A good start and a great finish sandwiched a rough patch of bowling for the Lady Hawks of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES) on the opening day of the fifth annual Eastern Shore Hawk Classic Bowling Invitational.
UMES closed with their best game, a 1025 in the Baker format, and the third highest game of the day, to climb into fourth place overall, five pins from third place.
The 20-team tournament, which was actually 19, due to Coppin State's last minute withdrawal, saw UMES start solid, posting pin falls of 852 and 889 on patter n no. 5, the NCAA's toughest oil pattern. The solid scores resulted in a 1-1 mark however as no. 13 Adelphi picked up the upset win in the opening frame, posting a 904. UMES then topped No. 9 Sacred Heart as the Pioneers posted an 842.
The Hawks then struggled severely, posting one game as low as a 118 in their match against no. 3 Fairleigh Dickinson resulting in a victory for the Knights, 904-733. In the 19-team field UMES sat in 12th place.
After a quick team meeting the Hawks rebounded to pick up wins over St. Peter's 976-775 and Bowie State, 1025-786. More importantly the pinfall elevated them all the way to fourth place overall, five pins behind no. 8 New Jersey City and 274 pins behind No. 2 Vanderbilt, who was a perfect 5-0 on the day. FDU was also perfect with a 4-0 mark (they bowled one bye in the absence of Coppin State) and leads after day one with a pinfall of 4841.
No. 7 Arkansas State, Adelphi, No. 20 Valparaiso, No. 10 Kutztown, No. 6 Delaware State and Norfolk State round out the top ten.
The entire field bowls five more Baker-style matches tomorrow as UMES faces their nemesis Delaware State, Arkansas State, No. 18 St. Francis Coll. (NY), Valparaiso and Vanderbilt.
The total pinfall after day two will determine a seeding round on Sunday that will eventually crown the 2009 Eastern Shore Hawk Classic Champion. Action begins at Millsboro Lanes tomorrow with practice at 8:30 a.m.