By Scott Taylor
For the Bugle
The Minooka Indians took care of business in the afternoon of their own regional to win the title Saturday at Town and Country Lanes in Joliet.
A 1,088 in the fourth game put them in first place and they never looked back, finishing with a total of 6,000, topping Andrew, which shot a 5,884.
“It is relieving,” Kristina Sickler said. “We’ve struggled a little bit all season and it was pretty nice to know that we actually won.”
“It was the first time for us bowling a 6,000 this season, so that was a big breaker for us,” Carmella Russell said.
Russell added a 1,218 and Sam Isenmonger shot a 1,114 for the Indians.
The Indians will now be looking to return to state for the second straight year Saturday at Orland Bowl as Andrew will be hosting the sectional. The top four teams and five individuals will advance to state.
“We need to keep rolling good shots and pick up spares. We missed a little too many spares today,” Russell said. “If we can do that, we will be able to advance. Me and Kristina have been bowling with each other since sixth grade, so we know how to pick each other up.”
“We have to get better as we go,” Sickler said. “As long as we are there for each other, I think we will be fine.”
Joliet Central’s Tara Tindall and Sarina Lukas are also headed to the sectional at Orland Bowl, finishing with scores of 995 and 947, respectively.
•Also bowling at Town and Country Lanes were those in the Plainfield South Regional.
That tournament was dominated by Lockport, the top ranked team in the state, which shot a 6,381.
The Porters were led by Monica Colon and Marissa Ramirez, who shot 1,329 and 1,324, respectively, to place second and third individually.
“It was a nice day today,” Ramirez said. “Everyone got to come in and bowl today. We all picked each other up. Everyone played their game. It was all good.”
“We picked each other up,” Colon said. “We would get down a little bit but then we thought about having fun and do what we had to do and we won. We need to continue reaching our goals.”
Bailey Delrose and Dana Ackerson each shot 1,070 in just five games, while Grace Karraker (651) and Paige Reiter (623) each bowled three games.
The Porters will be joining Minooka and others at Orland Bowl for the sectional as they look for their third straight state trophy.
“Every shot we throw we have to keep focusing hard and that will lead us through sectionals to the state tournament,” Ramirez said.
Joliet West added a pair of individuals to the mix as Karlee Barton shot a 1,242 and Alexis Robbins had a 1,187.
“It definitely feels different going as an individual rather than a team,” Barton said. “You don’t have your teammates or the huge crowd of parents behind you cheering. I will have my partner with me though and as long as we keep our heads up and stay strong, we will have a good day. I’m really proud of us because we started the season rough and we really came together.”