ECC Championship Central | Live Video (KUTV) READING, Pa. – Hiester Lanes was the site of the inaugural East Coast Conference (ECC) Championships on Friday. Kutztown University was one of six teams competing on the first of the two-day tournament and went 5-0 in round robin play to earn a bye in Friday night's session and a berth into Saturday's Final Four.
The Golden Bears (71-44) earned the No. 1 seed heading into double elimination, bracket-style competition. They had three bowlers rank in the top-four in total pinfall following the five-match round robin played Friday afternoon.
ECC Bowler of the Year
Lauren Stamm (Reading, Pa./Governor Mifflin) led the conference at 1030, which included two 200+ games. Fellow All-ECC First Team selection
Taylor Strothmann (Maywood, N.J./Immaculate Heart Academy) had the second-best pinfall at 1012 that included three 200+ games.
Amanda Wilson (Leesport, Pa./Schuylkill Valley) was fourth at 975,
Kayla Maselkevich (Drums, Pa./Hazleton Area) was seventh at 966 and
Jenn Fitts (Birdsboro, Pa./Twin Valley) was eighth in the field of 35 at 961. All three earned All-ECC honors on Friday.
As a team, Kutztown was the only 5-0 team and led the field with a total pinfall of 4944. Franklin Pierce was second at 4-1, Adelphi was third at 3-2, Felician was fourth at 2-3, Molloy was fifth at 1-4 and Daemen was sixth at 0-5.
Kutztown opened the day with a 971-753 win over Molloy, its third win in as many matches this season against the Lions. KU's five bowlers all posted scores 185 or greater, including a high of 203 by Strothmann that included six strikes.
Stamm led KU in its round two win over Daemen, 860-760. She threw a 199 with seven strikes, including six of her final seven throws. She thrived as KU's anchor once again in the team's 1002-837 win over Felician in round three. Stamm threw a match-high 229, followed by Wilson with a 204.
Kutztown and Franklin Pierce met in round four in a battle of undefeated teams at 3-0. Both teams came out strong and opened with strikes in seven of their first 10 frames. The Golden Bears never took their foot off the throttle as all five bowlers posted 200+ scores for an impressive 1090 total in a 1090-874 win to become the only 4-0 team in the field at the time.
In the final match of the round robin session, Kutztown faced off against Adelphi. All five bowlers posted greater than 190 scores to lead KU to 5-0 in round robin play with its 1021-893 win.
KU clinched the top seed and an automatic berth into Saturday's Final Four. It enters Saturday coming off three 1,000-pin matches.
Action at Hiester Lanes on Saturday, March 26 begins at 10 a.m.
