Baker Bowling Tournament At Lancer Lanes

On December 19, 2015, sixteen different bowling teams from the state of Iowa traveled to Lancer Lanes for a baker bowling tournament hosted by Prairie. Because I am a member of the Kennedy Bowling JV team, I went to watch it to support my varsity teammates. During the first half of the tournament, the sixteen teams were split into two divisions. Each team would play the other seven teams in their division in two baker games, and the top eight teams who scored the most points in their fourteen baker games would advance to bracket. In bracket, the number one seeded team would face the number eight seeded team, the number two team would face the number seven team, and so on. The winners of the first round of bracket would move on to the semi-finals and then the winners would play for the championship while the other semi-finalists who came short would play for third place.
Most people who read this may not know what exactly a baker bowling game is, unless of course they are familiar with bowling. While I was unaware of exactly what it was at the beginning of the season, I have quickly become familiar to what it is and the importance of certain aspects in order to achieve a high score. In the baker bowling format, the coach selects five of six players on their team, and places them in order 1-5. The player in the first spot bowls the first and sixth frame, and this pattern continues with the fifth spot player eventually bowling the fifth and tenth frames.
Order is very important in baker bowling, as some players thrive in certain slots, while they tend to not do as well in others. For the most part, the best player on the team bowls in the fifth position, or the anchor position. This is because they have the opportunity to basically bowl three frames in just the tenth frame if they can strike. It also puts them in a position to seal the game if the scores are close. The next best player in the team usually bowls either in the first spot or the fourth spot, which are both very important and crucial in the game. The first spot is important because the player has the task of setting the tone for the team and getting some much needed early momentum. Momentum is a key in baker bowling because players tend to bowl well if they're team is doing well and they aren't too stressed out. If the first player can gain momentum early, the team has a good shot at bowling a great game. The fourth spot is also very important because it is the set-up spot. Like I mentioned earlier, the tenth frame is very important and many times can be a deciding frame of the game. The player who bowls in the fourth slot needs to set the fifth player up in the best position to win. If the fourth player bowls a spare, the first ball of the fifth player is doubled. Likewise, if the fourth player bowls a strike, the fifth player's next two balls are doubled, which has the potential to add 20 points to a teams score. The second and third spot are also very important in a baker's game because the players in those spots need to either strike or spare to keep momentum going, and any time a spare or strike isn't bowled, the opposing team has a chance to take a big lead, or if they're losing, a chance to come back and cut the lead. Personally for me, I bowl the best in the fourth or fifth position because I like having control of the game, and I tend to do well under a lot of pressure. My worst position would probably be the first position because I don't feel like I have control of the outcome of the game and I'm not as good as starting momentum as I am at continuing it or capitalizing on it.
For Kennedy, the six players that were selected to play on varsity for the tournament were Aaron, Max, Dakota, Bert, Nick, and James. For the most part of the tournament, as well as most of our meets, Bert played in the fifth spot, as he is one of our most reliable players in getting strikes when we need them. Nick usually played in the first position, and was probably the most consistent throughout the day at getting strikes. The rest of the team was jumbled around quite a bit, with Aaron, being a freshman and being a former JV player,  sitting out the most of all the Cougars, although he did perform very well when he was called upon.
In the first fourteen games against the seven teams in their division, including Jefferson, Vinton-Shellsburg, Washington, Durant, Marion, Iowa City West, and Louisa-Muscatine the team played very well. They played each team twice, with their total score deciding whether or not they would make bracket. In their first two games against Vinton-Shellsburg, the Cougars won one of the two games, however in total points, they managed to outscore their opponents. Next they played Jefferson, and unfortunately lost both games with Jefferson striking multiple times in a row. They split their next two games with Washington, but outscored the Warriors in total points. After that they won two straight games against Durant, and then won two more against Marion. The Cougs then went on to outscore Iowa City West, but then get outscored by Louisa-Muscatine after splitting the series.
After a long and suspenseful wait, the teams that made bracket were announced. The Cougars ended up celebrating after earning the fifth seed, outscoring 11 of the 16 teams in total points. The bracket games were played in a different format than the first round, with the teams playing in a best of three series. In their quarter-final match up, Kennedy went head-to-head against the fourth-seeded team of West-Delaware. With strong performances from Bert, Nick, James, Dakota, and Max, Kennedy decisively upset their opponents in two games, not even needing a third game to seal the deal. Their semi-final matchup came against the first-seeded team, the North High Wildcats. In the first game, the Cougars started off with five strong frames, but fell apart in the final half of the game dropping a close one to the Wildcats. After switching lanes with the Wildcats and moving closer to Kennedy supporters, the Cougs came back strong winning a decisive match up against the nervous-looking Wildcats. In the third and final game, the Cougars once again started strong leading by more than 20 pins entering the sixth frame. Unfortunately for the Cougs, anchor Bert Goodwin missed a spare in the fifth that could have largely helped Kennedy seal the game. The Wildcats came charging back with a run of strikes, and the Cougs began getting tense. James missed a spare that he had been making all day which ended up hurting the Cougars a lot. Going into the tenth frame, the Cougars had already lost the game. Even if Bert could manage to throw three strikes, which would have been very possible, the Cougars would have lost the game by one point in a heartbreaker. Bert threw a strike on his first ball, knowing that they had already lost, but could not finish the game as he would have liked to. Although the Cougars may not have made it to the finals where they wanted to be against the Linn-Mar Lions, they knew they still had to play in a rematch against Jefferson for third place. After winning the first game, the Cougars lost momentum and looked too down to compete the way they were capable of, and they ended up losing the remaining two games finishing in fourth place.
While the Cougars did not finish the day like they would have preferred, they still had a great day and a lot to be proud of. Going into the tournament with a young team of underdogs, the Cougars managed to upset the fifth-seeded team in the first round, and finished fourth out of sixteen schools throughout the state. This team has a huge amount of potential, and if they can keep working at it, and fix a few mistakes here and there, I have no doubt that they could come back next year and win the whole tournament. This season is still far from over, and the Cougars will just keep on improving.