Bucki, Cuccia co-medalists in County Girls Golf Championships

NEWPORT – Sophie Bucki thought she has wasted her chance.

So did Ana Cuccia.

But a few minutes later when both reached the clubhouse at Big Al’s Greens and Grille, they discovered that neither had thrown away a championship.

They merely had to share it.

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Both finished with a round of 93, which was 3 strokes better than anyone else in the field at the Monroe County Girls Golf Championships Thursday.

Neither closed out their round with distinction.

Bucki, who led the tournament most of the day, came home with a triple bogey on the 18th hole.

“I never look at that stuff,” said Bucki, referring to live scoring available on a website. “I didn’t know I was winning, but people kept telling me all day, ‘You’re doing so great.’”

The Airport junior was doing great until she shot a 7 on the par-4 final hole.

“I thought I blew it,” she admitted.

But Bucki had no way of knowing that Cuccia also was struggling to finish.

The St. Mary Catholic Central senior shot a double-bogey 7 on the par-5 12th hole.

That left the two good friends deadlocked on top of the leaderboard.

“We’re buddies,” Cuccia said. “She got me into golf. We’ve known each other since we were 10 or 11 years old. We’ve played every sport together. We’re like sisters – friends for as long as I can remember.”

Finding out who they had to share with made the result palatable for both golfers.

“I don’t mind sharing with Ana at all,” Bucki said. “If it was someone else, I might have been mad.”

Cuccia also got her hands on the biggest hardware of the day – the team championship trophy.

Her co-medalist performance helped SMCC shoot a round of 395. That was 17 strokes better than Airport.

Gibraltar Carlson was third with 414 followed by New Boston Huron with 431, Bedford and Monroe with 451 and Summerfield with 455.

“I knew we were capable,” SMCC coach Jeff Kansier said. “We were finally able to finish a round.”

The Kestrels also had Tori Busen tie for sixth with 98, Nora Kinsey place ninth with 100 and Alaina Wille 12th with 104.

“I am proud of them,” Kansier said. “We’ve played well all year."

SMCC last captured the county championship in 2011.

“The short game,” Kansier said when asked what made the difference for his squad Thursday.

Bucki’s teammate Hannah Roof tied for third with 96 while Natalie Kuti tied for 10th for the Jets with 103 and Liv Tilley carded a 120.

All of Carlson’s top four finished in the top 18 to make the All-County first or second team. The list included Anika Irwin (third 96), Andria Konczal (10th 103), Madison Cooper (16th 107), and Ella Atkinson (17th 108).

Huron teammates Adriana Skene and Brooklyn Burke tied for sixth with 98s. Addison Bozynski (112) and Aubrey Moreno (123) rounded out the lineup for the Chiefs.

Both Monroe and Bedford had to reschedule Southeastern Conference Red matches to play in the county tournament.

“We missed this one last year,” Monroe coach Jayme Droulliard said. “The girls really wanted to play in it this year.”

Allison Casey finished fifth with a round of 97 and Ashken Aaron shot 110 to lead Monroe.

Lauren Werbiansky and Natalie Hackette both carded 106 to pace Bedford.

Brea Olmsted shot 106 and Cameron Taylor 113 for Summerfield.

This article originally appeared on The Monroe News: Cuccia helps SMCC win team title in County Golf Championships