PLAINFIELD NORTH BOWLERS GOING BACK TO STATE

The Plainfield North Boys Bowling Team qualified for the State Championships at Orland Bowl on Saturday with one of the greatest second half comebacks in IHSA Sectionals history by climbing from 15th place to 6th place and erasing a 224 pin deficit.

The Tigers struggled early shooting 925 and 955 in their opening 2 games which put them in last place. Game 3 saw the Tigers start to get things going by shooting 1086. But it only moved them 30 pins closer to 6th place and up one spot to 15th.

The afternoon saw the Tigers go on an unprecedented 2-game run in Games 4 and 5. Jack Baggs led off the Tigers in both games with 9 straight strikes, shooting 277 and 279 in those games. The team responded by shooting total games of 1144 and 1125 to move all the way up from 15th place to 6th place with a 100 pin cushion over Joliet West and Bolingbrook. Beside Romeoville’s 292 pin comeback in Games 5 and 6 at the 2011 Sectionals to claim a State Qualifying Birth no other team before this moved themselves into a state qualifying position in the afternoon by as many pins. The Tigers made up all 224 and added another 103 for a 327 pin turnaround in just 2 games. Romeoville’s comeback was in games 5 and 6 and clinched their birth, where Plainfield North still had one tough game remaining.

The Tigers then saw some struggles at the beginning of Game 6 while Joliet West and Bolingbrook both shot 1013 forcing the Tigers to shooting at least 914 to advance. However the 5 bowlers of Baggs, Vinnie Spitzzeri, AJ Auriemma, Paul Conrad and Ryan Carlson began to finally string some strikes and convert their spares in frames 6-9 to put them in a position to qualify in the 10th frame. It all came down to Carlson, the final bowler for the Tigers in the 10th frame. His strike on the first ball in the 10th clinched 6th place and guaranteed a return trip to St. Clair Bowl downstate for a second straight IHSA State Championship.

The Tigers were paced by Baggs 1361 series, Conrad’s 1326, Carlson’s 1287 and Auriemma shooting 1154. All 8 bowlers contributed on the day, but the second slot in the lineup saw early struggles, It took a stellar sub job by Brad Dreyer, shooting 3 consecutive games of over 210 in games 2-4, to not only keep the Tigers alive, but be the catalyst in the tremendous comeback.

The Tigers will go downstate with one other SPC Conference School, Minooka, as well as Lockport as the 3 local area teams at the State Tournament this coming Friday and Saturday. 24 Schools and 30 individuals will start the tournament on Friday and bowl 6 games. The top 12 teams and 30 individuals not on one of the top 12 teams will advance to the final 6 games on Saturday to determine Team and Individual State Champions.