Girls Bowling: Plainfield North second in Bengal Invite
By Steve Millar For Sun-Times Media January 5, 2013 8:36PM
Updated: February 7, 2013 6:25AM
Plainfield North girls bowling coach Dan Strubel said he likes to keep expectations low to avoid disappointment.
The way the Tigers have bowled lately, though, that’s becoming tough.
“The way we’ve been progressing, the girls are starting to realize ‘Oh, we actually are good. Maybe we should set our goals higher,’ ” he said. “They’re expecting more from themselves.”
Saturday, the Tigers lived up to their newly high expectations, compiling a six-game pinfall of 5,577 to finish second behind defending state champion Andrew (5,650) in the 16-team Bengal Bowling Invite at Oak Forest Bowl.
Taylor Wilmoth (5th, 1,238) and Emily Batara (8th, 1,162) led the Tigers.
“There were a lot of things I know we could have done better to win it, but we’re happy with second place,” Wilmoth said. “I feel like we have a lot more confidence as a team now and our expectations have gone up a lot. We want to average 950 per game now and shoot for 1000s.”
North topped the 950 mark twice Saturday with a 972 in the opener and a 982 in Game 4 and went under 900 just once with an 835 in a costly fifth game.
The Tigers led Andrew by 52 pins after Game 4, but trailed by 57 after the fifth game. With the two squads bowling next to each other in the final game, Andrew nipped North 952-936 to hang on.
Wilmoth was solid all day, averaging 206.
“To be honest, I was just so relaxed today,” she said. “That really helped out a lot. I wasn’t nervous or anything.”
North also got strong showings from Audrey Krasauskis (12th, 1,112) and Lauren Streba (16th, 1,096).
Romeoville, led by Nicole Jeffrey (9th, 1,151), finished ninth and Bolingbrook was 11th. Felicia Montecinos (10th, 1,138) paced the Raiders.
Nicole Powell of Sandburg was the individual champion with a total pinfall of 1,324.
