Central teammates Lee, Bacha cash in with medals
Wednesday could be an interesting day for the Central York golfers who will take on the state’s best in the PIAA Class AAA team golf championships.
At least confidence should be fairly high as a pair of Panthers golfers left Heritage Hills Golf Resort with PIAA individual medals on Tuesday.
Junior Julianne Lee tamed the strong winds, shooting a 74 Monday, followed by a 75 on Tuesday. Her total of 149 landed her a bronze medal.
“The wind got worse and it was really cold. That kind of affected my golf game, but it wasn’t that bad,” Lee said. “I could have made a couple of more putts, but it was pretty solid overall.”
Lee finished five strokes off the pace of Mia Kness, the Peters Township senior who shot even par both days to win the AAA girls’ title.
Central York teammate Carson Bacha made the most of his inaugural state tourney, carding a 151 which earned him a fifth-place medal.
“All my buddies have already been on the team and experienced this, so to be a part of it my freshman year is pretty good,” he said. “I knew I could have done well, I just had to stick to my gameplan.”
Bacha’s 73 was a five-stroke improvement from Monday’s first round and he finished six strokes back of Kevin Scherr of Nazareth, who shot 2-over for the tourney.
“I played as good as I could and I finished fifth. I am proud but hopefully I can maybe get a win in my next three years,” Bacha said. “I struck the ball all right, but putting really saved me a lot. I made a lot of 10-footers coming in. Putting is a big thing so making them makes a big difference.”
Starting on the back nine, Bacha got to wrap up his round on his favorite holes at Heritage and birdied holes six and eight.
Lee said that her putting and short games have also been a big area of improvement in her game. Both players benefitted from playing on their home course.
“It gave me a little more knowledge of what the course was like so it gave me a pretty big advantage,” said Lee.
Central’s Joe Parrini is looking to have a bounce back at the team competition. The junior finished 11th overall after his 78 followed Monday’s 77.
“It played tough out there. The wind was blowing hard pretty much the whole day,” he said. “It gave everyone a challenge. Everyone is going to make bogeys out there, it just whoever comes back and keeps the damage to a minimum. I didn’t do that too well today.”
Parrini played with Dallastown senior Blake Sebring, who was happy after shooting 74 on Monday, but struggled en route to an 89 on Day 2.
“It’s almost U.S. Open-like, or British Open-like that you just want to get in with pars,” he said. “You’ve just got to keep mistakes to a minimum. My first day was alright, but my second day was one of the worst I have had in a long time. It happens, it’s golf. It beats you up, you’ve just got to get back up.”
Sebring tied Wildcats teammate Evan Greenplate, in 29th place. Spring Grove’s Luke Huffnagle was 35th with a total of 168 for the tourney.
In Class AA boys, York Catholic senior Andrew Forjan shot a respectable 80 on Tuesday and placed 21st with a 165 total.
Quaker Valley senior Chris Tanabe shot the only sub-par round of the day when he fired a 1-under 70 and won the AA tournament with a 4-over.
There were no YAIAA golfers in the girls’ AA competition, which was won by Olivia Zambruno of Greensburg Central Catholic, who scored her third straight state title.