The girls’ varsity bowling team ended their season Feb. 20, and 21, where they placed fifth in the regional team tournament, just points away from making it to state alongside the boys’ varsity team.
Junior player and captain Gracie Lombard scored the highest for girls placing 19th. Lombard said, “The competition was pretty tough. Our region is one of the harder ones. We still did well though and bowled some of our best Bakers of the season. My favorite part of competing is when the energy is high and everyone is cheering and doing well and not getting down on ourselves.” Lombard concluded with, “I stayed out of my head thankfully for both days of competition, though at awards I was disappointed because we didn’t qualify for state level. Personally, I was really disappointed because I had one bad game that caused me not to qualify for state by 50 pins.”
Junior Alexis Hitsman enjoyed the competition except for the pressure. She said, “I felt more pressure at regionals than by normal games, but it wasn’t much more stressful. My favorite part was being able to be with my friends though I didn’t like that we had to be apart for singles.” Hitsman continued, “My mom motivated me both days of regionals. She kept me out of my head. During the awards and competition, there was a lot of hope going through my head hoping we made it to state.”
Although the girls didn’t make it through to state, their coach, Shannan Mitchell, was still very proud of her team. Coach Mitchell said, “It’s unfortunate that the girls’ season has come to an end. However, they all fought hard on both days at regionals. I told them all I was very proud of all of the work they put in this season.” Mitchell also said, “The biggest thing they could’ve done was staying in a clear mindset. It’s difficult to have accurate shots when you’re getting frustrated with the game. Secondly, we worked a lot on spares this season. I wished we could’ve gotten some more even if that wouldn’t have bumped us up. Overall, I’m just proud of them even if they didn’t qualify.”
Overall, the girls finished off the season strong and showed great improvement and sportsmanship between themselves and other teams.
