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Regina excels in spite of being shorthanded
Updated: January 28, 2013 2:43PM
In hockey, a power play signals a team has at least a one-man advantage over its opposition.
By that reasoning, it could be said that every girls team that bowls against Regina is on a power play this season.
That’s because Regina has only four members on its varsity squad when there are five slots that need to be filled for matches.
“Having four girls on a team is very difficult,” senior Mercedes Munoz said. “Emily Casaletto and I are basically the lead bowlers and I feel that it sometimes gives us stress, especially having bad knees.”
Bad knees or not, coach Pete Clark has had to lean on Munoz and Casaletto as his lead bowlers so far this season. He said that Casaletto, his anchor bowler, is averaging about a 180 per game this season, while Munoz is averaging about a 165.
The team is in fourth place in the eight-team Girls Catholic Athletic Conference, with a conference record standing at 15-15, with a conference record standing at 15-15, according to Clark. All this despite the team competing shorthanded.
“We don’t have that fifth person which means that we have to have a blind score,” explained Clark. “That max (score) is 100.”
Clark said he has five bowlers on the JV squad, but all are new bowlers with barely any experience, if not none at all. As a result, he goes with his team of four, with senior Kasey Fyda and junior Meaghann Mullally joining Munoz and senior Casaletto.
Munoz said that her high game this year has been a 265 and that both Casaletto and her have been shooting more 200 games than expected. But Clark said he would like to see more consistency from them, and the team as a whole.
“We’re trying to hone in on technique and form in practice,” he said. “We practice different shots and setups since the houses we play at have different oil patterns.”
Clark explained that some patterns are longer or shorter, while others are to a different side of the center. That, along with differences between wood and synthetic surfaces, impacts how the bowlers should approach each match.
In the GCAC, there are 14 matches during the regular season and all eight teams are represented. It is the 15th match, though, on Jan. 26 that crowns the conference champion. Clark allowed that Resurrection and Loyola are vying for first place, but that he feels like Regina can take third. So does Munoz.
“I feel that if we keep improving, we could get third place,” she said.
