The Oxford Wildcat Bowling team sent six pairs of bowlers to the 9th Annual Davison Doubles Bowling Tournament at Richfield Lanes in Davison Michigan on Saturday December 27th. This tournament has grown to over 100 teams from all areas of the state.
Each team is comprised of a boy and a girl and is bowled on a sports condition oil pattern.
After the three regular games and two- baker games of qualifying the Wildcats had four teams in the final 32. The next rounds would be two head-to-head baker games with total pin fall moving on. In the round of 32, three of the four Oxford teams moved on. A Kearsley High team that shot an amazing game of 278 eliminated the team of Alyssa Hurlburt and Eric Armbruster.
Oxford had three teams in the sweet 16 round. In this round Oxford bowlers Christian Cartner and Hannah Farmer would lose to Kearsley. The other two teams won. Brady Wynkoop and Megan Kessler beat Bay City Western and Jake Delong and Mackenzie Janssen were winners over a Davison duo.
Both of the teams bowling in the final eight would win moving into the final four. Wynkoop and Kessler beat Carmen Answorth and Delong and Janssen beat a Kearsley team. That’s the good news about the final four. The bad news is the two Oxford teams would face off against each other to bowl in the finals. Winning and moving into the finals was Delong and Janssen.
In game one of the finals Delong and Janssen would face Ploof and Shofield of Kearsley. Game one went to Oxford 146 to 135. Game two and the tournament went right down to the last shot. Oxford finished with a gutsy 193 game and when Shofield tossed a 7 count on his last shot they finished with a 202. Oxford’s two game total of 339 beat Kearsley’s 337 by just two pins.
Megan Kessler led all girls in qualifying and was named to the all tournament team.
According to Head Coach J.R. Lafnear, the team bowls in the Davison tournament in order to ‘keep aharp and have some fun.?
‘To win the tournament and to have so many teams do well was a bonus. The kids made a lot of clutch shots to advance and win. You can’t simulate that in practice so this will help them going forward,? he added. ‘Jake and Mackenzie started the day slow and built into a powerhouse team as the day went on. They were just tough as nails at the end to win over a good Kearsley team.?
The Oxford Varsity Boys were also team champions at the Romeo Team Invitational held on Jan. 4.