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Fitch girls focused on state bowling tournament
Morrison’s Falcons return
to state tournament Saturday
AUSTINTOWN
Beware the colossal Columbus collapse!
Austintown Fitch vows it won’t have a repeat of a devastating start like the Falcons had at last year’s state tournament.
“They’ve grown together since last year, so they understand what they didn’t accomplish and they’re a lot more focused this year,” said coach Don Morrison, whose 15th season as Fitch’s girls coach comes to a close following the Division I state bowling tournament at Wayne Webb’s Columbus Bowl this weekend.
First things first, however.
Leading the way starting Saturday at 10 a.m. are seniors Katie Viglio, Laura Wilson, Lynnette Seebacher, Brittany Veltri and Sydney Danko and juniors Jessica Halas and Cassidy Lindberg, all of whom competed in the 2012-2013 event.
A year ago, after just each Fitch bowler finished one game, the Falcons bombed.
“We ran into awkward lane conditions and ended up shooting a very low score,” Morrison said of his girls being 200 pins down after the first regular game. “We couldn’t make it up against a state-quality field [of 16, including Fitch].”
Of the seven making a return trip to Wayne Webb’s, Viglio has a 203 average, Seebacher 201 and Halas 195.
“I couldn’t be here without any of them,” the coach said of this year’s. “They’re all just as important as everybody else, because it’s a team effort.”
The tournament comprises three regular games and three Baker system games before a cut is made to determine the top eight teams who engage in head-to-head match play against another team in step-ladder fashion. Those winning the best-of-five series reach the semifinals.
This is the 13th state appearance for a Fitch girls team under Morrison.
“We’ve always had a team down here,” Morrison said of either a Fitch boys or girls team at a state tournament, regardless of site, since the inception of high school bowling in Ohio. “If the girls missed, the boys made or maybe the boys missed and the girls made it,” Morrison said of the continuity.
“This will be the third time the boys have missed, so the girls have one more state appearance over the boys, but they’ve been equally successful.”
This year’s girls’ squad repeated as All-American Conference champs, then won sectionals before finishing as the No. 3 qualifier at district.
“These girls have potential,” Morrison said. “Not everyone is going to be at her best every week, but we’re very steady; it was so last year, but even more so this year.”
Morrison claims he isn’t concerned with Ohio’s inaugural Division I field.
“I don’t know the breakdown of which schools are there,” he said earlier this week. “All I can do is concentrate on my team and get them ready for the challenge ahead.”
Prior to the team’s departure for Columbus Thursday morning in time for a practice session Thursday afternoon, the coach said that his girls worked hardest on the Baker games at their home lanes: Wedgewood.
“Our individual games are probably a little stronger than our Baker games right now and we’re blessed, so to speak, that we can build a nice strong lead,” Morrison said. “Just because we’re good at one aspect, we still have to get better at the rest of it [Baker side of it]. We still need to bowl as a unit.”
Morrison expects a heavy oil pattern at Wayne Webb’s.
“I know how to read patterns, so I can pretty much give an accurate description of how the girls should bowl on it. It’s a heavy pattern; it’s a tournament pattern.”
Viglio is the only current member who traveled to Columbus as a freshman in 2010-2011.
“I was the only freshman among five or six seniors that year.”
When she was a sophomore, Fitch missed state by four pins.
“Last year was a bust,” the 18-year-old said. “We dug ourselves a hole. It wasn’t pretty.”
This year’s district had a shaky beginning, too, but Viglio said that she and Seebacher, as the No. 4 and No. 5 bowlers, made proper adjustments.
“Neither one of us could figure out our shot in the first [individual] game, but we figured out how to pull out of that and that should help us going into state.”
Viglio watched the past seven state tournaments, but doesn’t care for the divisional separation [by enrollment] this year.
“I watched my brother bowl and, once I got there, it’s been every team in Ohio. Now, some of the competition that you look forward to is gone.”
Viglio’s last shot at a state title won’t have the same scenario as last year.
“We have that confidence that we’ve been there before, so we know not to freak out.”
Seebacher similarly expects a much better day on Saturday.
“We’re going in with a lot more experience because we’re together again and know what state is like, so there are a lot less nerves. We now have to focus on getting good shots and making our spares.”
This year’s Falcons went undefeated, which is something they didn’t accomplish last year.
Although the girls didn’t win the 2013-14 district like they did a year ago, simple state advancement was the goal.
“Finishing third this year was good enough to make state, so it doesn’t matter where we qualified,” Seebacher said.
The right-hander recalled Fitch’s poor start at state last March.
“You can’t give the field that kind [200 pin] of head start and expect to come back. We were way out of it from the beginning and then it snowballs and gets your spirit down. We have to work on being upbeat and positive.”