Baldwin Girls Bowling Takes Home Program’s First Conference Title

When Nick LaForgia first became the girls’ bowling coach at Baldwin High School 11 years ago, he had a hard time getting players to join the team. For the first couple of years of the program’s history, LaForgia said it felt a bit more like a club than a team, focusing on getting out to the bowling alley, having fun and letting the scores fall where they may.

“My old pitch used to be, ‘Hey, what other sport can you play on but also order nachos and French fries?’” LaForgia told Patch Wednesday.

In recent years, however, the mood of the program shifted.

“We went from a team which felt more like a club, trying to get more people on and just trying to get people to come down and have fun, to really becoming a lot more serious, and realizing that there was a lot of potential here, and that we had a lot of talented athletes,” LaForgia said.

That shift culminated this year in a first for Baldwin girls’ bowling: a conference championship.

“It’s really special. We've been working towards us for 11 years,” LaForgia said. “When I came in, 11 years ago, there wasn't a girls's team. I've tried to figure out if we've ever won the conference before, if there was a girls' team before me. And I found no evidence of it. So as far as I know, this is the first time the girls have ever won the conference championship. It took us 11 years to get there. I wish it was a little bit faster, but here we are.”

The conference win wasn’t without close calls for the Baldwin bowlers; the team finished second in the conference each of the last three years. For seniors Kaci Carpenter and Morgan-Alexis Ranson, who started bowling as freshmen, those near misses almost made it feel like

“For the last three years, we've kind of been like, ‘okay, whatever, second, second, second.’ And then finally, this year, when it was coming down to the end of the season, [LaForgia] started talking to us, like, ‘guys, we actually have a chance of winning this year. We can actually win,’” Carpenter told Patch. “So we all talked before games, to make sure to hype each other up when we did good. High fives were a huge thing with us.”

“It was amazing. When we found out we had the chance to win, we were all like, ’okay, guys, we have to get ready for this. We have to lock in,’” Ranson said. “And then once we found out, it was just like, ‘wow, we really did this.’”

LaForgia said the conference title race came down to the final three games of the year, but said the girls’ team made their biggest rolls when the pressure was on.

“The scoring…it's out of 11 points. And in those last three games, we didn't drop a single point,” LaForgia said. “We went basically perfect the last three games, and that put us over the hump.”

For Carpenter and Ranson, it’s the conclusion of a journey that started before they were in high school. Carpenter’s older brother bowled, while Ranson’s older sister was on the team.

“I always saw him bowling, so I was like, ‘That looks fun,’” Carpenter said. “So I ended up joining, and then I became really close with the girls on the team. And it's a good outlet to be able to go after school and bowl and hang out and stuff.

“As a family, we used to go out and go bowling to help her get better,” Ranson said. “And I was like, ‘wait, this is actually kind of fun.’ So I decided to go to a bowling team.”

As for how the team kept its composure down the stretch, locking in to lock down the conference title, the senior leaders said it was important to convey to their teammates that they had each other’s backs. If one bowler missed a shot here or there, they said, the rest of the team would pick up the slack.

“I get in my head a lot, and that causes me to do bad on the lanes. So these pep talks really helped me, because it's like, ‘okay, I got this. If I do bad, I have others who could pick it up for me,’” Ranson said. “It's a team. It's a team. We have to work together to get the highest score. And it really just helped me when I'm on the lanes. I'm like, ‘okay, I’ve got this, I’ve got to do this for my team.’ And then, in the end we did.”

“We were like, ‘guys, just remember to breathe,’ because my biggest thing is [that] when I put pressure on myself, I fail. So I was just basically [saying], ‘Just breathe. We’ve got this, keep doing what we're doing. We've been doing great the whole season. If we keep up what we're doing, we will succeed. So just keep doing what you're doing, you got it. We're going to be there for each other,’” Carpenter added. “And also, with the way bowling works, it’s six of us bowling, and then out of those six scores, only four get taken. So a very big thing for us is, ‘hey, if you have a bad game, it is okay, because there's other people around you that will get their scores up if you don't do good.’

For their coach, it was a full-circle moment watching a pair of student-athletes he’s known since they were much younger grow and become leaders in the bowling program. The conference title, he said, is a bonus.

“I coached both their siblings. That's what kind of makes it special to me, too, is that I've known both of them before that four years [in high school]. They've been on my team for four years, but I think I've known both of them since they were…10? Before that,” LaForgia said. “So, to see them be little kids at the bowling alley, watching us, coaching their siblings, and then having them be the ones with me for four years, and then finally reaching that goal is really special for me.”

LaForgia said this year’s bowling team has 17 players, the biggest squad they’ve had in program history. While a conference title represents a new high for the program, the coach said it’s important to focus on the lessons that can be learned from the sport.

“The messaging that I always tried to push across was that it's one ball at a time, and it's very easy to get frustrated. I bowl a lot of my life time, and [sometimes] I’d get really frustrated, and I just want to throw the ball in the opposite direction,” LaForgia said. “Sometimes you just have those days, but we should try to relate it to real life. Life's not easy, and you’ve got to go out there, and it's just one ball at a time. And you do your best every day. And not every day is going to be your best, but if you put that effort in, you focus and you never forget, and don't let the frustration get to you, it just shows where you can succeed.”