The Middletown Girls Varsity Bowling team competed in their first tournament of the season in the annual Back to School Bash at Rollhouse Lanes in Fairfield.

The oil pattern for today's event was harder than what we are used to when we bowl on house shots at Eastern Lanes and away matches at other bowling alleys. The reason the pattern is used is to try to make it harder for all bowlers, and to also see what it will look like at the end of the season for the Sectionals & Districts tournaments.

The format was 2 regular games, followed by 4 Baker games, across 4 lanes, all before lunch. Once the next round starts, all teams go into a bracket style knockout round, where the winner of best 2 out of 3 Baker games gets to advance.

The most important thing to accomplish during a tournament with the format that was used today, on top of the special oil pattern, is making spares. Teams that can consistently make their spares, go deeper into the tournament and have a better chance of winning. Unfortunately, our girls struggled all day making spares, and their scores and end-result show it.

Leading the Middies today was Junior Emma Kruse, who rolled games of 155 & 138! Sophomore Kaitlyn Kincer started off with a 120, and finished her set with an 86. Senior Harley Bailey posted a 94 for game #1 and then bowled a 101 for game 2. Allison Pritchard came in for the second game and tossed a 99. Freshman Isabella Bryant-Thomas had an 80 for game 1 and Sophomore Braelyn Bates had a 75.

The girls came together for the 4-game Baker round and shot scores of 101, 99, 98, and 119. They were ranked 28th out of 32 teams after the first round. After lunch, they faced the #5 team Clinton Massie. They had a close first game and only lost by under 20 pins, but their opponent caught fire the 2nd Baker game and bowled a 174 that ended the Middies day at the tournament, losing 2 games to 0.

The Lady Middies will travel to Poelking Wilmington Lanes on Wednesday to take on Chaminade Julienne. Start time for the match is set for 4:00pm.

GO MIDDIES!