Boys take care of business early to clinch district title, regional berth

The boys bowling team entered the final Friday night of district play with a one game lead over Weiss and Pflugerville Co-op, and since the Co-op team had a bye, the Knights needed knew they need to beat Weiss to claim an outright district title and the bid to the regional tournament that goes with the crown.

The Knights did not waste any time building a big lead. In the first game, Bruno Cioci rolled a lane-high 165, and in game two John Pratt had the high game with a 190. In the individual games, the Knights won four of five matches to get four out a possible five points but two bonus points to for a 6-1 lead heading into the Baker round.

The Wolves rebounded to take the first Baker game (each bowler rolls two frame for a collective score), and make the score, 6-3, but the Knights claimed the second one with a 201, which extended the Knight lead back to five points and put the Knights a single point away from clinching the win for the match and the district championship. Weiss fought back again to win the third Baker game, but the Knights ended the Weiss comeback with a final Baker game win. Along with the two bonus points for having the most total pins in the Baker round, the Knights ended up with a convincing 11-6 victory.

Pflugerville Co-op finished the district season in second place at 4-2 while Weiss fell to third at 3-3. At 5-1, the Knights are district champs, and the only team that will advance to regionals on March 1 at Killeen Bowlerama.

For Pratt, who also qualified for regionals as an individual bowler, the district win relieve a year-long burden to carry the torch of the bowlers who came before him. 

“Since we had four seniors on the varsity team graduate last year, we’ve been questioning if we were good enough to be a legitimate regionals-level bowling team,” Pratt said. “We showed that by winning the district championship, we were good enough, and we can continue on the at-least-five-year-old tradition of winning the district championship.”

At the regional tournament, the Knights will bowl a series of Baker games against single opponents. If they make the top four in total pins knocked down during these Baker rounds, they will qualify for the state tournament. Pratt will also bowl in the individual tournament that will follow the team tournament. 

Despite first loss, girls’ team, Rucker, Dotson headed to regionals

Having already clinched a district championship and secured a regional berth, the girls bowling team lost its first match of the season on Friday night at Dart Bowl.

Olivia Linscomb was the standout performer on the night. Her individual scores of 125 and 121 were the high individual games for the Knights, and they brought her season average to within one pin of qualifying for regionals as an individual bowler.

“I just try to be confident and just believe that I will get a strike even though often times I don’t,” Linscomb said.

She said she did not feel disappointed about just missing regionals as an individual bowler.

“I don’t think it was a big deal for me since I joined this year,” she said. “I was really happy to get third. I’m excited to compete with a team.”

Zoe Rucker knows the feeling. As a first year bowler on the team last year, she narrowly missed qualifying as an individual. This year, she has the top average in the district and will bowl at regions with the team and with the individual.

“[Qualifying for regionals] means a lot to me,” Rucker said. “I really feel like I’ve improved.” Rucker said she was getting her own bowling ball before the regional tournament.

Senior Rose Dotson will also represent McCallum in both the team and the individual competition.

The Knights’ opponents, the Hendrickson Hawks continued their upward trend. After fielding a full team for the first time a week ago, the Hawks again brought a full squad plus two alternates while the Knights were down a bowler.

The Hawks look to be building toward giving Mac a spirited competition next season.

The Knights meanwhile will celebrate its district championship season with a year-end banquet on Saturday, then the girls and boys teams will travel to Killeen Bowlerama for the regional tournament on March 1.