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Photos by Erin Nelson Sweeney.
Oak Mountain’s Emma Hawkins and Spain Park’s Michael Kimble II celebrate during the AHSAA Class 6A-7A South Regional bowling tournament at Vestavia Bowl on Friday, Jan. 19, 2024. Photos by Erin Nelson Sweeney.
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Photo by Erin Nelson Sweeney.
Spain Park’s Luke Eaton, left, and Michael Kimble II hug after the Jags defeated Spanish Fort in the Baker round during the AHSAA Class 6A-7A South Regional Tournament at Vestavia Bowl in Vestavia Hills on Friday, Jan. 19, 2024. Photo by Erin Nelson Sweeney.
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Photo by Erin Nelson Sweeney.
Oak Mountain’s Jenna Burson fist-bumps Emma Hawkins during the AHSAA Class 6A-7A South Regional Tournament at Vestavia Bowl on Friday, Jan. 19, 2024. Photo by Erin Nelson Sweeney.
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Photo by Erin Nelson Sweeney.
Spain Park’s Luke Eaton reacts after rolling a strike as the Jags compete in the Baker round against Spanish Fort during the AHSAA Class 6A-7A South Regional Tournament at Vestavia Bowl in Vestavia Hills on Friday, Jan. 19, 2024. Photo by Erin Nelson Sweeney.
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Photo by Erin Nelson Sweeney.
The Eagles rally together during the AHSAA Class 6A-7A South Regional Tournament at Vestavia Bowl on Friday, Jan. 19, 2024. Photo by Erin Nelson Sweeney.
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Photo by Erin Nelson Sweeney.
Oak Mountain’s Emma Hawkins reacts during the AHSAA Class 6A-7A South Regional Tournament at Vestavia Bowl on Friday, Jan. 19, 2024. Photo by Erin Nelson Sweeney.
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Photo by Erin Nelson Sweeney.
Spain Park’s Evan Kelly rolls the ball down the lane as the Jags compete in the Baker round against Spanish Fort during the AHSAA Class 6A-7A South Regional Tournament at Vestavia Bowl in Vestavia Hills on Friday, Jan. 19, 2024. Photo by Erin Nelson Sweeney.
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Photo by Erin Nelson Sweeney.
Oak Mountain’s Emma Hawkins rolls the ball down the lane during the AHSAA Class 6A-7A South Regional Tournament at Vestavia Bowl on Friday, Jan. 19, 2024. Photo by Erin Nelson Sweeney.
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Photo by Erin Nelson Sweeney.
Spain Park’s Luke Eaton reacts after rolling a strike as the Jags compete in the Baker round against Spanish Fort during the AHSAA Class 6A-7A South Regional Tournament at Vestavia Bowl in Vestavia Hills on Friday, Jan. 19, 2024. Photo by Erin Nelson Sweeney.
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Photo by Erin Nelson Sweeney.
Spain Park’s Connor Shamblin rolls the ball down the lane as the Jags compete in the Baker round against Spanish Fort during the AHSAA Class 6A-7A South Regional Tournament at Vestavia Bowl in Vestavia Hills on Friday, Jan. 19, 2024. Photo by Erin Nelson Sweeney.
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Photo by Erin Nelson Sweeney.
Spain Park’s Michael Kimble II rolls the ball down the lane as the Jags compete in the Baker round against Spanish Fort during the AHSAA Class 6A-7A South Regional Tournament at Vestavia Bowl in Vestavia Hills on Friday, Jan. 19, 2024. Photo by Erin Nelson Sweeney.
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Photo by Erin Nelson Sweeney.
Oak Mountain’s Lauren Schuessler reacts during the AHSAA Class 6A-7A South Regional Tournament at Vestavia Bowl on Friday, Jan. 19, 2024. Photo by Erin Nelson Sweeney.
The Oak Mountain girls and Spain Park boys punched their ticket to the high school bowling state tournament last Friday by way of the South Regional Tournament, held at Vestavia Bowl.
Spain Park’s boys won the Class 6A-7A bracket, while Oak Mountain’s girls advanced to the semifinals. The top four teams in each regional advance to the state tournament. Due to travel issues, the North Regional will be completed later this week.
In the two-day tournament format, the first day consists of traditional games, with total scores used to determine seeding for a single elimination bracket on the second day. The bracket is contested with a best-of-seven set of Baker games, games in which five bowlers from each team bowl two frames to make up a single game.
Spain Park earned the No. 4 seed in the bracket. The Jags defeated Spanish Fort 4-0 in the opening round, before blowing past Thompson 4-1 in the semifinals. The championship round was highly competitive, as Spain Park won 4-3. Stanhope Elmore took a 3-2 lead after five games, before the Jags bowled a pair of 200-plus games to take the title.
Oak Mountain’s girls earned the No. 3 seed, and took down Auburn 4-0 in the opening round. All four games were close, but the Eagles notched the sweep to clinch the state berth. Against Thompson in the semifinals, Oak Mountain won the first two games, but Thompson got hot and rolled off four straight to win the match.
Stanhope Elmore beat Thompson 4-0 in the final.
The state tournament is now set for Feb. 1-2 in Mobile after being pushed back a week.
