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LaPolla, Pikunas crowned Greatest Junior golfers
ASSOCIATED PRESS
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ROBERT K. YOSAY | THE VINDICATOR --..Boys and Girls winners are James LaPolla and Jacinta Pikunas with their trophys. -- The Vindicator Greatest Jr. Golfer of the Valley -at Trumbull Country Club in Warren -.--30-..(AP Photo/The Vindicator, Robert K. Yosay)
Greatest Junior Golfer of the Valley
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The Greatest Junior Golfer of the Valley was crowned today at Trumbull Country Club,
Greatest Jr. Golfer
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By Karl Henkel
WARREN
Practice makes perfect.
Or in James LaPolla’s case, practice helped him shoot well enough to win Sunday’s inaugural Greatest Junior Golfer of the Valley tournament.
The site — Trumbull Country Club — is all too familiar to LaPolla, a junior at Warren JFK, who estimated he’s played the course “thousands of times” throughout his life.
“I feel ecstatic,” said LaPolla, whose father, James LaPolla Jr., won last year’s second division title at the Greatest Golfer of the Valley tournament and is a member at the club. “I couldn’t have played any better.”
LaPolla shot a one-over 71, besting second-place finisher Shane Eichenlaub of Mohawk, Pa., who shot a five-over 75, even after he three-putted the par-4, 400-yard 18th.
“I hit the green after I hit an amazing tee shot,” LaPolla said. “I really wanted to make that birdie, and I just missed the hole.”
It was one of two bogeys for LaPolla, who said his game plan was to “not make bogeys.”
“It almost happened,” he said.
South Range’s Brandon Pluchinsky, who played Trumbull for the second time, shot a seven-over 77 and finished third.
He left the sun-drenched, dry course disappointed, but said he felt good about his round, putting aside.
“I can honestly say, he’s hitting good shots,” Pluchinsky said. “I just couldn’t one-putt.”
The greens were the most difficult aspect of the course Sunday, Pluchinsky said, and caused fits for almost everyone.
“They weren’t fast, and they weren’t slow,” he said. “It was a tough day for reading.”
One who mastered the greens was the girls champion, Jacinta Pikunas, a Canfield resident is home schooled.
Like LaPolla, she shot a 71 (two-under for the girls), including the day’s low round, a one-under 34 on the back nine.
Pikunas, a 12-year-old playing against golfers four-to-six years her senior, previously had reigned victorious in the first of three qualifiers at Diamond Back Golf Course in Canfield.
Poland’s Maria Mancini shot a two-over 75 and finished second; Kelsey Teaberry of Warren JFK shot a three-over 76 and finished third.
The three all played in the day’s first group and at the turn were within two shots of each other. Pikunas held a one-shot advantage.
“It was really good to play with people just as good and better than you are,” Teaberry said. “I think it makes you play better.”
But Pikunas pulled away from the pack and ended the day with an amazing four-hole stretch.
After she birdied the 402-yard par-five 15th, Pikunas eagled the 353-yard par-four 16th, with special help from her hybrid-6.
“I had just birdied, so I was a little tense,” Pikunas said. “I just took my time, did my routine, lined up on my target and executed my shot.
“Then I saw it bounce a few times.”
Pikunas capped her day with a birdie on the 400-yard, par-five 18th.
“It’s only the second or third time I’ve finished under par,” she said. “I was really happy with my round.”
Winners won a trophy and gift basket courtesy of the tournament’s sponsor, Farmers National Bank, and a year of free golf at Mill Creek Golf Course in Boardman. Second- and third-place finishers received plaques.
The golfers, along with any others that played in the three qualifying events, are eligible to apply for a tournament scholarship.
Four winners will share $5,000 courtesy of PowerBilt Golf and Golf Headquarters. Winners will be selected based on academics, citizenship and golf ability, if they graduated in 2011 or are scheduled to do so next year.
Here are the scores for the Greatest Junior Golfer of the Valley championship tournament played Sunday at Trumbull Country Club:
GIRLS
Jacinta Pikunas, Canfield, 71
Maria Mancini, Poland, 75
Kelsey Teaberry, Warren JFK, Warren 76
Haylee Harford, Warren JFK, Leavittsburg 77
Renee Cantrell, Sharpsville, 81
Christina Cooper, Canfield, 82
Annie McGlone, Canfield, 83
Lianna Tucci, Heart Christian, Canfield, 92
Hayleigh Guerrero, Howland, 93
Giana DiBenedetto, Poland, 95
Gina DePasquale, Hubbard, 96
Kelly Fleming, Canfield, 97
BOYS
James LaPolla, Warren JFK, Warren, 71
Shane Eichenlaub, Mohawk, New Castle 75
Brandon Pluchinsky, South Range, 77
Bradley Thornton, New Castle, 78
Dominic Carano, Canfield, 80
Dominic Patella, Mooney, 81
Bart Wyss, Salem, 81
Ricky Clark, Mooney, Poland, 81
Ryan Fowler, Warren JFK, Howland, 82
Joe Benson, Canfield, 82
Max Pikunas, Mooney, 82
Joey Canann, Warren JFK, Niles, 84