Lemont’s Kyra Udziela had talked often about throwing a 300 game, but it had never happened. That is, until Friday at — of all events — the state meet.
The senior’s perfect game in the fourth game helped her take the individual lead through one day of the tournament at the Cherry Bowl in Rockford.
She finished with a six-game total of 1,397 pins (233 average) and leads Joliet West’s Gracie Plese by 13.
“You always joke about, ‘Hey, I’m going to throw a perfect game,’ and it never happens,” Udziela said. “Then it happened. It was kind of eerie (in the 10th frame).
“I always wear earplugs, but I could tell that it got really quiet. I was like ‘Someone start cheering.’ It was unbelievable getting the last strike. I don’t think it sunk in until halfway through the next game.”
Udziela, who finished 28th as a sophomore and 52nd last year, also tossed a 258 and was over 220 in five games.
It was quite a day, especially after she was unsure she’d even make it to state last week, when she grabbed the last individual advancing spot out of the Lockport Sectional.
“It was one of my worst series of the year at sectionals and I was unsure how state would go,” she said. “It wasn’t the way I wanted to go into state, but I wanted to make sure I came out and did what I knew I could do.”
Lockport (6,141) finished Friday in fourth, 169 pins behind leader Collinsville and just 30 out of second.
The Porters spent most of the day in second, but fell to fourth after a 966 in the final game of the day. Lockport had a strong morning session — with a three-game total of 3,187 — but struggled a bit in the afternoon, closing with a 948 and the 966.
“We had a great morning,” Lockport coach Art Cwudzinski said. “The shot toughened up in the afternoon and he we had to grind things out. The bowling gods were against us a bit in the afternoon, but that happens to everybody sometimes.”
Cwudzinski, though, feels his team is certainly in striking distance for the title, which would be the program’s fourth.
“In 1999, we were seventh after Day 1 and ended up winning it,” he said. “We’re in a good spot and we’ve given ourselves a chance to make something special happen (Saturday).”
Kiersten Vandenburg (12th, 1,312), Danielle Mensik (58th, 1,204), Nikki Mendez (61st, 1,195) and Bailey Delrose (63rd, 1,194) led the Porters.
Vandenburg shot a 277 in the first game.
“That helped me out a lot,” she said. “I was already really confident that me and the team were going to do really well, but that made me even more confident.
“All the girls bowled really well in the morning. We struggled a bit in the afternoon, but we can fix that. We need to take it one game at a time (Saturday), and if we make spares, we can make up that (169) pins.”
T.F. South’s Capri Howard (1,304) is in 15th after a day that included a 279 in Game 3.
Also advancing individually were Lincoln-Way West’s Haley Jablonski (23rd, 1,276) and Jessie Schram (33rd, 1,260).
The Warriors (5,703) finished 13th as a team, one spot shy of making the cut for the second day. T.F. South (5,566) was 18th and Andrew (5,386) 23rd.
Steve Millar is a freelance writer.
