Jeremy Hammond’s finish at state tourney is highlight

John Bassetti \ Bowling

Curses!

Even the most nefarious of villains would sympathize with Jeremy Hammond, who had a probable state-championship finish derailed during the state high school bowling tournament in Lancaster on March 7.

Hammond, a Canfield High School sophomore, had a personal-best 715 at Tiki Lanes to finish third in Ohio.

Although the Canfield girls advanced to Tiki as a team, Hammond was there representing the boys as an individual not on a qualifying team.

The appearances by both the girls team and Hammond were bowling firsts for Canfield High.

“It just all came together at the right time,” said Jeremy, the son of Rich and Michele Hammond, of his games of 205-267-243.

However, the seventh frame of the third game was the dagger.

“He got the first six strikes, then threw and hit the pocket, but left the 7-10 split,” explained his coach, Carl Hurd. “If Jeremy wouldn’t have left a split, he would have picked it up and won state,” his coach said.

Instead, the 16-year-old Hammond missed both pins on his spare ball attempt and placed third at state behind champion Chase Carter of Riverside with 723 and Justin Hamden of North Ridgeville with 717.

“A 7-10 on a good shot is a bad break,” said Hurd, meaning that it’s one of the sport’s evils.

The likelihood of converting is slim, Hurd said.

“Most of the time when a bowler converts, it’s luck. There are fewer 7-10 splits made than 300s thrown.”

No wonder Hammond was doomed.

“A spare in that frame gives him the first-place finish,” Hurd said in retrospect, minus the barrier. “But he picked himself back up and finished out well,” Hurd said of Hammond’s frames following the 7-10.

When Jeremy tried to pick up at least one pin — either the 7 or the 10 — in the seventh, his ball went in the gutter as he aimed at the 10-pin.

Excluding the difficult splits, Hurd said Hammond is good at conversions.

“He’s a good spare guy. He’s usually able to convert.”

Hammond, who qualified for state by bowling 682 at district at Wedgewood, has reconciled his fate.

“It just happened, so I’ve got to accept it,”

Hammond’s past 7-10 conversion attempts were also unsuccessful.

“I’ve had a lot, but never picked one up,” the right-hander said.

Hurd said he reconstructed Jeremy’s bowling over the Christmas break.

“He changed his game a lot. He wasn’t bad before, but he raised his average from 180 to over 200.”

Hammond adapted fairly quickly, specifically, to make his strike shot more potent.

“Jeremy plays the lanes fairly straight, so I developed him to get a little more hook on his strike ball,” Hurd said.

The change resulted from tilting Hammond’s throwing hand a bit to the handshake position during his release.

Hammond, will be a two-year letterwinner when the team banquet rolls around March 31.

Other boys’ varsity bowlers were Breland Cockrell, Dom Mirto, Chad Kubik, Pierre Cospy, Jeremy Kightlinger, Rob Woolley and Julian Heirl.

The 2008-09 season was Hurd’s third on the staff and second full year as head coach. He will have a majority of his bowlers returning.

Howard Mancini is the girls coach.

Hurd said that Jeremy wasn’t the highest average bowler, but since the changes, he climbed to the top 2-3.

“He’s one of youngest on the team and, as of now, he has the most potential long-term.”

Ron Holt had the Mixed Bankers League’s first 300 at Holiday on March 8. Holt’s set was 743.

Brianna Ozias’ 741 paced Woodchoppers at Wedgewood on Feb. 27, while Annie Bartoletti’s 738 and 949 sets topped Wedgewood Ladies Trio bowlers on March 17.