Bomber Bowling Falls Short to KaHS - By Gunner Horton
On Thursday, November 16th, the Richland Girls Bowling team was set against the Kamiakin Braves at Atomic Bowl. With a strong rivalry between these schools, the match was going to be close. Upon this game, the Bombers were coming off a great season-opening win against the Hermiston Bulldogs, hoping to continue the same feeling throughout the season. Watching the warm-ups before the match, the girls looked to be getting ready, amping up their energy, cheering each other on, and getting prepared to bowl their best during the match.
After warm-ups, Coach Jason Bare gives a warm welcome to the starting varsity squad with complete energy, yelling the names of Peyton Gonzalez, Sierra Ruelas, Ali Lemiuex, Miley Lakey, and Malia Haynes. Then, with both teams lined up at the front next to the lanes, they shake hands with each other and get ready to bowl. Starting off first in match one was senior Peyton Gonzalez, and before the match, I had the opportunity to have a talk with her about how she was feeling heading into this match and how she and the team prepared for it. She said, “She went into the game looking to have fun because for there team, it’s a very important part for them to stay consistent throughout the match but also keeping the energy up. As well as she said some of the big things they were practicing after the last game were hitting the 7 and 10 pins during practice.” After just the warm-ups, I knew they were going to have a lot of energy no matter how they were bowling. Heading into play, everyone was looking strong throughout the first few frames, and it was stretching to be a very close match between the two teams. Rounding out the end of match one with some notable scores from Ali Lemiuex with a team-high of 171, and not far behind with a score of 162 was Miley Lakey.
With impressive performances from the Richland Bombers, they're ready to continue the amazing bowling into match two. Starting off game two with Peyton once again, she wasted no opportunities and got a strike on her first roll of the game, and the rest of the team continued to bowl great in that first frame. Heading on to the second frame, Peyton was feeling pumped up from her last roll and the cheering from the crowd and teammates going back-to-back strikes on frame two. Going off that, the team is heading in a good direction with the next two up, Sierra and Ali, only to continue the streak with both rolling strikes. With such amazing starts from the Bombers, they are looking to bowl some very high scores in match two. As they progressed through the match, the Bombers stayed through it. They continued to bowl very well, with some notable scores from Ali once again, with a score of 226, which was the highest score for the Bombers out of both matches. A 181 from Sierra Ruelas to end match two before continuing on the two bakers matches, which are when each person of their selected starting five takes turns bowling to knock over as many pins as possible. Once finished with the first match, they swap lanes and repeat for a second match to then add the final total from each team's score onto their match play scores as an extension of their overall score.
It was close as both teams headed into the baker's matches, and they were getting their lineup ups sets and their minds right because these can be the deciding factors of a winning match. Before the Bakers' matches, I had the opportunity to have an interview with a bomber fan. I asked how different the atmosphere is during Bakers matches, and they said, “It is definitely more intense because, after every throw, they know each extra little bit of points counted at the end can be the difference in a match.” While watching the first bakers match, you could tell after each great throw, the fans were just that much louder than before. Continuing throughout the first Baker match, everyone was bowling super well to put up a score of 151 as a team heading into match two. Getting ready for the final match, the team was pumped up; starting it off, Peyton got the team up early with a strike. As they progressed through the match, some phenomenal throws came from Malia and Ali, who also both later stuck in that game to put the Bombers with a great score of 157 and a total of 308 to add to their final score, but unfortunately, still wasn't enough against Kamiakin who barley took it away.
