BOWLING GREEN Ky. - Its back to the wall after an opening loss Friday, the Midway women's bowling team rallied all the way to the final round of the Mid-South Championships before finally running out of gas Saturday.
The fourth-seeded Eagles eliminated fifth-seeded Tennessee Wesleyan and second-seeded Cumberlands (Ky.), then swept their way into a do-or-die matchup with No. 1 seed Pikeville, before the Bears answered with a sweep of their own to capture the league title.
After losing to Wesleyan in the opening round of the double-elimination tournament, the Eagles were able to exact revenge with a 4.5-2.5 win to begin Saturday. After the teams traded wins and the third game ended in a 144-144 tie, the Eagles responded with back-to-back victories in the fourth (198-140) and fifth (170-157) games, then clinched a best-of-seven win in game seven, where they came out on top 211-168.
Midway took that momentum and ran with it, proceeding to win eight of its next nine games against the MSC's top two teams. A 203-180 loss in game two was the only blemish against Cumberlands, as Midway won the opener 211-182, before rattling off consecutive victories of 176-152, 205-198 and 211-165 in games three, four and five.
The biggest surprise may have come against No. 1-seed Pikeville. Needing to win two matches to eliminate a Bears team that had been unbeaten in tournament play to that point, the Eagles seemed primed to do so after not only upsetting Pikeville, but doing so via a four-game sweep. Game finals were 222-214, 181-174, 180-167 and 190-180.
Midway then seemed to be in shape to steal game one of the winner-take-all finale as it opened with strikes on five of the first seven frames. Unfortunately, the Bears were able to rally and capture the game by a narrow 200-196 margin.
They then proceeded to steal all the momentum as well. Pikeville topped 200 pins in every remaining game, closing out with wins of 208-162, 206-182 and 215-168.
Despite narrowly missing on their ultimate goal, the Eagles should have a strong momentum boost going forward. They are next in action on March 9-10, when they travel to Texas for the Fort Worth Sectional Tournament, which is part of the Intercollegiate Team Championships.
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