The Lady Wildcat bowling team traveled to the 5-Star Lanes to bowl in the 2020 Oakland County Championships this past Saturday. There were 29 teams from Oakland County — with two of the top 10 teams in the state participating. Farmington, Lake Orion, Waterford Mott, Waterford Kettering, South Lyon East were just some of the schools who battled for the title.
And, when the last pin fell, Oxford picked up their second Oakland County championship title.
“What an unbelievable effort by these young ladies. We really hit some clutch shots and never got down all day. The entire team contributed and when they were asked to step up, they did. We didn’t shoot any unbelievable scores, but we did what we needed to do when we needed to do it,” said head coach Claude Lafnear.
The Wildcats came out with their best team game of the year, scoring 977 points in game 1. They bowled well in the qualifying round earning the Number 4 seed. Powerhouse Farmington was the Number 1 seed, scoring 375 pins ahead of Oxford, with Lake Orion rolling 211 pins higher during qualifying to earn the second spot.
Match play was two baker games with the highest pin count moving on. The first round of match play pitted the Cats against Walled Lake Central. Oxford won 321 to WLC, 286.
This matched the Wildcats up with the Number 3 seed South Lyon East. The Wildcats jumped on SLE in game one, 173 to 135 and held on to the win, 359 to 337.
The Wildcats then faced a familiar foe, Farmington. Farmington is the 5th ranked team in the state and just beat Oxford, 26 to 4, weeks before. Oxford rolled their best baker game of the day, 204 to Farmington’s 173 and cruised to a 363 to 332 victory.
This advanced the Wildcats into the finals versus another state ranked team, Lake Orion. The Dragons are ranked 4th in the state and sit atop the OAA Red division tied with Oxford. The Wildcats won game one, 191 to 187, to take a four-pin lead. Game two was back and forth and went right down to the last frames. The Dragons opened in the 10th frame while the Wildcats shot strikes in the 9th and 10th to tie the mighty Dragons at 159.
The four-pin victory in game one would prove to be the difference and brought home the title.
Mya Bruno was a medal winner with a top 10 game of 234.