Gateway bowlers cap season at regional tournament

By: Michael Love
Sunday, March 21, 2021 | 10:01 AM

While covid protocols and safety precautions made the 2020-21 Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Bowling League season like no other, an experienced Gateway boys varsity team worked through all of the obstacles to finish with successful results.

The Gators capped play at the Western Regional Championships on March 5 and 6.

Senior Mason Servello led Gateway at regional singles with a 204 average for five games, and he finished tied for 17th.

In the competitive field of 77 bowlers, senior Liam Brown bowled a five-game 882 series with a 208 high game for 52nd overall.

Senior Nathan Clark took 61st with a 192 high game and an 861 overall series.

The Gators turned to team play the next day, and Gateway placed 14th with 3,747 pins between three regular games and two baker games.

Clark led the way in the team competition with a 639 regular-game series with a 237 high game as well as a 212 game. Servello (230) and Brown (211) also cracked the 200 mark during the regular-game series.

Brown recorded a 558 series, and fellow senior Cody Beckwith rolled a 529 series.

Freshman Alex Keeling-Oliver also got the opportunity to bowl for Gateway at the regional team tournament.

Gateway had clinched a spot at team regionals when it wrapped up the East section championship with a 10-0 record.

Servello clinched his regional singles berth with his runner-up finish to Burrell junior Ryan Neville in the East section with a 198.23 average for 30 games bowled.

The top 40 finishers from the WPIBL single tournament automatically qualified for regionals. Clark missed the top 40 by three pins, taking a team-best 42nd overall with a 497 series on the challenging shot at AML Mt. Lebanon Lanes.

But his regular-season average of 190.13 was good enough to secure one of the at-large regional spots.

Brown finished 58th at the WPIBL finals, but his 187.47 regular-season average secured a regional singles berth.

Beckwith and senior Anthony Zappa contributed to team success with regular-season averages of 181.17 and 171.93, respectively.

In finishing the regular season undefeated, the Gators captured 68 of a possible 70 team points.

Junior Heath Chase, sophomore Danny Dausey and freshman Byron Christie also gained experience in the junior varsity ranks. With losing the five senior starters, they are looking ahead to forming the core of next year’s varsity squad.

Also bowling JV matches this year was senior Sasidahr Devabhaktuni.

The youthful Gateway girls squad, which finished 4-6 in the East section, returns four of its five varsity bowlers — junior Anyssa Keeling-Oliver, Rebecca Whealdon, and freshmen Gelsy Stone and Jayla Chase — as they hope to keep improving in the offseason.

Kaycee Tokarsky is the only girls bowler who will graduate.

Michael Love is a TribLive reporter covering sports in the Alle-Kiski Valley and the eastern suburbs of Pittsburgh. A Clearfield native and a graduate of Westminster (Pa.), he joined the Trib in 2002 after spending five years at the Clearfield Progress. He can be reached at mlove@triblive.com.

Tags: Gateway