Samantha dudley Hubbard girls

The 16-year-old sophomore finished third at state with a 652 three-game series at Shawnee Lanes in Chillicothe. During the regular season, Dudley had a 190 average as a member of the Eagles’ Carol Kozbial-coached varsity squad. Dudley’s jump in average from her freshman year was 17 pins [173 to 190].

Dudley helped Hubbard’s girls team place third at state, behind champion Boardman and Westerville Central. In the championship round at Shawnee Lanes, the Eagles knocked off Minerva before falling to Boardman.

The day before state, the girls had a sleep-over at the home of one of their senior teammates.

“We tie-dyed T-shirts, listened to music, bonded and talked about what we were going to do at state and got each other pumped up,” Dudley said.

Hubbard placed 13th at state in 2009 when Dudley was a freshman.

For 2009-10, Samantha made All-American Athletic Conference and first-team All-Ohio and was recognized as highest average on the team and most-improved.

The daughter of Robert and Linda Dudley of Hubbard came up through the Bell-Wick juniors program under Ed and Francis Zitnik.

Dudley is also a two-year letterwinner in soccer and plays second base on the Eagles’ softball team. “She’s a wonderful girl, hard worker and one you can rely on, especially toward the end of the season,” Kozbial said. “That’s when she came through to put us where we finished [third].”

Linda Dudley said that her daughter, despite bowling only one game at state as a freshman, resolved to better herself. “This was her breakout year. She got a wake-up call last year at state and told herself she was going to bowl as good as she could to get back and be part of a state-qualifying team again. Plus, she gets a lot of help at Bell-Wick, They have a great support system at the alleys.”