COLUMBUS — Wooster head coach Tracie Leiendecker made the decision not to be in the bowlers’ circle as her senior daughter, Abbie, competed in her final state tournament.
“She competes a lot, and she never has me standing beside her when she does,” Tracie said. “It was my choice. I wanted her to make her own decisions, and she has to be happy with those decisions. Even though I’m her biggest supporter, we don’t always see eye-to-eye. So I thought this was the best opportunity to let her go after it.”
Abbie, who shot 535 and finished 36th a year ago in her first state appearance, began with 217 in Game 1 en route to a 621 series to finish ninth overall and earn second-team All-Ohio honors.
She also had games of 180 and 224 in Games 2 and 3 in the OHSAA Division I Girls State Bowling Tournament on Friday at Wayne Webb’s Columbus Bowl.
“On the first pair (lanes 37-38), it seemed the straighter and less hard you threw it, the more success you had,” Abbie said. “The girls who bowled there didn’t throw it nearly as hard as we did (on lanes 41-42).
“I expected them to be the same, but they weren’t even close. In Game 2, I probably should have carried more (she left four 10-pin spares and also had a foul on another spare conversion) I made really good shots, but I have no control over that.
“Overall, my ball changes were correct and if I carried more I would have gotten more. There was way more oil on the other pair than on (41-42).”
Abbie went through several ball changes as her outside “trough’ disappeared.
“If I would have thrown the same ball in Game 3 that I started with in Game 1, I probably would have rolled to the 7-pin,” said Abbie, who admitted she’s not a fan of the OHSAA format.
“Three games with no match play … I’m not really a fan of that individual format. I probably didn’t do as well as I could have, but I definitely didn’t do so much wrong that I shouldn’t get something. But that 180 really hurt me.”
“She came out very strong (first four strikes), but the lanes started to not transition in her favor, but in the favor of others,” Tracie said. “I couldn’t be more proud that she didn’t left it affect her game. She shot 180 with a foul, which is untraditional. She was concentrating so hard on making that left-side spare that she just lost track of where she was on the lane.
“Her goal was to do better than last year. I saw a lot of emotions out there, but she’s not going to show that. She looks at this as a steppingstone.”
And that steppingstone is joining her sister, Allie Leiendecker, at Louisiana Tech University in the fall.
“When they announced me as a senior before the start, that was an ahhhh moment,” Abbie said. “Next year, I’ll be at Louisiana Tech and my high school career is over.”
Tracie coached both of her girls at Wooster, but not together. But they have been quite successful as a doubles tandem, however, outside of the high school ranks.
“They are going to be strong. Everyone wants my opinion, but they are sisters,” Tracie said. “There is five years between them and they are in different parts of their lives right now. Allie is mentally into the game and that’s what makes her what she is … she doesn’t think. Abbie thinks too much.
“They will migrate to a playing field between them. On the lanes, they will be fine. Off them, they are still sisters and they’ll be fine.”
And just because the two Wooster stars are gone doesn’t mean Tracie also is leaving.
“I’ve been asked about that. But even though my blood kids may have graduated, I still have a passion to work with kids from the entry level,” Tracie said. “When the kids get to a certain level, I bring someone in with more experience to work with them.
“I still enjoy bowling, and that’s what I want to do.”
Both also are passionate about how the sport is perceived.
“Even at our own high school, Abbie hears, ‘It’s just bowling … you’re not good at anything else,’” Tracie said. “I just said ask them to come out and we can show them what they have to go through to achieve the success you have.”
As the family says on their Facebook pages: Bowling, it’s what we do.
And that will continue on the college level next season.