The Hopkins girls’ bowling team Wednesday avenged one of its few losses this season while the boys bounced back from their first loss of the campaign.
The girls’ team defeated Belding 16-14, a real turnaround from their 28-2 defeat on Dec. 19. The boys took a 17-13 decision two days after their nine-game dual match streak was halted by Kelloggsville.
Hopkins boys started the match down 10-0 after the Baker matches, but came back, taking 17 of the next 20 possible points.
Sophomore Brenden Gossman rolled a 253 in match play, striking in the first eight frames of his match, and took his point. Another point was taken by Zach Mohr with a 203. Hopkins took the total pins 903 to 828. But after the first match it still looked gloomy for the Vikings, down 13-6.
Hopkins had to bowl a great second match to win the game, but they did just that. The Vikings rolled their highest combined total of their league play this year, by shooting a 1,018. Impressive scores were recorded across the board by Viking bowlers.
Hopkins took all 9 points of the second match and total pins of both match games, thereby winning 17-13. Impressive scores for the second game came from Terry Thomas (254), Ryan Hoeksema (195), Mikee Schumacher (215) and Brenden Gossman (207).
The Lady Vikings lost the first Baker game 145-122, but won the second, 147 to 134. They lost the total pins score by 10 pins, and after the Baker games found themselves in a hole, 6-4.
In the first of the individual matches, Hopkins took 3 of 5 points but lost the total pins by 6. So they were down 12-7. In the second match the Lady Vikings came back and took 3 of 5 matches, total pins of the match and combined match total pins winning 16-14. Hazel Smith shot a 198 in the second game, taking her point, while Betsy Hyde took a point with a 155. Other impressive scores of the match were Courtney Tortorelli’s 160, but she fell short to Christina Douglas’ 168.
Before the match Hopkins was in a three-way tie for first place in the O-K Silver Conference with Kelloggsville and Belding.