The Wayland boys’ varsity bowling team now finds itself tied for first place in the O-K Gold Conference.
The Wildcats took down unbeaten Cedar Springs 19-11 at the Rock ’N Bowl Lanes, vending their only dual match league loss of the season.
But it didn’t come easy.
“When you have the highest game average in the league, you always feel fairly confident in your Baker games,” said coach Sherry Miklusicak. “We didn’t start the afternoon as well as we wanted to, rolling only a 126 game. Obviously, that was a loss.”
But the ‘Cats bounced back and won the second Baker with a 181. They lost the total pins and were down 6-4 against a team that had demolished them earlier in the season.
Kyle VanEss rocked his first game with a brilliant 234 and filled every frame! He took his match point as did Wil Dewing with a mighty fine 196 game and Raynie Arendsen with a 169.
“It was a dog fight through the ninth and 10th frames and our boys came out on top by 32 pins for the series,” Miklusicak said.
The Wayland boys were now in the lead 11-8.
Freshman Louie Harnish was brought in match two and his coach exclaimed, “What a great addition he was to his team, leading this game with the first SEVEN strikes in a row!” He rolled a whopping 263 game and took his point by 123 pins!
“Boy did that help us win total pins this game as it was another fight as we were “dead even” going into the 10th frame. Wayland won the last series by 37 pins. Dominik Baker took his point with a fine 177. Kyle VanEss rolled a 204 game as well.
The Wayland ladies took on a tough Cedar Springs squad that gave them their only loss this year and absorbed a 26-4 defeat..
The Lady Wildcats bowled very well after the Baker games and put up some great scores, but it was not enough.
In the first match game, Madison Bottrall rolled a 134 (only lost by two pins), Faith Rabideau 122, Brooke Trumbull 164 (only lost by three pins), Izzy Botwinski 149 and Haven Baker 197, winning her point. “Coach Miklusicak watched a couple of her shots and noticed she was rolling the ball well,” girls’ coach Eric Bottrall said.
In game two, Ava Harnish bowled a 160 and took her point, Jasmine Ortiz 123 and took her point as well. Brooke Trumbulle had another terrific game with a 160. Izzy Botwinski took her point and bounced back with a nice 189 game.
