Two LHS bowlers hope to qualify for state individual championship

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Laconia was looking forward to hitting the lanes on Saturday in Claremont, but had to wait to Sunday for weather to clear enough for the trip. Scheduled to bowl were Pinkerton, Keene, Laconia and host school Stevens.
Laconia is looking up at the rest when it comes to Baker match play. "That is one part of our game that needs some work. It comes down to the kids putting too much pressure on themselves and wanting to do well." says Coach Jack Batchelder.
Of the ten Laconia athletes on the lanes, seven bowled their average or better in the standard games. Best performance of the day was Peter Stivali who bowled 173 and 138 for a 311 and increased his average by nine pins. Emilie Santiague increased by three and Samantha Batchelder and Trevor Lange each increased their average by two pins. Samantha finishes the regular season with a 134.06. She is hoping that will be enough to put her in the top 64 to be eligible to compete in the state championship individual competition set for February 23. Samantha hopes to join teammate Zina LaBrie who finished with a 138.56 average. Before this past weekend's matches started, the 64th spot was a 133.17 average.
Laconia will compete in the Team Finals on Saturday at Spare Time Lanes in Manchester. Every school will be there and teams will bowl in the Baker format, best four out of seven with winner moving on. The LHS Bowling team is grateful to Funspot for being the team's home lanes and allowing practice twice a week. "The extra practice this season has really helped the team to get better," said coach Jack Batchelder.