By BILL SNIER
COLUMBUS — The first words out of Kurt Scott’s mouth were “I’m worn out … this is crazy, just crazy.”
The Urbana High School girls bowling coach, who has been with the program since its inception in 2001, had just witnessed Hilltoppers history.
Senior All-Ohio right-hander Jazmyn Scott got eight pins on her final high school shot, giving Urbana a 170-169 Game 4 victory and a 3-1 best-of-five Baker System win during the OHSAA Division II Girls Bowling Championships title match against Fairport Harbor Harding on Friday at HP Lanes.
The Hilltoppers, making their sixth overall appearance and third straight, had never finished higher than third.
“I’ve been at this a long time … it’s just so awesome,” Kurt Scott said.
Urbana, the No. 4 seed entering the best-of-five Baker match-play round, had to go five games before disposing of No. 5 Napoleon 3-2, bouncing back after dropping games 3 and 4 for a 195-142 win in Game 5.
The Hilltoppers then swept past No. 1 seeded St. Paris Graham to earn a spot in the title match.
Urbana won the first two games 141-135 and 192-145, before dropping Game 3 192-128.
In Game 4, the Hilltoppers missed back-to-back one-pin spares in the second and third frames as the Skippers took the early lead.
“I tell them all the time, I don’t care if you get me any strikes … I do, but I tell them that,” Clark said. “Ten 9-pin spares will get you 190. I just keep telling them hit the head pin and get spares. They did that today.”
Urbana then stayed clean the rest of the game, with Jazmyn Scott, Scott’s granddaughter, covering a 6-10 spare in the 10th and getting eight pins on her final ball for the win.
Junior Emily Fisher led the Hilltoppers with a 666 series, good for All-Ohio and third overall, while Jazmyn Scott also made All-Ohio, finishing sixth with a 650.
“With Emily, we made a little adjustment in her hand position, getting her to roll the ball a little better,” Scott said. “My granddaughter has been good for four years, but she just did another great job for us.”
FAIRPORT’S RUN TO TITLE MATCH
The Skippers didn’t start the day well, shooting 785 and 778 their first two games to fall to 14th in the 16-team field.
Things changed in Game 3.
“We just don’t do it easy. We had a lot of spare shooting woes early,” Fairport Harbor coach Dean Vargo said. “There were some nerves, but once we got that cleaned up, we were OK to go. The Bakers went very well.”
Fairport Harbor shot 942 in Game 3 to jump up to 10th, but then turned in the high Baker series of 938 (187.6 average) to earn the No. 6 seed for the match-play round.
The Skippers lost Game 1 against No. 3 seed St. Marys Memorial before running off three straight wins to advance 3-1.
In the semifinals, they were down 2-0 to No. 2 seed Bryan before again winning three straight to reach the title match.
But after falling during their first two games vs. Urbana — with three spits and two open frames in each — the Skippers had six strikes, including a pair of doubles in Game 3, for the 192-128 win.
“The first game, we just really never got lined up. It was one of those games where no one could get it going,” said Vargo, whose team was making its sixth state appearance with a state title in 2018. “The second game was very similar, but we came back the third game.
“We made some nice shots at the end of the game, but sometimes, good shots just don’t strike. Sometimes, the bad ones do, and that’s OK. They even out.”
The Skippers left a pair of 4-7-10 splits in the final game and had one open, with the final split coming in the 10th frame.
Senior Mackenzie Pilny led the Skippers with a 629 series to earn second-team All-Ohio honors. Included in that set was 276 in Game 3, the second highest individual game ever by a Division II girl at the state tourney.
“I feel like it was all about momentum for us. Everyone seemed down a little when we started,” Pilny said. “But once people started realizing we were in this, especially after we didn’t think we would make the cut, we came back and everyone got pumped.
“We knew we had a chance to win this.”
The two-handed righty, who will be attending Spring Arbor (Mich.) University in the fall, had her personal best in three state tournament appearances.
“I was important for my senior year. I haven’t even shot 500 before,” said Pilny, who opened with 213 and 140 before the 276. “I was just so proud of myself that I covered that 140 game. I was surprised to hear that I had the second-highest score. That was an accomplishment.
Where were her problems in the past?
“I don’t know .. maybe just nerves, but I don’t think I’m nervous,” Pilny said. “I just couldn’t figure out the pattern well enough.
“Today, I was open to changing lines and changing balls. I’ve been working on that a lot … standing and swinging the ball instead of going straight up because that doesn’t seem to work too well here.”
Senior Jillian Justinger added 531 for the Skippers and junior Lauren McKinney had 481, with junior Sophia McLaughlin also adding 476.
With the Skippers losing three seniors, the girls team’s future is in question — and not for the first time. Fairport Harbor has combined the two teams in the past.
“We’ll cross that bridge when we get there,” Vargo said. “The worst case scenario is the girls are good enough to join the boys.”
But a tough loss is no disappointment for the Skippers.
“Absolutely had a great season. Sectional and district champions, only one tournament without a first or second and nine titles,” Vargo said.
“Across the board, one game at the end there doesn’t take away from that.”
NOTEBOOK: Following a coaches’ vote at the conclusion of the 2024 state tournaments, the OHSAA increased the number of Baker games during qualifying from three to five. Few coaches knew of the change until the meeting prior to the start of the tournament … St. Paris Graham led the tournament with 3,690 total pinfall, taking the lead after Game 1 and holding it the rest of the way. It finished 17 pins ahead of Bryan (3,673). … Mechanicsburg earned the cut spot with 3,404, finishing 34 pins ahead of Versailles, which shot just 139 in its final Baker game. … The field averaged 852.31 per game, with Game 1 being the highest (869.06). … The Baker average for the field was 819 for five games.