Eastern Shore hoping for an at large bid, will await NCAA draw
VIRGINIA BEACH, Virginia — The University of Maryland Eastern Shore threw some good shots on Sunday in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Championship semifinal against Delaware State, but at the time the pins just didn’t seem to cooperate.
The Hawks (73-50) lost the Traditional match by just 32 pins and then struggled to make the right moves before falling in Baker and the Mega match 2-0. The Hornets went on to lose to North Carolina A&T State in the afternoon final.
Junior Brooke Roberts (Port Orange, Florida) was named to the All-Tournament Team.
Eastern Shore has had a good showing this year despite several setbacks in the offseason and will await the NCAA Tournament draw on Wednesday (March 30) to see if the team did enough to earn an at-large bid.
“Even today wasn’t a bad day,” Hawks coach Roger Petrin said. “We actually bowled pretty well. Our scores didn’t show how well we actually bowled. We had a lot of shots that could have easily struck and at very key moments in the match.”
There were times when a timely strike would have changed the momentum of the match during Traditional play. But, as it wore on, the Hornets did more damage and took a 1016-984 victory.
“We had some really good shots in our ninth frame especially that just didn’t strike,” Petrin said. “I think we would have had a three-bagger, a four-bagger, and a double going into the frame and all three of them were really good shots and none of them struck.”
Gabriella Ochoa Hubbard (Nogales, Sonora, Mexico) led The Shore with a 215, while Elizabeth Ross (Schenectady, New York) had a 212. Brooke Driver (Woodbridge, Virginia) added a 194, Paulina Torres (Ponce, Puerto Rico) scored a 185 and Roberts had an uncharacteristic 179 even after a late surge.
“It was just a couple of hits away,” Petrin said. “We can look at our spare shooting and say we lost because of spare shooting, but we made just as many as they did. At that point, it came down to who struck more at that point and they struck more than us.”
The total pinfall Baker battle got out of hand quickly with Eastern Shore dropping behind 38 pins after the first game. By the end of game 3, the deficit was 99 pins and by the end, it was 162.
“Sometimes you lose to someone having less shape to the pins and sometimes you win with it,” Petrin said “I believe we bowled every bit as good as they did shot-making wise. They had the better matchups. They had the better shapes to hit the pins. They can hit the light. They can hit flush. They can hit high and they sent pins flying all over the place. We got our breaks too, but it wasn’t near the amount they were able to move pins around. It’s not lucking it created.
“Their slow ball speed helped them to open up a lane where we weren’t able to do so,” Petrin said. “We had a game plan and we ended up moving back right and we did better when we moved back right, but by that point, they were already more than 100 pins out of the Baker match.”
For more information on Eastern Shore Athletics visit http://www.easternshorehawks.com/.