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Fitch, Hubbard girls bowling teams eye state title
Fitch, Hubbard girls chase
state bowling championship
Austintown
Austintown Fitch’s girls bowling team had total pinfall of 4,114 and 4,020 on successive weekends to claim both sectional and district crowns as the senior-less Falcons march with purpose to state this Friday.
“It represents drive and determination that these girls have and they’ve put it all together for their practices,” coach Don Morrison said heading into the final stop of the 2012-13 season.
“They’ve set a goal because of what happened last year [us missing state by a few pins]. They said they weren’t going to let it happen again. They’ve accepted the challenge they’ve put upon themselves.”
Leading the way are juniors Katie Viglio and Lynnette Seebacher and sophomore Jessica Halas.
“The three of them have pretty much come together and everybody else is following their lead and doing well,” Morrison said in his state-of-the-squad address.
Viglio is averaging 208, while Halas and Seebacher both average 198.
At 175, Laura Wilson, a junior, doesn’t have the strongest average, but she’s part of a contingent that lends strong support.
“They’re getting the job done because they depend on each other,” Morrison said of the chemistry also formed with the help of juniors Syndey Danko and Brittney Veltri and sophomore Cassidy Lindberg.
“These girls have set the course,” Morrison said of the success established so far by the team that should remain intact next year.
Hubbard
Hubbard’s repeated trips to the state tournament — six straight and seven overall — still leave a void.
“Yes, it’s been disappointing in recent years that we haven’t brought home that gold trophy,” coach Carol Kozbial said of back-to-back runnerup finishes to Coldwater (2011-12) and St. Mary’s (2010-11).
In 2009-10, the Eagles were disqualified in the quarterfinals in a match against Boardman, which eventually won the state title.
The Eagles have to wonder what’s in store this week on the heels of a third-place finish at district, a year after winning the district tournament in 2011-12.
“It would have been nice to bring home a trophy for the kids and the school as well as medals [from district],” Kozbial said, “but we knew that some of the Stark County teams were tough competition. No. 3 is about where I put us and third is where we ended up.”
The coach added: “We’ll keep tweaking our spare-shooting and work on techniques and fundamentals, so we don’t miss those simple things that keep us out of the championship.”
Hubbard’s mainstay is Brittany Ferrara.
“She’s the team leader, the one I’ve relied on throughout the season,” Kozbial said.
In Columbus, Hubbard will at least have the benefit of synthetic lanes.
“We score consistently on synthetic lanes with a wood approach,” Kozbial said of Wayne Webb’s Columbus Bowl’s surface. “The oil pattern [on synthetic] doesn’t change or break down as fast. We anticipate doing well.”
The Eagles’ goal is to reach the top eight and match play.
“After that, whoever makes the fewest mistakes is going to advance. Hopefully, our experience the last three years will pull us through into the finals.”