Springfield, Windsor compete in state bowling

Neither Springfield nor Windsor would win a team title, but both walked away knowing they had represented their respective schools and communities well at the Vermont State Championships Saturday.

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2017-03-06 / Sports Springfield, Windsor compete in state bowling «» View full-size Left to right are Matt Power, Alex Richardson, coach Mike Mullins and Haley St. Louis of Springfield, and coach Steve Bly, Rayce Gilbert, Troy McCabe and Brandyn LeBarron of Windsor. - TIM TAYLOR http://www.eagletimes.com/sites/www.eagletimes.com/files/imagecache/full/BowlGroup.jpghttp://www.eagletimes.com/sites/www.eagletimes.com/files/imagecache/full/Bowl1.JPGhttp://www.eagletimes.com/sites/www.eagletimes.com/files/imagecache/full/Bowl2.JPGhttp://www.eagletimes.com/sites/www.eagletimes.com/files/imagecache/full/Bowl3.JPG By TIM TAYLOR sports@eagletimes.com BARRE, Vt. — Neither Springfield nor Windsor would win a team title, but both walked away knowing they had represented their respective schools and communities well at the Vermont State Championships Saturday. Both teams held up their seeds — Springfield was No. 3 and Windsor No. 8 — and each scored higher than the average it carried into the tournament. The Cosmos came in with a 156.6 average and bettered that in eight of their 12 games and finished the day with a 162.2 The Yellow Jackets fared even better, average-wise. In 11 games Windsor failed to hit its 140.5 average just twice. It's overall average for the day was a 162.2. The Jacks topped No. 9 Brattleboro 4-2 in the opening round with scores of 146-124, 171-191, 121-98, 125-174, 217-151 and 156-121. In the quarterfinals, Windsor fell to top seed and eventual champ Fair Haven 4-1. The Slaters were on fire, winning the first three 182-159, 204-168 and 232-177. The Jacks refused to go down without a fight and battled back to win game four 194-188. Fair Haven won the fifth game 164-150. “The day actually went pretty decent,” said Windsor coach Steve Bly. “One of the things we talked about was take one frame at a time, hit pins every time you throw the ball and pick up your spares and the scores will go up. We came in averaging 140 and out of the 11 games we rolled, there were only one or two games we were under our average. We bowled good. I was satisfied. Fair Haven's a tough team. I couldn't ask for any more out of the kids, honestly.” Meanwhile, Springfield was dispatching No. 6 Essex, taking four of five games. The Cosmos won the opener 211-107, but dropped game two 170-145. Springfield would then eke out a 159-153 win when Matt Power finished off game four with a turkey (three consecutive strikes). The Cosmos won the final two games handily, 204-145 and 185-146. Springfield and No. 2 South Burlington then battled it out through seven grueling games in the semifinals with the Cosmos dropping a tough 4-3 battle. The Cosmos won game one 183-148, but dropped game two 200-194. In a high-scoring third game, Springfield emerged victorious 236-213, but SB won 170-135 and 158-145 to grab a 3-2 lead. The Cosmos won game six 204-186, but with everything on the line in game 7, the green and white just couldn't find its groove, falling 156-129. “That's what it boils down to, not making spares,” said Springfield coach Mike Mullins. “Six opens against a team like that, you can't do that. They tried giving it to us several times. We just couldn't capitalize on it. It's just unfortunate. “Overall, I thought we did fantastic. It was just that last game.” Still, it was a pretty solid season for Springfield overall. On a scale of 1 to 10, Mullins gave the Cosmos an eight for the season. “I thought we had a great year. We had four wins, four seconds … I thought we had a great year. I'm looking forward to coming back next year and taking it to them again. “I think we'll be alright. We've got a couple young ones coming up from the middle school that are going to join and we've got all the girls are coming back next year so we should be pretty good. Likewise, Windsor is looking forward to next season. “This season we had a lot of bumps, but when you have a young group like that coming up … they just started bowling in December, but to do what they did is pretty impressive,” Bly said. “They'll get better. Next year the averages will go up and hopefully we'll make it a little further into states.” Springfield's Power and Alex Richardson, and Windsor's Brandyn LeBarron and Troy McCabe have been selected to play in the all-star match pitting Vermont's and New Hampshire's top seniors in Brattleboro Saturday. Bly and Mullins will coach the Vermont team. LeBarron and Power were also recognized for being among the top five seniors in the state for average. Also earning top five honors were the Cosmos' Haley St. Louis in the sophomore class and the Yellow Jackets' Rayce Gilbert in the freshman class.