Panthers, Trojans split in bowling

FAIRFIELD — The Panthers and Trojans bowling teams split with one another Monday evening, with the Trojan boys picking up a narrow victory and the Panther women winning.

Fairfield picked up a 2,423-2,402 win over Mt. Pleasant on the boys side of things.

It was a tight race through in and throughout. After the first round, the Trojans held just a 31 pin lead over the Panthers.

Mt. Pleasant stormed back in the first of five baker games, rolling eight straight strikes. The Panthers overtook Fairfield while shooting a stellar 225, giving them a 34 pin lead.

“I think we performed very well,” Mt. Pleasant coach Dewey Wyatt said. “We have some guys that have made huge leaps and others that are coming out of the woodwork. We knew what Fairfield was going to do and its great to see that we can compete with some of the top bowling programs in the area.”

The Trojans would keep it close, while gradually chipping away at the lead, minimizing the deficit to 17 and nine pins over the next two baker games.

“The middle of the lineup really stepped up for us. It got to a point where it was pretty amazing to watch,” Fairfield head coach Chad LaRue said. “When we saw a 30-pin lead to start the baker round turn into a 34-pin deficit, there was kind of a question as to what we were going to do.”

In the final two baker rotations both teams exchanged the lead, but Mt. Pleasant couldn’t pull away with the overall lead. Despite picking up a 10 pin win in the baker rotation, the Trojans still held the overall match lead.

“We haven't hit over 2,300 in either of our last two meets,” LaRue said. “We barely got over 2,000. To go out there and have almost a 400-pin improvement when we had to have it was pretty remarkable.”

Ian Aplara led the way for the Trojans, picking up the individual win, while bowling a 408. The Panthers were led by Alec Payne, who bowled 355.

Fairfield is now 2-1 on the season, and 2-1 in the Southeast Conference. Mt. Pleasant moves to 3-2 and 3-1 in conference play.

The Mt. Pleasant girls (3-2, 3-1 Southeast Conference) came away with a 651 pin Southeast Conference victory over a short handed Fairfield (1-1, 1-1 Southeast) team 2,377-1,726.

“It’s great this year, I’v got a lot of girls that can play varsity,” Wyatt said. “The hard part is deciding who’s going to fill the varsity spots. Our girls are performing very well and have made strides in their game.”

Bethany Drury and Tori Hixson paced the Panthers, both bowling 342 after the individual games.

Karen Ehret was the leading scorer for the Trojans, ending with a score of 327.

The Panthers held a commanding 451 pin lead heading into the bakers games. Without their sixth bowler, junior Nicole Robb, Fairfield couldn’t counter a balanced Mt. Pleasant attack.

“We were down a little bit with Nicole being out ill, but Karen Ehret is Miss Consistent for us,” LaRue said. “We also got a solid effort from Elizabeth Hootman with a 122 average. She's improving every day and just had her best practice series on Friday. If we would have had our full six girls out there, it would have been a big difference. We probably lost 300 pins just going in with five bowlers instead of six.”

Comments: hunter.moeller@southeastiowaunion.com