COLUMBUS — Four years ago, Brian Baxter approached the head volleyball coach at Conotton Valley High School to ask if he could recruit some of her players to participate in the school’s first bowling program.
She agreed and the rest, as they say, is history.
Two of those girls have graduated, but three still are on a team that brought home what is believed to be the first state team title in school history Friday at Wayne Webb’s Columbus Bowl.
With a clutch performance by senior left-hander Daphne Stuber in the 10th frame of Game 5, first-time state qualifier Conotton Valley defeated two-time state qualifier Sandusky Perkins 3-2 in the OHSAA Division II Girls Championships best-of-five Baker System final.
The Rockets trailed in the title match 2-0 before rallying for the win.
“It’s just a surreal experience. Nothing like we ever could have imagined,” Rockets girls coach Robyn King said. “To do it with this team and this group of girls who have worked so hard coming from zero four years ago with not having a program to a state championship is absolutely phenomenal.
“It’s been a steady climb. These girls were shooting 100 four years ago … just learning what fingers to put into a ball and where to aim it. Each year, they’ve grown and put in the work … practicing five days a week, open bowling on Sundays … they have worked for it.”
The Rockets, the East District champions, were the No. 3 seed entering the first round of match play after finishing the three regular games and three Baker System games with 3,195 total pinfall, 132 pins behind top-seeded and defending champion Triway.
Stuber, who advanced as an individual in 2021 to finish sixth and make All-Ohio second team, was fourth overall this time with a 626 series to lead the Rockets. Also making All-Ohio second team was junior Mackenzie Willoughby, who shot 587.
Also contributing for the Rockets were freshman Delilah Williams (553), sophomore Mylie Galigher (455) and senior Chloe Blick (342 for two games). Then there was senior Katie Schaar, who threw just three shots in Game 5 of the title match. But one was huge.
The Rockets opened match play against No. 6 seed St. Mary’s Memorial, a nine-time state qualifier with a pair of state titles (2011, 2019).
After winning Game 1 200-193, the two teams tied at 169 in Game 2, forcing a ninth- and 10th-frame rolloff. Stuber accepted the role for the Rockets, and tied in the first rolloff 16-16 before winning the second 37-36 with a 9-count on her final ball. The Rockets then closed that match out with a 186-164 win in Game 3.
The semifinal battle was against Stark County Conference rival Carrollton, which also had reached the semifinals for the first time in school history.
The Rockets won the first two games 192-157 and 163-161 before falling in Game 3 213-146. But starting Game 4 with three strikes, Conotton Valley emerged with a 176-172 win in Game 4 to advance.
The final match was new territory for the Rockets.
FALLING BEHIND
Perkins had swept the defending champion Titans in its opening match and went to five games to stop No. 5 seed Mechanicsburg, with a 175-157 semifinal win in Game 5. The Pirates continued to roll in the title match early.
In Game 1, the Rockets had four spare misses while the Pirates had a pair of doubles to pull out a 153-142 win. Perkins junior anchor Leah Kaufman had the second strike of the double in the fifth and doubled in the 10th frame before fouling on her final ball.
The Rockets put on a late surge in Game 2 after a split in the sixth frame, stringing five straight strikes. But the Pirates stayed clean and ran off four in a row at the end, three by Kaufman, for a 222-215 win.
All of a sudden, the Rockets — who had never trailed — were down 2-0.
“It’s what the girls have done well all year, especially during the postseason. They pick each other up and keep moving forward, one frame, one game at a time,” King said. “If they get behind, they know they can keep it going.
“It’s the best three out of five, so it’s this or nothing, and they went for it and got it.”
After staying clean in Game 2, the Pirates opened their first two frames and added three straight open frames late as the Rockets had just one open in a 185-142 win in Game 3.
Game 4 was more of the same as the Rockets had one split and two opens, but the Rockets struck out in the 10th, two by Stuber, for a 182-159 win.
In the 10th, on the final ball, the Rockets subbed in Schaar — and she threw a strike.
King and Baxter, the program’s head coach, made a decision to keep her in the lineup for Game 5.
“We have six really strong bowlers and had to pick five of them at the start. It was a tough decision,” King said. “But they are all ready to go when we need them.”
Schaar left a 7-8 split in the second frame, but had a solid strike in the seventh to complete three in a row behind Stuber and Galigher.
“It was the toughest decision we made all day. Our freshman was struggling with ball changes and it could have been the pressure,” Baxter said. “Our one girl really had thrown only a handful of shots all day. But when we put her in the 10th, she hit the head pin and that’s all we were looking for.
“She probably doesn’t realize the position she was in and what that meant.”
The Rockets went on to a 182-168 win after the Pirates missed consecutive one-pin spares in the seventh and eighth frames. But there was some doubt in the 10th after a Perkins double gave Kaufman a chance to strike out and close the gap.
Following a 5-pin spare by Stuber in the 10th, she needed nine pins to close out the match. She struck.
“In the Bakers, I really couldn’t throw the ball. I wasn’t hitting the mark. I couldn’t get it to roll up,” Stuber said. “For sure, I knew the count. It was very scary.
“But after I threw the last one, I thought we had it. I saw Brian sitting down rubbing his head so I knew we had it right then.”
King said the girls have “a wonderful curse of being able to figure out the math in their heads.”
“And Daphne is always the one who knows it first, even when we don’t want them to know, they know,” King added. “She did her own thing in that last fame and that was all we needed.”
“This was much more emotional than the last time,” Stuber said. “It’s so much better being with the team, having fun together. Just a lot of team cohesion. It was a great way to go out my senior year.”
PERKINS SHOOTS FOR TOP FOUR
Perkins head coach Ken Biggert said the Pirates were shooting for a top-four finish, with second being the team’s highest finish in his now 23 seasons.
“We’ve always had really good teams, but we never were able to put it all together all at once,” Biggert said. “We knew we had the talent, but we missed a couple of spares at the end that hurt us.
“But I’m really proud of these girls. We had a long day and they handled the stress better than their coaches.”
Perkins, which was the No. 8 seed with 3,013 total pinfall, 77 pins ahead of Versailles for the final match-play spot, was led by senior Katelyn Showalter’s 537 series and 530 for Kaufman.
“She’s going to be even better next year,” Biggert said of Kaufman. “We will still have a pretty solid team and I’m proud of them. That’s a great team over there.”
ON THE RISE
With its new 10-lane Rocket Center and some promising underclassmen, the Rockets still are in the building stages.
“Our goal coming down here was the top eight … that’s what we were telling them,” King said. “We didn’t want to have too big a goal in mind for the first trip. We wanted to make the top eight and just go from there.”
Baxter said all of this comes from the commitment of his bowlers.
“A lot of teams draw from youth programs and start when they are 6, 7 or 8 years old. We get ours at 14, and that’s more impressive than anything else,” Baxter said. “We can only take kids and give them the tools. It’s up to them to trust us and do what they need to do.”
Now, the Rocket boys take center stage Saturday at Wayne Webb’s Columbus Bowl to see if they can duplicate the girls’ efforts.
“When we left for state, they had a parade through town with three firetrucks, two ambulances and a cop … all that for bowling,” Baxter said. “To bring this home to this district and this community that has been so supportive of everything we do … that’s special.”