MCHS, Berwick to continue postseason play

The Morgan City High School girls’ bowling team and the Berwick High School boys’ bowling team both will continue their postseasons Monday as they compete in the Bi Regional round of the state bowling playoffs at Holiday Lanes in Bossier City.
Morgan City High School enters the bracket as the No. 4 seed and will open postseason play against No. 5 C.E. Byrd.
Morgan City attended bi-regionals two years ago and last year, the squad fell one game short of advancing to the state’s Final Four, falling to Vandebilt Catholic.
This year’s Morgan City squad returns the majority of its team from a year ago.
In the past two years, Morgan City has finished a combined 26-2.
This year’s team sports a 12-1 mark.
“They came out and did what they had to do all year,” Morgan City coach Michelle LaCombe said.
Morgan City’s only blemish this season was a loss to Ellender in the regular season finale. A year ago, Ellender advanced to the state’s final four and they are the top seed in Morgan City’s bi-region.
“You have to give credit to Ellender,” LaCombe said. “They (are) a great school and a great team.”
The team is led by Meghan Amador with a 177 average, while Hannah Pipes is right behind with a 176 average.
Morgan City’s next top four bowlers are Cayce Keton at 148, Ali Tregle at 133, Rylee Sartwell at 131 and Laura Nolazco at 128.
Byrd’s top bowlers are Storme Parsons at 179, Hanna Smith at 139, Hailey Bardouski at 132, Samantha Hicks at 127, Taylor Cooksey at 90 and Haley Kirton at 87.
While based on averages, LaCombe said Morgan City appears to have an advantage, she said an opponent must not be underestimated.
“In this sport, you just never know,” she said. “It’s all going to be about what the girls go out and do and how they perform on that given day. You always have to give credit to the person you’re bowling against. They could come out and bowl one of their best games against you, so you never, ever let your guard down.”
If Morgan City and Ellender both win their 1:20 p.m. first-round matches, the two teams will meet at 3:35 p.m.
If the teams clash again, LaCombe said her squad is ready for the match.
On the boys’ side, Berwick High, which finished its season with a 12-1 mark, is the No. 5 seed.
They will face No. 12 Breaux Bridge in the first round in an 11:15 a.m. contest.
Breaux Bridge’s top bowlers are Jake Melancon at 165, Alexander Lear at 158, Kalen Guidry, 132; Tanner Boudreaux, 130; Jimmy Fallon, 129; and Terry Fontenot, 128.
Berwick’s top six bowlers by average are Mark Lemoine at 191, Quentin Kelly, 189; Aaron Barrilleaux, 181; Blake Bergeron, 175; Christopher Beltran, 172; and Abram Gilder, 170.
Shepherd noted that among his top six, he has just one senior in Kelly.
“The team is very junior stacked,” he said.
If Berwick is to advance to the state’s Final Four, they could face two teams from their region in No. 1 seed South Terrebonne and No. 4 seed H.L. Bourgeois.
South Terrebonne, who received a first-round bye and must beat the winner of No. 8 C.E. Byrd and No. 9 Comeaux to advance to the final of the Bi Region.
Meanwhile, Berwick will have to knock off both Breaux Bridge and No. 4 H.L. Bourgeois, who defeated Berwick in a roll-off at the end of the regular season for seeding for regionals.
While Berwick doesn’t have a dominant 200-plus bowler, Shepherd said his players are capable of big games.
“All of these kids, which is a great thing … are capable of throwing up big 200 scores,” he said. “Although their averages may not be there, they’re capable.”
He said Berwick's Nos. 1-3 bowlers will be key in the match.
“If they bowl strong and if you go 3-3 (in points) and if you win the pin count, you’re going to win the match,” he said.
In singles’ action, the area will be represented by five bowlers as Morgan City’s Jayson Hidalgo and Hau Vo, Berwick’s Mickenzie Reed and Josie Estay and Central Catholic’s Ann Mary Dupuis have qualified for the Bi Region event.
LaCombe, who coaches the boys’ team, too, said Hidalgo is a second-year bowler, while Vo is in his first year on the team.
“Both of those boys are scoring nice scores in the singles side when they needed to advance to bi-regionals,” LaCombe said. “They’re going to have some tough competition but they definitely can hold their own, so we’re very proud to have them be a part of it.”
On the girls’ side, Berwick girls coach Cole LeMay said both Estay and Reed have worked hard this season.
“I know this season they’ve both worked extremely hard in keeping their averages,” he said. “Matter of fact, several times this year they have achieved over average by many pins. For example, both girls have shot 220s, 230s at some point during the season, which is well above their average.”
Central Catholic girls coach Cyndy Robertson said that Dupuis is a senior who has been bowling for three years now.
“She has maintained a high average throughout the three years,” Robertson said. “It's her confidence that has grown the most during this year. She has been putting in extra practices, and I think she has a good shot of making it to state finals in Lafayette.”
In addition to bowling against the other competitors who qualified for singles, these bowlers also will be competing each round with the bowlers of the losing teams, whose scores are compared with those bowling singles matches and then the top bowlers from those pools keep advancing until the final count of bowlers are narrowed down in singles for the state’s Final Four in Lafayette on April 10.