Cosmos celebrate seniors with victory

It's not often that high school bowlers in this area hold matches on a weeknight. Apparently, it doesn't make much of a difference to the Springfield Cosmos.

   

2017-02-01 / Sports Print article Print Cosmos celebrate seniors with victory «» View full-size Left to right are Springfield bowling coach Mike Mullens and seniors Alex Richardson, Matt Power, Issiah Albanese and Quadale Jackson. — TIM TAYLOR http://www.eagletimes.com/sites/www.eagletimes.com/files/imagecache/full/SprSrs.jpghttp://www.eagletimes.com/sites/www.eagletimes.com/files/imagecache/full/WinBWL-McCabe.jpg By TIM TAYLOR sports@eagletimes.com SPRINGFIELD — It's not often that high school bowlers in this area hold matches on a weeknight. Apparently, it doesn't make much of a difference to the Springfield Cosmos. Celebrating their seniors in a make-up match postponed from mid-December, the Cosmos drew the top seed in qualifying, withstood a challenge from a pesky Brattleboro foe, then defeated Windsor in two games to take top honors at Up Your Alley Tuesday evening. The Baker final pitted Springfield and Windsor against one another after each won three-game semifinals. This one wouldn't go three games, however, as the Cosmos picked up their marks better than the Yellow Jackets did for a 165-99, 137-126 sweep. “It was a good outcome,” said Springfield coach Mike Mullens. “That's exactly what it comes down to is hitting spares,” said Windsor coach Steve Bly. “I try to preach to the kids that spares wins games and when you don't hit them you don't win games. That's pretty much what it came down to today. We left a lot of pins n the deck, so you can't win if you don't clean them up. Both teams struggled early in the opener, each opening in three of the first four frames. The Jacks would notch the first strike of the final, by anchor man Brandyn LaBarron in the fifth, but then had three straight opens. Meanwhile, Springfield collected consecutive spares from Alex Richardson, Cierra Howe, Meghan Power and Haley St. Louis to take control of the game. Matt Power racked up a strike in the ninth and Richardson followed with a strike-spare in the 10th. LaBarron picked up his second strike in the 10th, but by then the outcome had already been decided. Game two was much closer although neither team picked up a mark until both spared in the third frame. Richardson recored a strike in the fourth and Power closed out the game with a pair of strikes in the 10th. That sealed the match as LaBarron, who apparently was less than 100-percent due to illness, could manage just one strike in the final frame. Springfield and Windsor had to turn back challenges by Brattleboro and Hartford, respectively, in the semis. The Cosmos topped Brattleboro 170-129, 118-121, 148-108. The final game saw the home team strike just once, by St. Louis in the third. However, back-to-back spares in the fourth and fifth, and seventh and eighth, along with a spare in the second, carried the Cosmos to victory. The four consecutive marks in the second through fifth frames gave them a 27-pin lead and the Colonels were unable to erase it all. “We had a moment there against Brattleboro where I thought Brattleboro's going to get us again, but I told them, I said, 'We've got to be confident and make our spares' and they came back that last game,” Mullens said. “Then when we bowled against Windsor and got the first one I said, 'Look, let's do away with this third game stuff. Let's just win it in two. They scared me for a minute. Neither team wanted to make a mark. It was kind of frustrating, but exciting at the same time. “I think if their fifth bowler, Brandyn, felt better and was on his game it probably would have been a different outcome. He's usually pumped and pumping his team up. I think if he was feeling better I think it would have been a lot closer match.” The Yellows Jackets downed Hartford 127-102, 140-147, 126-121. In the third game, Tatyana Malikwski, LaBarron and Troy McCabe registered strikes, and Grayson Frazer added a spare. The Hurricanes, whose only strike came on their first ball, would add spares in the fifth, sixth and eighth, and were set up to win after a Jacks open in the 10th. Hartford's anchor knocked down nine pins with his first ball, but failed to pick up the mark, leaving the team six pins shy of a win. “That was put into Hartford's hands,” Bly said. “Their anchor, all he had to do was pick that one pin up and we would have lost that round … luckily they made mistakes like we did and eventually we made less.” In qualifying, Springfield earned the top seed with a 1643 on the strength of a trio of 200 games. St. Louis rolled 231-151, Richardson 141-229 and Matt Power 201-128. Howe added 154-150 and Issiah Alabanese had 146-112. Extra bowlers Meghan Power and Quadale Jackson had 122-127 and 125-88, respectively. Windsor finished with a 1334 behind LaBarron's 180-168. Grayson Frazer added 152-135, McCabe 152-117, Malikowski's 105-113 and Rayce Gilbert's 113-99. Additional bowler Wyatt Bean had 91-92. Hartford took the third seed with a 1316 and was led by Joey Raymond with 199-223. Brattleboro was No. 4 with a 1217 behind Jeremy Lackey's 114-164. As the season winds down, the youthful Yellow Jackets will continue to seek improvement while the veteran Cosmos look to fine-tune for states. “They're doing good,” Bly said. “For kids that just started bowling at the end of November, I'm very pleased. I might be expecting a little too much out of them, but I want them to do good, I want them to succeed. I know that next year we'll be stringer, the year after we'll be stronger. We've got four freshmen and some eighth-graders coming up through. I've just got to stay optimistic and keep working with them.” Springfield, on the other hand, is looking to send its seniors — Albanese, Jackson, Richardson and Matt Power — out on a high note with states approaching on Feb. 25 (individual) and March 4 (team.) Windsor will honor its seniors Saturday at Maple Lanes in Claremont while Springfield heads to the Rutland Bowl. Both matches begin at 11 a.m.