The Wayland girls finished second again in a bowling tournament, this time at the Portage Northern Huskie Invitational.
With four of the five varsity starters battling illness, the ladies struggled through the three team individual games. Senior Lizzy Cobb rolled a 157, sophomore Marissa Bruinsslot a 160 and 157 game and finished three pins out of the all-tournament honors while battling a fever. Junior Alicia Sweeney rolled a 154 and sophomore Sydney Urben threw a 190-169-192=551 to finish second on the all-tournament team.
Then they started in on their six Baker games. The team never got hot but stayed consistent. With two starters out due to illness during the Baker format the two subs , junior Erin Porteous and sophomore Jessica Henderson, filled in and helped their team to maintain a 150 average over the six-game Baker set and helped their team qualify third for bracket play.
The Lady Wildcats began the first round of bracket play against Portland and promptly dispatched them 2-0 with scores of 187-127 and 135-116. In round two came a very good Onsted team, but the 
Lady Wildcats stepped up their game and their spare shooting and quickly won 2-0 with scores of 169-99 and 155-121.
In the championship match the Lady Wildcats faced a state qualifying team from last year in Sturgis. In game one the ladies had a chance to win, but just could convert enough spares and fell 145-135. From there, Sturgis caught fire and the Lady Wildcats just couldn’t keep pace dropping game two, 170-143 and game three 178-166, ending the day in second place.
“Considering this was their third consecutive day of competition and the flu making its way through the team, second place was a herculean effort by these ladies,” said coach Bill Holbrook. “All seven varsity bowlers made key contributions throughout the tournament. If it hadn’t been for the depth of this team, it would have been a very short day of bowling.”
Holbrook also said the “B” team gave seven newcomers to the team this year valuable experience. Pacing the “B” team were freshmen Devin Bartell and Amber Beggs. They bowled better than expected and were actually close to making the top eight for bracket play before fading in their final two Baker games.
Cedar Springs Invitational is Saturday at 9 a.m. at Westgate.
