Second trip secured

BEAVERCREEK, Ohio — After bringing home some hardware from the sectional tournament, the Indians set themselves up to repeat the result with just the Baker games left to roll.

While the Tribe came up just short of the title, two of the Indians took home some individual accolades and the team will be moving on to the state meet for just the second time ever.

Fort Recovery High School’s girls bowling team earned second place at the OHSAA Division II Southwest District tournament at Beaver-Vu Bowl on Wednesday to earn its second consecutive trip to the state finals.

The Indians held a 22 pin advantage over Midwest Athletic Conference rivals Versailles after the three individual games. The Tigers ended up taking home the district crown with 3,849 pins to Fort Recovery’s 3,824, just a 25 pin difference. The runner-up finish clinched Fort Recovery its second ever berth to the state tournament and second consecutive trip.

“I think this team well deserves it.” said FRHS coach Alison Rosegrant. “We’ve bowled well all year. I was excited to come in and see what we could do today and I think we crushed it. I’m super excited to go to state again and I think the girls are too.”

The top four teams advanced to the state tournament held on Feb. 28 at H.P. Lanes in Columbus. Joining Versailles and Fort Recovery at state were Graham Local (3,748) and Urbana (3,592). Greenon missed the cut by 116 pins.

The top four individuals not on advancing teams earned trips to state as well. Making the cut were Greenon’s Autumn Johnston (654), Kaylee Randolph of Bethel-Tate (624), Kenton Ridge’s Addie Duncan (607) and Taylor Scott of Northwestern (590).

The Tribe amassed 2,751 pins through the three individual games, as four Indians rolled series above 500, and the final spot split between Kayla Heitkamp and Jadyn Wyerick accounted for another 507.

Two of Fort Recovery’s girls bowled well enough to finish in the top eight and make the All-District team.

Lilah Thien opened with a 179 in her first game that had three splits — two of which were converted — before taking off in the second. The freshman rolled two strikes and three spares through the first half of the game to sit at 96 pins and counting. While her next ball came up a little light, she got enough back-end action for her third strike of the game. She then threw four more strikes for a five-bagger before leaving a ringing 7-pin on her second shot of the 10th frame. Thien picked up the final pin for a clean 245 (the highest of all the Indians on the day).

“I’ve had that before at a tournament where I just could not get a strike to save my life,” Thien said. “Then I flipped it and just came back and struck, struck, struck. It’s just a feeling where I know I need to do this for my team. I need to pick up these pins to stack them up. … I found my spot and kept going with that.”

Thien shot a 169 in the third game for a 593 series, placing her sixth in the district. She would have needed another 79 pins to match the district champion, Jazmyn Scott of Urbana.

Ella Schoen also made the first team, claiming the eighth and final spot with a 587 series. The senior also rolled a five-bagger as she finished off the eighth, ninth and 10th frames of the first game with strikes for a clean 227. She stayed clean through the second game as well for a 197 before finishing with 163 pins in the third.

Schoen also put together a strong showing as the anchor in the six Baker games, staying clean outside of one missed 10 pin and rolling 11 strikes.

The senior finished with Fort Recovery’s best fill percentage at 90.5% (38-of-42 frames) and strike percentage at 50.9% (27-of-53 full racks).

“I wasn’t nervous like I was last time,” Schoen said. “I knew that we’d have a spot at state, so I was pretty confident and the pins were falling. … I just kind of winged it and took my time.”

FRHS also got 548 pins out of Emily Lauber (185, 169, 194), who placed 13th, and 516 out of Deanna Brown (172, 165, 179), who finished in 19th. Heiktamp threw a 157 in the first game before Wyerick finished with a 159 and a 191.

(While not bowling in any of the individual games, Saidy DeRoo was in the lineup for the first three Baker games, filling five frames and striking in three.)

Maddie Weigel of Fort Recovery sets up on the approach during warm ups for the OHSAA Division II Southwest District championship on Wednesday. The Indians fell to Versailles by only 25 pins, but still earned the second trip to the state tournament in program history. (The Commercial Review/Andrew Balko)

 

Fort Recovery got in the hole by 39 pins after the first Baker game when Versailles shot a 251 to the Indians’ 190. The VHS lead grew by 25 pins over the next three games as three opens in each game prevented the Tribe from taking advantage.

Versailles slipped up in the fifth Baker game, shooting a 141, while the Indians put up 161 to close the deficit to 48.

The Tigers again left the door open for Fort Recovery, but Lauber came up light on a lone four pin in the ninth frame and Versailles’ Danielle Francis got the 10th-frame pick up to take away Schoen’s chance to claim the title.

“Versailles bowled really well and looking at the scores we weren’t far behind,” Rosegrant said. “Looking at the scores we weren’t that far behind it was just a couple of pins and spares here and there. (Both) bowled well and against any other team we would have looked amazing but they just had a really good Baker series.”

FRHS filled 77.6% of its frames (163-210) and struck 39.6% (91-230 full racks) overall.

While the Indians couldn’t secure their first district championship, they still move on to Columbus on Feb. 28 with the chance for placing at state for the first time in program history.

“I’m just excited to see Fort Recovery boys and girls make it to state,” said Rosegrant, referencing the boys team clinching a spot on Tuesday. “It’s exciting to see this program evolve on both sides, boys and girls.”