This year’s District Championships were held at the 68 lane Beaver-Vu Bowl in Beavercreek, Ohio on Thursday, February 20th, 2014. The format was 3 regular games and 6 baker games. Total pinfall would determine the State Qualifiers.
The Lady Tigers started out with a nice game of 910, which put them in 6th place after game 1. The top 4 total scores at the end of the day would then qualify for State. The 2nd game was perhaps one of their toughest of the year of 808. After two games, they were a little over 100 pins out of the cut score. The girls responded and did not give up, just like when they bowled Coldwater for the WOHSBC title after being down by 75 pins the first game. They came back and fired off a 937 which catapulted them into the 4th spot after 3 games. However, there were about 3-4 teams all within 25 pins or so of 4th.
The Baker Games started after the break. “I really felt we had the advantage with the group of teams that were all bunched together. The top 2 teams were in great shape. We just needed to buckle down and keep filling frames in the Baker Games,” said Coach Phlipot. The Lady Tigers came out bowling very well in the Baker Games with a 182, 235, 173, 189 and a 185. There was just one Baker Game to go and the girls found themselves about 50 pins out of 4th. There were 3 teams that were vying for this spot. Kenton Ridge, Northwestern and Versailles. With the Lady Tigers starting out with a double, things were looking very promising. However, after a couple of splits and some open spare conversions, Versailles finished with a 145, Kenton Ridge 145 and Northwestern 138. The Lady Tigers missed the State Tourney by 52 pins.
“Unfortunately, some days are just not your day. These girls worked so hard to get back to State this year. It just was not in the cards today. In my eyes, every one of these girls are winners. It is just extremely tough right now for the kids (and coaches), especially the 5 Seniors,“ said Coach Davidson. The Lady Tigers had an incredible season that most other teams just dream about. They placed 2nd in the Ohio High School Invitational Kickoff Classic in Columbus, 3rd in the Pioneer Classic in Lima and they won the WOHSBC conference for the 2nd straight year going 26-0 their last two seasons. Both of these years, they defeated 2 time State Champion, Coldwater, the last week of the season to win the conference. “When you look at what this team did over the last couple of seasons, it is just awesome. I am so proud of every one of them.” Said Phlipot.
The Tigers were led by Megan Monnin with a 580 and Megan Ward with a 548. Megan Monnin missed qualifying for State as an individual by only 4 pins. There was one person ahead of her that missed by 2 pins.
