OIA bowlers getting serious

The first part of the OIA bowling season is usually more about participation than results. Coaches let everyone get a taste of the action before deciding on their first team for the meets that count most.

Defending champion Pearl City took it easy at Thursday’s third meet of the season at Schofield Lanes, benching captain Nicholas Azumi, and the Chargers still beat Aiea by more than 100 pins for their third straight win.

But Pearl City had to work for this one. Leilehua’s Austin Finster rolled a season-high 290 to take medalist honors, but he was pushed to it on every frame.

Ryan Kajihiro of Pearl City rolled the season’s second-highest score with a 289, just one wobbly pin away from Finster’s mark. Kristian Adams of Campbell rolled a 276, which would have been the league’s highest score of the year but was good for just third place on Thursday.

Kajihiro might have taken the silver in the high-game category, but he won gold with his 739 series. Adams was second a pin behind at 738 and Finster was third with a 726. The previous high series for an OIA boy was Azumi’s 691 the previous week.

Moanalua won the East meet at K-Bay Lanes on Thursday behind Jaren Apana’s 197. Kolby Matsushima of Castle had the high game with a 218 and Keenan Nakagawa of Kalani rolled a 572 for high series, one better than Apana.

Pearl City’s Chelsi Morishige dominated the girls competition at Schofield on Thursday, rolling a 255 game and 694 series to lead the Chargers to another victory.

Morishige’s series was the highest for a girl this year by 61 pins over teammate Kristin Frost. Only Mililani’s Danielle August in the first week of the season has had a better game than Morishige, scoring a 258.

Moanalua’s girls won the West competition at K-Bay by 222 pins over Castle. Hilary Martin led Na Menehune’s machine with a 191 game and Taryn Sugimoto was tops for them with a 486 series.

Carly Matsumoto of Castle took medalist honors with a 244 game, while August had the high series with 594. August has not rolled lower than a 568 in her three tournaments this year and is carrying a gaudy 585 average series.