by Frank Aceto
Associate Sports Editor
They had a fantastic start.
And then they hit an unexpected wall.
Such a slump seemed destined to ruin a very successful season. The Lady Explorers, on the other hand, refused to let that happen.
Hudson will be sending its first bowling team to the state tournament after the Lady Explorers finished fifth with a score of 3,771 during district competition Feb. 28 at AMF Hall of Fame Lanes in Canton. The top five teams qualified for the state meet, which is scheduled to take place at Shawnee Lanes in Chillicothe. The action is set to begin at 11 a.m.
Canton GlenOak won the competition with a 3,891. Youngstown Boardman (3,877), Minerva (3,815) and Hubbard (3,778) finished second, third and fourth, respectively. The top five teams advanced to the state tournament.
Hudson, which started off 10-0, had been in sort of a funk in recent weeks. The Lady Explorers struggled with consistency since the hot start and didn’t look like a team that could post a good enough score to reach the state meet.
That changed dramatically.
“They weren’t bowling like they were capable of bowling,” said Lady Explorers head coach Tucker Bethem, who has been with the program since it started nine years ago. “Did they ever turn it on at the right time.”
Samantha Kachele, who had struggled recently, sure did. She led Hudson with games of 203, 237 and 212 for a 652 series.
“Sam’s performance at sectionals was very uncharacteristic of her,” Bethem said. “She practiced at Hall of Fame Lanes [Feb. 24]. She hadn’t been hitting her target well. Boy, did she solve that. I told her if she hit her spots, she would get strikes all day.”
To encourage Kachele, who leads the team with a 190 average, Bethem gave her an unusual nickname.
“I called her ‘All Day,’” he said. “She was hitting her spots. I think she had a stretch where she had five or six strikes in a row.”
Natalie Briganti was next for the Lady Explorers with games of 192, 175 and 193. Briganti is second on the team with a 181 average.
Also competing were Libby Wasserbauer (176-162-166), Mindy Meredith (132-179-191) and Kayla Meehan (150-183-147).
Despite these stellar scores, Hudson had to sweat a little bit.
They rolled a woeful 128 in one of their baker games, which opened the door for other teams to knock them out of the qualifying spots.
“That one baker game stuck out like a sore thumb,” Bethem said. “We had seven open frames in that game.”
Nevertheless, two off-games in the baker series by Canfield allowed Hudson, which also struggled in its opening game, to advance.
“It was total team effort,” Bethem said. “I wanted to really emphasize trying to get their spirits up. We wanted them to cheer each other on. We did a lot of standing up instead of sitting down.”
Hudson doesn’t expect to simply participate at the state tournament.
“Who knows what can happen,” Bethem said. “I have to attribute all the hard work and dedication they’ve shown.”
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