Plainsmen win team bowling title again; Bay’s Lorey finishes second in individual competition
Make it two years in a row for the Evergreen Plainsmen.
Two years now the bowling team has gone north to the Class 3A state bowling championships and has come home with the championship trophy.
Based on total pins, Evergreen is the best team in the state in all classifications, too.
“It says something about us. We’re not just girls who throw things down the lane. We actually know what we’re doing,” said junior Kerissa Andersen, who won the individual title in 2017 and was one of four Plainsmen to finish in the top eight this season. “It’s like any other sport, you actually have to work at it.”
Dakota O’Neil said she has friends who tell her that it is “just bowling.”
It is not “just” bowling. In fact, bowling is one of the 17 sanctioned sports in the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association, and Evergreen is the best team in that sanctioned sport.
The Plainsmen cruised to victory this year, topping second-place Hudson’s Bay by more than 300 pins. (Yes, Hudson’s Bay, another strong Clark County bowling team. For more on the rest of Clark County’s performances, see below.) They had a big lead after the opening day, which recorded all of the individual games rolled. Then on the second day, they teamed up for 14 Baker games. Add it all up, and it was a runaway title for Evergreen.
Hours later and back home in Clark County, four members of the team got together at Big Al’s — the team’s regular season headquarters — to share their story. Lexi Henderson and Jessica DuFrain joined Anderson and O’Neil. They also wanted to give a shout-out to their other teammates: Hailey DeHaven, Karina Johnson, and Teryn Stine.
Interestingly, the defending champions had a very rough start to the 2018 championship Friday at Narrows Plaza Bowl in University Place. They trailed by more than 100 after the first two games.
“We love pressure,” DuFrain said.
“We like to give heart attacks,” Henderson added.
They all got better in the third game to gain some momentum. After a lunch break, the Plainsmen returned and the five bowlers combined for 1,024 pins in one game. Evergreen was the only team, in all classifications, to have a 1,000-pin team total in the Day One format.
By the end of the day, they had a huge lead.
The second day consisted of 14 Baker games, with five team members rotating each frame. The Plainsmen could have taken off an entire Baker game and still won the team event.
“Last year was super intense and very nerve-racking,” Henderson recalled, when the Plainsmen and Eagles were close until the final four Baker games.
Henderson added that if the Plainsmen could not win it this year, she would have wanted it to be Hudson’s Bay. Rivals in the sport, but still friends and supportive, these two teams.
This year, though, it just was not even close.
“We all knew we were going to win from the get-go,” O’Neil said.
“You can have fun,” DuFrain added, noting there was no stress for the Plainsmen.
Anderson did not allow herself to think too far ahead. She waited to celebrate in her mind.
“For me, I knew we were going to win probably after the 10th Baker game. That’s when it was really sealed,” she said.
The final game of the day was special for everyone, more so for the seniors.
Henderson, who won the individual district championship the previous week, put a nice touch at the end of her career.
“In our very last Baker game, I finished my last shot with a strike,” she said.
DuFrain completed her high school career with a 9/spare.
“It’s not my last shot, but it’s my last with this team,” she said. “I love these girls with all my heart.”
Anderson and O’Neil want to go for three in a row next year.
“It’s a normal thing now,” O’Neil said, jokingly.
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Another fine season for Clark County
Reagan Lorey of Hudson’s Bay recorded the high game of the tournament with a 268. She finished her six games with 1,234 pins, 16 behind Class 3A champion Sierra Berry of Wilson. That gave Lorey four top-five finishes in her career at Bay.
HS bowling: Reagan Lorey hopes for a perfect finish for Hudson’s Bay
Halie Martin of Hudson’s Bay finished fourth. Lorey and Martin led the Eagles to a second-place team finish.
Columbia River finished second in the Class 2A team race. Mark Morris won the title.
Brooklyn Boudreau of Mark Morris won the individual title. River’s Madison Mollahan took fifth.
Battle Ground’s Darian Dyer was the top Clark County finisher in the 4A championship. She tied for sixth. Skyview was sixth in the team.
