By Mike Walsh
Correspondent
Two years, two consecutive regional championships for Reavis’ girls bowling team.
The Rams made it back-to-back titles in an impressive manner, topping the 13-team field at the Reavis Regional with a pinfall total of 4847, topping second-place Argo (4684) by 163 pins at Palos Lanes in Palos Hills
Reavis advanced to Saturday’s Hinsdale Central Sectional at Suburbanite Bowling in Westmont. Joining the Rams and the Argonauts will be Curie and Lindblom.
“The girls have been a really great team to coach this year,” Reavis coach Kassie Ryan said. “We’ve been building to this with five seniors on the team.
“This is a great group of young ladies and we have several three-sport athletes as well as honors students. They earned it. It’s great to see them succeed. They’ve supported each other and kept going.”
Leading the way for the Rams in the regional was senior Veronica Liszka, who posted a six-game cumulative score of 1052, good enough for third individually behind Sara Flynn of Argo (1126) and Lucero Ortiz of Curie (1093).
Liszka, a senior who is a two-handed right-hander, is one of the three-sport athletes on the Reavis roster about whom Ryan spoke. In addition to bowling, Liszka also represents the Rams in volleyball and softball. Liszka is a three-year varsity bowler for Reavis.
“Veronica throws a great strike ball,” Ryan said. “And she didn’t lose control. She’s really good at coming back if she has a bad game.
“She has fortitude and she’s a team leader. She keeps the girls’ energy up.”
Junior Juliet Cadena also was a key contributor for Reavis. The righty rolled a 1033 to place fourth individually. Curie’s Nina Kick (1011) finished fifth.
“Juliet’s just consistent,” Ryan said.
Also chipping in for Reavis were senior Valerie Rodriguez (969), who was seventh and classmate Natalie Pirozek (925), who was 11th.
“It’s nice to peak at the right time,” Ryan said. “The girls worked a lot in the offseason to get here. Last year was the first regional (championship) and this year, winning one is a nice accomplishment for the young ladies.”
For Argo, which placed second, Emily Cardinal (949), Gabriella Huzior (894), Victoria Flynn (884) and Kaylynn Lucas (831) also played key roles.
Individuals who advanced by having one of the top 10 scores without being a member of one of the four highest teams were the Oak Lawn tandem of Angela Correra (932) and Natalie Orozco (926), Yasmin Sawyer of De La Salle (891), St. Laurence’s Elise Oldham (867) and Arie Centeno (842), Lameis Sheikh of Oak Lawn (809), Isabella Norrick of St. Laurence (796), Holyn Robinson of Kenwood (780), St. Laurence’s Kayla Ligue (766) and Danah Sheikh of Oak Lawn (760).
For De La Salle’s Sawyer, a sophomore righty, this marks her second consecutive sectional appearance. Her high game Saturday was a 177.
“Yasmin is super consistent,” Meteors coach Tim Colletti said. “She struck a lot early and picked up her spares later, That kept her in it in the morning session. She was knocking them down.
“She has a nice smooth stroke and good form. Yasmin’s not fast but she puts the ball in the pocket every time.”
As for the teams not qualifying for the sectional, Oak Lawn (4165) was fifth, followed by St. Laurence (4027), De La Salle (3771), Goode STEM (3128), Hubbard (3053), Kenwood (3014), Solorio Academy (2750), Dyett (2610) and Phillips (832).