NORTH RIDGEVILLE — Domination was the order of the day at the 10th annual North Shore Bowling Conference Tournament at Brunswick Zone.

The Keystone girls won for the third straight time and the North Ridgeville boys for the second time in three years as both teams dominated the three regular games, forcing all challengers into playing catchup.

Keystone’s girls topped Vermilion 3,562-3,490, beating the Sailors by 57 pins in the three regular games and padding their margin by another 15 pins in the Baker round. Amherst (3,358) took third ahead of league dual-meet champ North Ridgeville (3,345), which struggled much of the day.

The North Ridgeville boys amassed 4,354 pins and were never seriously threatened. The Rangers led by 266 pins after three regular games and ended up winning by 319. Keystone rallied from sixth place in the last two Baker games to finish second with 4,030. Only 56 pins separated second and seventh place on the boys side.

Junior Amanda Keathley led the ’Cats with a 543 series, the fifth-best mark of the tournament. Seniors Alli Branham and Rachel Salyer tied for the No. 6 spot overall, each with a 522 series.

“We just kept cheering each other on,” Keathley said. “If anyone was having a bad game, we were all right there to help pick that person right back up.”

Keathley, Branham and Salyer also all bowled well at last year’s NSBC classic.

“We were determined,” Branham said. “We all wanted to win. It took awhile to get the team chemistry going this season. When we got it, we all took off.”

Coming up big for Keystone were senior Brittany Norris (461), junior Alexis Sanislow, sophomore Shelby Cyrus and sophomore Jessica Koleszar.

“The most important thing is that we all stayed very positive throughout,” Salyer said. “Our biggest downfall, when we don’t do so well, is when someone gets upset for not doing well. It sometimes pulls the entire team down. Today, everyone stayed positive. That was the most important part.”

The North Ridgeville boys set the tone early, dominating just as they did during the dual-meet portion of the schedule.

Seniors Collin Oliva and Joe Sas led the way, finishing 1-2 overall in top series with marks of 736 and 709. Oliva, who had a high game of 277, bowled 70 pins above average and Sas, whose best game was a 265, was 121 pins above average.

“We went undefeated in the conference, so why not win here?” asked Oliva, who took second last year to Keystone’s Tyler Minnich (707) with a 703.

Last year, North Ridgeville finished second behind Vermilion in the dual-meet standings. The Rangers were third at the 2009 NSBC Tournament as Keystone and Amherst ran away with it.

“It was all about staying positive,” Sas said. “I had to keep myself up instead of getting mad over mistakes.”

North Ridgeville boys coach Frank Kotas liked what he saw.

“We started off strong,” he said. “A couple guys fell off a little in the third game, so we moved some guys around. They’re still well-focused. They’re looking forward on trying to go to state again this year. No complaints about the team. These guys are just fantastic this year.”

Junior Brandon Becka (631), senior Adam Kotas (573), senior Ricky Cayet (412) and junior Mike O’Sullivan (155) also contributed for the Rangers.

The Amherst girls made a big improvement, taking third with 3,358 pins, up 566 pins from last year when they finished seventh.

Senior Allison Flock finished with a 571 series, 82 pins above average. It was the second-best girls score of the day.

“I was actually a little surprised we did so well,” Flock said. “I’m very excited. We really came together as a team for Bakers. … We were more focused and we made better shots.”

Contact Paul Heyse at 329-7135 or phheyse@aol.com.

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