Mark Morris went into Saturday with a 39-pin lead, and quickly extended it to well over 100 pins early in the Baker games.
But Timberline outscored the Monarchs by 67 pins in the eighth, ninth and 10th games to cut the deficit to 48 pins.
“We kept looking over (at the scoreboard),” Mark Morris bowler Brittany Schlauch said. “It was crazy, and we were like, ‘We can get this!’ A flip of the switch came on.”
In the 11th game, Mark Morris started strong, then surged late with strikes in the sixth, seventh and 10th frames. Schlauch closed out the game by rolling three strikes in the 10th frame for a 199 score.
Timberline was victimized with a split late in the 11th game, and ended up with a 156. The Monarchs’ lead climbed near 100 pins, and they never looked back, winning with a 7,694 total.
The Blazers ended up with 7,574, and their first state runner-up finish in girls bowling.
“We tried to focus on what we do, and what we could control – and that was our own shots,” Timberline coach John Wilson said. “They’re … obviously very good.
“I’ve got three of my top five (bowlers) coming back. And I had a couple others (who were non-state participants) here today, just to see what this is all about.”
Todd Milles: 253-597-8442 todd.milles@thenewstribune.com
