Blaze rout Lady Trojans

The Blackman High School girls' bowling team rolled in from Murfreesboro for its first-ever sectional match Saturday and left Holiday Bowl Hixson with District 7's first state-tournament girls' berth.

The Lady Blaze blazed that trail by chopping down Region 3 champion Soddy-Daisy 22-5. Led by individual state qualifiers Caitlin Hockensmith and Cara Dill along with Shelby Scott, Blackman finished five pins shy of 3,000 for the three games, but the Lady Trojans helped make the victory easier.

"The girls just weren't into it today for some reason," said Soddy-Daisy coach David O'Malley Sr., whose boys' team hosts Lawrence County at 2 p.m. Monday at Holiday Hixson. "Some days they're flat, but I've never seen the whole team not bowl."

The Lady Trojans totaled 2,546 pins at their home center after scoring 2,868 and 2,928 in their region matches Wednesday in East Ridge.

Senior Sara Merritt, one of their three individual state qualifiers, slightly exceeded her season average with a 171.3 per game Saturday, but she won only her first head-to-head match with Dill. Merritt's 180 led Soddy-Daisy (13-2) to four match wins in that first game, but Blackman (15-1) got the two bonus points for a 4-4 tie and an 11-pin lead, and then the Lady Blaze swamped Soddy-Daisy in game two with an 8-0 score and a 237 margin in pins.

"The second game killed us, but that first game really hurt us," O'Malley said. "We missed a lot of spares, and instead of being ahead 6-2 we were tied 4-4."

Hockensmith, who had a season average of 181, bowled a 208 in game one and had a 242 with nine strikes in game two. The sophomore left-hander began game three with two more strikes before settling down for a 170, while Scott was adding a 210 to her previous 180 and 179.

Faculty coach Evan Lancaster and volunteer coach Bob Stone reminded the Lady Blaze before the final game that some past Blackman teams had let 12-4 leads slip away.

"We told them to carry that momentum and finish strong, because you never know what will happen," Lancaster said. "And we didn't want to limp into the state. We wanted to keep that momentum going."

Blackman's only loss was in the Region 4 final to Columbia Central, which ended Walker Valley's season with a 23-4 win Saturday at Columbia. Lauren Smeltzer had two wins with a 212 and a 193 for Walker Valley (12-3), while fellow individual state qualifier Samantha Pope had a 170 and a 166 in her first two games and lefty Sarah Mitchell won her first matchup with a 155.