The Conestoga Valley bowling team continued its successful season — and the Lancaster-Lebanon League’s as well.
The league champions posted the top qualifying score, then won two matches to capture the boys team title at the Eastern Pennsylvania Regional Bowling Championships Saturday at Leisure Lanes.
The win capped off a tournament that saw the L-L take three of the four titles after Garden Spot’s Gavin Courtney and Penn Manor’s Eva Brubaker took the singles titles Friday.
Elizabethtown’s boys and Penn Manor’s girls also advanced to the six-team bracket-style final and qualified for the state tournament.
“That was indescribable,” said Conestoga Valley senior Ryan Muckle after the team’s exciting final game. “We knew that we were capable of qualifying (for the state tournament), we just had to get the job done. We really worked as a team together as a whole.”
The Buckskins, who have been gaining momentum as the season progressed, definitely had a team effort in posting the top score of 4,357 pins in the three standard games and six baker games of qualifying. That was 60 clear of No. 2 qualifier Middletown.
“It was actually a whole team effort,” said Conestoga Valley coach Maggie Gribble. “All six of them pitched in today. ... We never imagined being in first place, ever.
“The sky’s the limit for them right now.”
None of the Buckskins qualified for the singles finals Friday, including junior Josiah Casler and senior Ryan Muckle, who finished 1-2 at the L-L boys tourney.
“Individually, yes, they’ve done well, but they’re a team,” said Gribble. “They have a good time together and they’re just all proud of winning today.”
As one of the top two qualifiers, CV had a bye into the semifinals. There, the Buckskins defeated Wilson 2-0 (214-200 and 210-200), before blasting Daniel Boone 201-157 in the first game of the final.
There was some intrigue in the second game — and some hoopla.
In a close match, CV seemed to improve its prospects when Casler rolled a strike in the 10th. However, according to tournament rules, he needed to wait until Boone’s bowler had completed the seventh. Boone had the option of accepting the Casler’s outcome or have him roll again, which he did. Instead of the strike, he get eight pins on the first ball and only picked up one on the second.
That left for an exciting finish for the excitable Muckle in the 10th. Boone, finishing first, closed with a spare and 8-count for a 191, giving Muckle a clear chance to win. After one of numerous strikes for Muckle in the bracket finals on his first ball of the 10th, another near-perfect pocket shot, however, left a 10-pin.
Rather than calmly — or, on the other hand, nervously — prepare for what can be a difficult pickup for right-handed bowlers, Muckle instead implored his teammates and fans to make noise. They did and with the ball halfway down the lane, he turned around and joined them as he made the spare for a one-pin victory.
“Oh yeah, I love doing that and getting everybody hyped,” said Muckle. “It makes me feel more confident in myself.”
Elizabethtown and CV had two of the best records and game averages in Section Two of the L-L this year. They’re both continuing on after the Bears qualified fifth Saturday with 4,201 pins before losing 2-1 to Wilson in the quarterfinals.
“Our thought process was to just focus on our mental game and work on spares,” said Elizabethtown senior Derek Deardorff. “We missed states the last couple of years by one or two spares, so that’s what we focus on.”
One or two spares is an understatement. The Bears had been on the bubble line of qualifying for states in each of the last four years. They missed out by 7 pins each in 2020 and 2023, took eighth in 2022 and would've securely had a berth in 2021 with a fourth-place finish had COVID-19 restrictions not limited the field to the top-3.
Both E-town and CV will be trying to give the L-L back-to-back champions after Manheim Township won last year. The Blue Streaks were in the bottom half of qualifying Saturday.
Penn Manor, which placed second in last year’s regional and state girls tournament, fell 2-0 to Neshaminy in the quarterfinals. Shikellamy, which defeated the Comets in both the regional and state title matches last year, was again this year’s girls champion.
“Our goal for today was to make it to the state championships,” said Penn Manor coach Chris Vital. “We knew it would be a challenge with having a freshman who hasn’t bowled on these patterns much and a first-year sophomore who just started bowling this year. We battled hard all day.”
Among team awards given out Saturday, CV’s Daniel Subers had the second-high game (277) and second-high series (766) in qualifying to earn a spot on the boys all-star team. Warwick’s Taylor Miller (677) and Jaquith (662) were girls all-stars.
