Stanhope Elmore girls bowling wins South Regional championship

By DALTON MIDDLETON Sports Editor

For the second consecutive year, the Stanhope Elmore girls bowling team has claimed the AHSAA Class 6A/7A South Regional Bowling Tournament Championship.

Stanhope Elmore earned the south regional championship this weekend playing at Eastern Shore Lanes in Spanish Fort.

Stanhope beat Thompson, 988-842 (4-1), in the championship match. To get there, the Mustangs beat Oak Mountain, 831-689 (4-1), in the semifinals and beat Auburn, 627-455 (4-0), in the quarterfinals.

Stanhope now advances to the state championship this weekend at The Alley in Gadsden. The Mustangs will be joined by Thompson, Oak Mountain, and Baker from the south and American Christian, Sparkman, Hartselle and Hewitt-Trussville in the north.

Play will begin on Thursday, Jan. 26.

“The girls worked really well as a team this weekend,” Stanhope Elmore coach Bridget Wilson said. “All of my girls stepped up and carried when they needed to. We’ve really worked on finishing frames and they just really bowled well this weekend. I couldn’t be more proud of them. They make my coaching job easy.”

Alyssa Ward had one of the most impressive weekends of any bowler in the tournament. The Stanhope left-handed bowler was one of the only southpaws in the entire tournament, and she dominated play on both days.

On the opening day on Thursday, she led all bowlers with a 586 total score in three games. She bowled 204, 182, and 200 in her games. She was 11 pins better than teammates Samantha Wilson, and 22 pins better than the next closest bowler.

On Friday, she bowled the anchor, which means she bowled the 10th frame of each match, and Wilson said she bowled a strike on nearly every attempt in the day.

“Alyssa is my anchor bowler and she came through for us,” Wilson said. “I haven’t looked at the exact score she had, but I want to say she struck out in the 10th frame for us just about every time. She’s my southpaw and she was one of the only left-handed wrestlers. That lane is hers and she dominated it this weekend.” and humbling one to reach, Free is glad to put this behind him and get back to focusing on the current season for his two teams.

She wasn’t the only Stanhope Elmore bowler to shine however. Out of 40 bowlers in the tournament, Stanhope placed all five of its bowlers in the Top 18 in Thursday’s individual scores.

Ward placed first and Wilson placed second, but Stanhope also had a 6th-place finish along with 17th and 18th place.

The Stanhope Elmore boys also participated in the regional tournament, but the Mustangs did not make it out of the quarterfinals round on Friday and did not advance to the state championship.

The Mustangs were knocked out in the first round, 1,274-1205 (4-3) by Spanish Fort. It was the only boys match of the entire tournament to take all seven games to be completed.

Both of his teams have the chance to win the AISA Class 2A state championship this season, and they each helped their chances with the two wins on Tuesday.

The Edgewood girls are undefeated this season and are the No. 1-ranked team in AISA. The Edgewood boys do have three losses, but all three have come from larger schools. The Wildcats are undefeated against 2A and 1A schools, and are the No. 3-ranked team in AISA.

With the two wins over Autau- ga Academy on Tuesday, both teams moved to 4-0 in division play and both teams clinched a first-round bye in the AISA playoffs beginning in February. That means both teams will automatically be in the Elite Eight and start their playoff runs in the quarterfinals.

“I’m glad this 100th win is out of the way so there’s no distractions going forward,” Free said. “Both teams did a great job last night, but it’s only going to get harder from here. Both teams have a target on their back, and there’s a lot of things we have to do to improve and have a chance to be successful come playoff time.”