Tigers Take Control of WPIBL West
On Wednesday, the Tigers traveled to Pines Plaza Lanes in Ross to take on last year’s WPIBL West Section Champs, the Avonworth Antelope. This was the first meeting between the schools in eight years.
Pines Plaza Lanes is notorious for their low scoring games and corner pin leaves (7 and 10 pin left standing). The Tigers bowled their match on the right side of the house (lanes 17-18) also known to play more difficult. This double whammy would lead to many sighs of exasperation and head scratching; frustrations were felt by both teams.
Anchor bowler, senior Connor Peoples started the hunt for North Allegheny with double strikes in frames 1 and 2. Senior Willie Harris strengthened the attack with two doubles in the 4th and 5th frames and again in #8 and #9. Senior Cole Scott added a double of his own. It was the turkey of three strikes by senior Nate Redondo that put the game out of reach for Avonworth. Putting an exclamation point on the Game 1 win was Peoples with his perfect 10th frame: XXX. The Tigers led through the entire game and won game 1 by a margin of +295 pins. When the individual scores were tallied, three Tigers sat at the top of the leaderboard. Harris led all bowlers with a 194, followed closely behind by Peoples and Redondo with a 186 and 181, respectively.
In Game 2, senior Jacob Feiling started the hunt with a turkey through the first 3 frames. Peoples continued the pursuit and put the Antelope on alert with a run of three strikes in frames 4-6. Scott then launched a cache of strikes, striking 5 times in frames 4-9. Redondo added double strikes wounding the antelope further. Scott bowled the highest game of the match with 213. North Allegheny outshot Avonworth by +347 pins, taking a commanding series lead, 1726 to 1084.
After the two-game onslaught, the Tigers took a stutter step, throwing their lowest score of the season. The faltering Tigers still managed to extinguish Avonworth (812-512) in Game 3. The Tigers won all 7 match points and increased their game record to 9-0.
For the NA ladies, the Stampeding Antelope were too much to corral, losing all three games and the extra point for total pins. Notably, junior Hailey Theil led the Tigers with a 103 after the first game. In Game 2, the Tiger attack started to be formulated by veterans Abigail Peigh and Sarah Truitt. Truitt, a sophomore, had a personal best of 116. The Tigers were outmaneuvered, and the Antelope ran away with the second game 599-512.
During their final pursuit in the last game of the match, three Lady Tigers reached triple digits led by senior Julia Jordan’s 133. Sophomore Emily Dorman added her personal best (127). Peigh’s 111 completed the trifecta and gave her the highest series for the Lady Tigers (336).
The Tigers gladly return home to Perry Park Lanes next week to host the Hampton Talbots.