ROCKFORD, Ill. – The College of Saint Mary bowling team opened the 2025-26 season at the Hammer Golden Eagle Invite Saturday. The Flames are currently sitting in 10^th place after the first day of the two-day tournament.

CSM has 3,634 total pins. Judson University leads the way with 4,577, while Clarke University sits in second with 4,344 and Calumet College of St. Joseph is in third with 4,286.

The Flames had team scores of 762, 714, 706, 659 and 793.

"The first day of tournament play for the season started off strong with a 762 block," CSM Coach Corrinne Johnson said. "Madison Barnes shot off a 171 for high game of block one followed by Reagan Minor's 166 game."

CSM faced some adversity in Game 2.

"For block two we were moved to a new pair of lanes due to a lane breakdown," she said. "We were bowling on a fresh oil pair again and struggled to find the right line and balls to use except for Abigail Rosloniec. She shot a nice 172 game finishing out block two with a 714 series.

"We continued to have difficulties going into block 3 and 4, but we found our second wind going into the final block 5 where we were putting strikes together and picking up spares."

Jennica Soar bowled the high game of the day with a 200, followed by a 185 from Barnes and a 171 from Alexandria Ford. That gave the Flames their highest block of the day – 793.

"Abby stayed steady and consistent through games one through three, but was wearing down in game four where Jennica came in to finish the game in the ninth frame," Johnson said. "I was pleased with Abby and her consistency. Her stamina will build with more tournaments."

Johnson also complimented the play of Barnes and Hannah O'Neal.

"Madison started strong and then was working to find the right move on the lane once we moved to new lanes," Johnson said. "Making a ball change helped and she came back to finish strong in the fifth game. She finished with the highest series of 806.

"Hannah finished today with the second highest series of 707. She struggled with one-pin spares today, but she stays consistent and keeps the morale high on the team."

The Flames look to make some adjustments and climb up the rankings on Sunday.

"We are sitting in 10^th place going into Bakers tomorrow," Johnson said. "We need to work together stringing strikes and spares to pull off high games helping us to move up the ladder to make match play."