeast District at Roseland, where the top five teams and top five individuals from non-qualifying teams will advance to the state tournament. "I'm just hoping we can do as good as we've done all season," Reuter said. "That's all you can ask for." Contact Rick Noland at (330) 721-4046 or rnoland@medina-gazette.com. Follow him @RickNoland on X.