The Youngstown State Women’s Bowling team is in the Final Four for the second time in program history. The Lady Penguins won the Lansing Regional in Lansing, Mich. YSU by beating each of the other three teams at the Regional. The team Nebraska in the winner-take-all, best-of-seven Baker match to win the title. Their first appearance in the national semifinals was in 2021 while being NCAA Regional participants for four straight years. The Lady Penguins are just another example of how Ohio College athletics are a dominate force in any sport they participate in.
The other three teams in the final four are Jacksonville State, Arkansas State, and Sam Houston. All three teams and Youngstown State are all members of Conference USA.
Youngstown State will compete against Arkansas State at 9 a.m. on Friday,
The ladies then will bowl again at 3 p.m. in the double-elimination bracket.
If they win both matches on Friday, they will bowl for the National Championship on ESPNU on Saturday at 9 p.m. If YSU splits the two matches on Friday, it will bowl an elimination match on Saturday at 9 a.m. for a chance to bowl in the title match later that evening.
National Championships are the highest level of competition.
In my article NCAA College Bowling Helps Create A Better Future, I talked about the benefits of college bowling to the young bowler and college student. One of the things I neglected to point out is not only do the players get a chance to compete, they get a chance to compete at the highest level. The NCAA National Championships are the highest level of competition in college bowling. The team that wins the Championship every year is touted as being the best in college bowling.
The reason I say this is the amount of work and determination that encompasses the National Championships. The ladies can be bowling for hours on end. Then possibly have to get up the next day and do it again. If they are successful in the morning they get to come back later in the day and do it again. Why do they do this? Because they have the drive, the determination, and the desire to be the best in the game. To be the best team in the nation for that year.
What the competition entails.
The first round is a traditional format, which is “standard” scoring such as in a house league or evening out with friends. Each of the five players bowl a full game, with each individual’s total scores added together for the team total. Whichever team has the highest score from all five individual games wins the point and leads the mega-match 1-0.
In the second round is a Baker format where the total pinfall of five games determines the top team. In the Baker format, lineups consist of five bowlers with each being responsible for two frames in each game. The leadoff player bowls in frames one and six, the second person in the lineup bowls in frames two and seven, etc. If the team that wins the traditional round also wins the Baker pinfall round, it wins the match 2-0. If the team that lost the traditional round wins the Baker point, the mega-match is tied 1-1 and goes to a best-of-seven Baker match play format.
The best-of-seven tiebreaker format is instead of adding five games together to determine a total, all that matters is the score of each game. Winning 300-175 of 176-175 has the same weight. The first team to four games wins the point and wins the mega-match 2-1.
National leaders.
Junior Jade Cote not only leads the team in strike percentage, but she also leads the nation with a 58.2 strike percentage.
Her accomplishments also include earning a bronze medal in trios at the Youth Pan American Championship as a member of Team Canada. She also had fourth-place finishes in the team and doubles formats in which she averaged 224.83 the highest in the entire field
Another team leader is Megan Grams, a fifth year senior who was named to the Southland Bowling League Academic Honor Roll. She Was a member of the All-Tournament Team at the Southland Bowling League Championships other accomplishments in the tournament are.
Averaged 198.42 in 26 traditional games.
Topped 200 13 times.
Posted a season-best 274 game against Vanderbilt at the Southland Championship.
Averaged 236.75 in her four games at the conference tournament.
For the year she Bowled in 625 Baker frames and averaged 19.85 pins per frame in the format. Overall, averaged 19.83 pins in her 895 frames.
Posted a 47.26 strike percentage, a 69.92 spare percentage, and an 84.13 fill percentage.
You can see the complete Penguin roster Here.
How to watch the event.
The first three rounds will be streamed live through links on NCAA.com.
The National Championship match will be at 9 p.m. on Saturday, and it will be broadcast live on ESPNU.
Brad is a Certified Webmaster with over 25 years of experience. He is the webmaster/writer/editor of On The Move with Sportzkelz.
He is a content creator and owns the Facebook page Big Rad Bowling, and the YouTube channel Big Rad Bowling
Brad has covered many top bowling events such as the NCAA Women’s Championships in Columbus, Ohio. He has also covered the PBA 50+ event at Wayne Webb’s Columbus Bowl, and the Mega event at HP Lanes in Columbus.
He is an accomplished senior bowler holding one Senior Singles League Championship. He is the current year average leader for the LBA Seniors singles league.
