Plum girls get into championship act, win Western Regional team bowling title

By: Tribune-Review
Saturday, March 11, 2023 | 6:14 PM

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After seeing Plum’s Cade Schimmer win the WPIBL title and Sean Endler take the Western Regional crown in boys singles competition already this postseason, the Mustangs girls bowling team got into the championship act Saturday afternoon.

Plum defeated Norwin, 171-168, in the decisive game of the best-of-three finals to win the Western Regional girls team title at AMF Noble Manor Lanes.

Mareana Pilyih led the way for the Mustangs, making the all-tournament team as one of the top five bowlers in qualifying and rolling the high game of the day with a 254.

Freeport, the two-time defending regional girls champ, led the way in qualifying with a score of 3,533. Plum was second with a 3,429. They were followed by Deer Lakes (3,407), Norwin (3,312), Kiski Area (3,305) and Butler (3,215) in the top six.

Butler defeated Deer Lakes and Norwin topped Kiski Area in two-game sweeps in the quarterfinals. Plum beat Butler, and Norwin dethroned Freeport, also both in two-game sweeps, in the semifinals.

That set up the dramatic final matchup, where Plum won the first game 176-137 and Norwin took the second 192-180 to set up the winner-take-all Game 3.

Kiski Area’s Veronica Flanagan, Deer Lakes’ Kaylee Lipp, Freeport’s Julia Cummings and Hempfield’s Amelia Droste joined Pilyih on the all-tournament team. Lipp had the day’s second highest game with a 225.

The state tournament is set for March 17-18 in Erie.