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Photo by Erin Nelson.
Oak Mountain’s Grace Smith competes in the girls AHSAA Class 6-7A state bowling tournament at The Alley in Gadsden on Thursday, Jan. 26, 2023. Photo by Erin Nelson.
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Photo by Erin Nelson.
Oak Mountain’s Emma Hawkins competes in the girls AHSAA Class 6-7A state bowling tournament at The Alley in Gadsden on Thursday, Jan. 26, 2023. Photo by Erin Nelson.
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Photo by Erin Nelson.
Oak Mountain’s Abby O’Dell competes in the girls AHSAA Class 6-7A state bowling tournament at The Alley in Gadsden on Thursday, Jan. 26, 2023. Photo by Erin Nelson.
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Photo by Erin Nelson.
Oak Mountain’s Abby O’Dell competes in the girls AHSAA Class 6-7A state bowling tournament at The Alley in Gadsden on Thursday, Jan. 26, 2023. Photo by Erin Nelson.
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Photo by Erin Nelson.
Oak Mountain’s Lauren Schuessler competes in the girls AHSAA Class 6-7A state bowling tournament at The Alley in Gadsden on Thursday, Jan. 26, 2023. Photo by Erin Nelson.
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Photo by Kyle Parmley
The Oak Mountain High School girls bowling team finished third in the Class 6A-7A state tournament on Jan. 27, 2023, at The Alley in Gadsden.
GADSDEN -- The Oak Mountain High School girls bowling team made history this season, posting a third-place finish in the Class 6A-7A state tournament Jan. 27 at The Alley in Gadsden.
The semifinals appearance was a first for the Eagles, as they advanced in the state tournament for the first time in program history.
Oak Mountain’s girls put forth a clutch performance over the two-day state tournament in Gadsden. The Eagles grabbed the No. 3 seed after a day of play, which featured three sets of traditional games to set the field for bracket play.
Emma Hawkins and Grace Smith were honored on the all-tournament team as being in the top eight individually on the first day. Hawkins was fourth, as she bowled games of 159, 160 and 175 to total 494. Smith was eighth, bowling 128, 198 and 145 for a total of 471.
JoJo Smith also had a strong performance, bowling 461. Jenna Burson, Lauren Schuessler, Katie Huffman, Madison Thompson and Abby O’Dell all contributed to the Eagles’ run as well.
The Eagles certainly made things interesting the second day of the tournament. The bracket play format was a best-of-seven series of Baker games, in which five bowlers each bowl two frames to make up a single game.
Oak Mountain faced No. 6 seed Baker in the opening round, rallying from a deficit to win the match in seven games. The teams alternated the first four games, before Baker edged the Eagles 123-120 in the fifth game to take a 3-2 lead in the match. But a 130-115 win for Oak Mountain in the sixth forced a seventh game, and the Eagles ran away with a 151-111 victory.
The Eagles drew No. 2 Sparkman in the semifinals and gave the two-time defending state champions a test. Sparkman won the first game 176-125, before the Eagles rose up and earned a 174-166 win. Sparkman got back on track with a 169-148 win in the third, but Oak Mountain came right back with a 160-158 win in the fourth. Sparkman was able to win the last two games to take the match.
American Christian beat Sparkman in six games in the final to win the state title.
On the boys side, Sparkman beat Spain Park in a seven-game state title match.
Oak Mountain reached the semifinals of the South Regional tournament the week prior to advance to state. The Eagles earned the No. 4 seed after a day of play, and beat Daphne in the opening round of bracket play to qualify for state. At the regional tournament, Hawkins was third overall and JoJo Smith was eighth.
