Bowling at A-State advances to the Southland League Championship series

Arkansas – The Arkansas State bowling team won a 2-1 mega-match on Saturday to proceed to the Southland Bowling League Championship series after outlasting Sam Houston in a Baker best-of-seven series 4-3.

A-State triumphed 970-940, earning the usual pinfall point, thanks to 10 straight strikes in the fifth and sixth frames and a spotless eighth frame. Maggie Thoma finished with a 217, while Emma Stull finished with 219 to lead the Red Wolves. The other three bowlers for A-State were Faith Welch (184), Karli VanDuinen (175), and Brooklyn Buchanan (175).

The Red Wolves were down by 53 pins after Baker’s five games, but A-State went up by 13 pins after winning game three 257-191. Sam Houston won game five 199-167 to force the Baker best-of-seven series to decide the mega-match after A-State won game four 216-214 to lead by 15 going into game five.

A-State got out to a good start by winning the first two games, 196-178 and 226-182. Sam Houston came back, winning game three 215-189, but game four saw the Red Wolves score a total of 256-238, putting them in danger of losing game five. Sam Houston managed to win games five and six (218-210) and stay in the series, forcing a seventh game. A-State won the match by a score of 214-172 following four straight strikes in game seven.

Around noon on Sunday, the Red Wolves will start the championship series against the victor of Louisiana Tech vs. Sam Houston. If A-State lost the mega-match, the two teams would compete in a single Individual best-of-seven series to determine the champion. A-State is attempting to win its first Southland Bowling League title since 2018.

A-State enters the Southland Bowling League Championship undefeated and one victory from a spot in the NCAA Tournament. The NCAA Tournament selection show will be broadcast on NCAA.com on Wednesday at 3 p.m., and the Red Wolves are in a position to make their 15th consecutive appearance.