From the desk of Coach Beasley:
The Bowling Bulldogs return from Royal Pin Western Bowl in Indianapolis, Indiana this week where they competed in the 54th Annual Hoosier Classic (the biggest Tier 1 collegiate tournament in the country). The tournament format was 6 regular team games on Saturday and 15 Baker team games on Sunday, with each day being played on a different oil pattern. At the completion of these games, the top 8 Men’s teams qualified for the elimination bracket to determine the Tournament Champion.
Before the start of team competition, the bulldogs were able to compete in the Friday night “Eliminator” tournament. This tournament was competed in an individual basis and gave the players a chance to get acclimated to the center prior to team competition. The format was 2 regular games, then cut to top 52 bowlers (based on division), then one game (pins don’t carry over), cut to top 8, then one more game (pins don’t carry over) to decide the winner. All 7 of our athletes competed in the eliminator, and we had 2 of the 7 make the first cut. Junior Ben Walmer led the Bulldogs in the first round with games of 200, 237 (qualifying 6th to move on). Junior Spencer Norvell also qualified for the top 52 shooting games of 175 and 230, which was good for 24th place (cut for top 52 was -13). Ben was able to survive round 2 and qualify for the top 8 finals with a game of 228, where Spencer fell short of the top 8 with a game of 204. Spencer earned $90 for his efforts! In the final round, again pins dropped, and the remaining 8 players rolled one final game to determine the winner. Ben fired a 193 in this round, which was good for a 5th place finish and a check for $225. Nice bowling Ben!
Now, onto Team competition!
Bright and early on Saturday morning, the Bulldogs headed to Western Bowl to compete with the other 77 Men’s/Mixed teams. We competed on a 44-foot pattern with 34 mils of oil, that proved to be challenging out of the gates. The bulldogs found themselves facing a steep uphill battle after shooting one of the lowest games in the field, with a 765. After that disappointing start, the Bulldogs really banded together and battled hard all day to end up in 38th out of 78 after the 6 team games (finishing the day with games of 1046 and 1068). On Saturday, the bulldogs were led by Junior Spencer Norvell who shot a 6-game total of 1261 (211 average) and Junior Nolan Byers who had a 6-game total of 1146 (191 average). Great bowling to Spencer and Nolan! I was very proud of how the Bulldogs battled back after such a dismal start, to put themselves in the mix to make a run on Sunday.
On Sunday, the bulldogs competed on a much different condition for their 15 Baker games (38-foot pattern with only 18 mils of oil). We executed our game plan to have a better start on Sunday by utilizing Urethane equipment to control the fresh backends and started out hot with games 194, 225, and 195. Once Urethane was essentially out of play, we struggled with the transition to Reactive equipment and had some subpar games in the middle of the day. We were able to scrape together a couple good games down the stretch, but the damage had already been done. The bulldogs finished in 49th place out of the 78 Men’s/Mixed teams. Our strongest performance on Sunday belongs to Junior Spencer Norvell and “Junior” Clarissa Samano. They led the charge for us in Baker and proved to be a great 1-2 punch for us down the stretch.
This was obviously not our best showing overall, but we have identified some areas to focus on as a team as we prepare for Sectionals competition, which takes place in March in Dallas, Tx.
Equipment in play at the Hoosier:
Spencer Norvell – Track Stealth, Brunswick Defener Hybrid, Eruption Pearl and Purple Hammer
Clarissa Samano – Brunswick Quantum Evo, Hammer Obsession Tour, Black Widow Ghost and Purple Hammer
Nolan Byers – Quantum Evo, Radical Rattler, Black Widow Ghost and Radical Double Cross
Ben Walmer – Columbia Speed, Brunswick Prism Hybrid, and Uppercut
Even though they couldn’t be there in person, we still greatly appreciate the support from our Parents from afar. Thanks to the Norvell’s for providing money for snacks/drinks over the weekend, and to the Weinstein’s for picking up the tab for Team Dinner on Saturday night.
As always, we couldn’t do this without the support from our sponsors, The Brunswick Corporation and Vise, Inc.
Go Bulldogs!
Coach Beasley