GADSDEN — The Oak Mountain High School girls’ bowling team achieved a historic third-place finish at the Class 6A-7A state tourney Jan. 27 at The Alley, Gadsden.
The Eagles’ semifinal appearance was their first in program history, and they reached the state tournament for only the second time.
Oak Mountain’s girls put forth a clutch performance over the two-day state tournament in Gadsden. The Eagles won the No. 3 seed, after a day’s play. The day featured three sets of traditional games that set the field for bracket play.
Grace Smith and Emma Hawkins were both honored as the top eight individual players on the first day of the all-tournament. Hawkins was fourth with games of 159 and 160. She totalled 494. Smith was eighth, with a total of 128, 198 and 140.
JoJo Smith was also a strong performer, bowling 461. Jenna Burson, Lauren Schuessler, Katie Huffman, Madison Thompson and Abby O’Dell all contributed to the Eagles’ run as well.
The Eagles made the second day very interesting. The bracket play format consisted of a best-of-7 series of Baker games in which five bowlers each threw two frames. This made up a single game.
Oak Mountain was up against No. Oak Mountain faced No. 6 seed Baker in round 1. They rallied from a deficit and won the match in seven games. After playing four games each, Baker won the fifth game 123-120 to give Baker a 3-2 lead. Oak Mountain won 130-115 in the sixth game to force a seventh, and the Eagles took a 151-112 victory.
The Eagles won No. The semifinals saw 2 Sparkman play and the Eagles faced No. Sparkman won the first match 176-125. However, the Eagles won the second game with a 174-166 win. Sparkman returned to winning ways with a win of 169-148 in the third. Oak Mountain was back in control with a win of 160-158 in the fourth. Sparkman won the final two games to win the match.
American Christian defeated Sparkman six times in the final to win state title.
Sparkman won the seven-game state championship match against Spain Park on the boys’ side.
Oak Mountain reached semifinals at the South Regional tournament one week before going on to state. The No. The No. 4 seed was earned after one day of play. They beat Daphne during the first round of bracket play to qualify them for state. Hawkins finished third and JoJo Smith eighth at the regional tournament.
