Bulletin board material motivates Slicers to win
Not given a chance in P-T preview leads to LaPorte’s regional title
LOWELL — As the LaPorte girls’ bowling team prepared for Sunday’s Lowell Regional at Country Lanes, the preparation was driven by last week’s newspaper preview that listed three teams projected as locks to advance to the semistate.
The Slicers were not listed among those three teams.
So they went out and proved they not only belonged among that group advancing to next Saturday’s Fort Wayne Semistate, but went further and walked away regional champions.
LaPorte qualified in first place — 49 pins ahead of eventual thirdplace team Lake Central. Then the Slicers defeated a Highland squad that climbed its way out of fourth place and more than 130 pins off the cut with five Baker games left 340-279 in the championship match.
“We were motivated by the Post-Tribune preview that said Lake Central, Portage and Highland were a lock,” LaPorte head coach Keith Gakle said. “We weren’t even mentioned, so we thank whoever wrote that. We saw it, we used it and it motivated us to first place and semistate.
“This is the first regional championship, boys or girls, for bowling. It’s awesome.”
LaPorte used an 877 and 922 in the two individual games to gain the upper hand and was able to maintain the lead despite being outscored by Lake Central 905858 in the Baker games.
“This is an amazing feeling,” LaPorte’s Erika Perez said. “We showed everybody that we could do what other teams were unable to do.”
In the championship match, LaPorte gained the upper hand by grabbing a 203-152 advantage after the first game.
“It’s great to get this far,” said freshman Savanah Becker. “We’re excited about advancing.”
For Highland, the situation was dire as it found itself 133 pins behind Portage before the Baker games. That all changed when the Trojans racked up 957 pins to overtake the Indians, who struggled in Bakers with an unlucky 777.
“Without Jessica Dziezak, we’ve had to step up,” Highland’s Catie Bales said. “We got real hot in Bakers and it made the difference.”
In the singles event in the morning, Kelly Belzeski captured the regional title, defeating Crown Point’s Sarah Bond 224-204.
“I was confident because I found my line today,” Belzeski said. “Sarah gave me a good match.”