COLUMBUS — Green head coach Dustin Hughes admitted Baker System games have been a concern the past couple of weeks.
The problems finally caught up to the Bulldogs during Saturday’s OHSAA Division I Girls State Bowling Championships at Wayne Webb’s Columbus Bowl.
After qualifying first with 3,165 total pinfall, five pins ahead of runner-up Hamilton, Green was eliminated in the first round of match play by No. 8 seed Plain City Jonathan Alder 3-2.
It came after the Bulldogs had taken a 2-0 lead in the match, winning by scores of 194-190 and 180-xxx.
“We started off hot. We came out on fire and our energy was good,” Hughes said. “I’m really not sure what happened … silly spares hurt us.
“The first round of games, we weren’t missing anything. But then I all of a sudden … we started missing a couple of spares and their energy dipped.”
Jonathan Alder bounced back from the 0-2 deficit with games of 217 and 213 while Green had 153 and 159, respectively, with a least three open frames in each game.
“It happened early on too,” Hughes said, pointing to 141 and 139 Baker games during qualifying. “We somehow hung on to qualify No. 1, but we just don’t know what happened. I guess it’s back to the drawing board and working on making spares.”
Game 5 belonged to the Pioneers, who had three strikes in a row early and never looked back en route to a 180-119 win to advance.
“We had some problems with nerves. They were getting late to the foul line and we had some questioning themselves on what to do or how do we do this, things we worked on all season,” Hughes said. “It was a roller-coaster of emotion definitely.
“It’s hard not to have the girls scoreboard watching when it’s right in front of them. But it’s a mental game, and if you’re not dialed in with that focus …”
The Bulldogs kept in a grouping when it came to the three-game scoring. Sophomore Elena Hughes led the way with 559 (19th place), followed by senior Veda Hughes (555, 20th), junior Marissa Perrine (21st, 553) and freshman Madison Perrine (22nd, 553). Junior Alyssa Holt also added 495.
“We came in here thinking we could win this. We’ve gone head-to-head with most of these teams and beaten them in tournaments back to the Kickoff Classic,” Hughes said. “We had full confidence that we could do that again. We just fell short in Bakers.”
The Federal League, Stark Conference Federal Division and sectional champions lose just one senior, Veda Hughes, from their loaded roster.
“We have a couple of eighth-graders coming up that have a couple of years of bowling under their belts. We should have plenty to work with next year,” Hughes said. “We just weren’t dialed in with that focus, and that’s on me.
“I will work on it in the off-season. I need to get getter. We’ll do it, we’ll get it and we’ll be back next year.”
NOTEBOOK
SPARTANS FALL SHORT. Boardman, which qualified third with 3,125 total pinfall, was beaten by Perry 3-1 in its opening match. Freshman Kaitlyn Greenaway led Boardman with a 604 series, finishing sixth to gain second-team All-Ohio. Senior Samantha Hoffman added 540.
OUT EARLY. Ashland, which was making its second state appearance, fell to Troy in five games during its opening match after qualifying fourth with 3,109. The Arrows were beaten 144-139 in Game 5. Senior Kelsey Baker led the Arrows with a 578 series, finishing 12th overall to make honorable mention All-Ohio.