Tyrone Bocce went into the district tournament feeling confident, knowing that they could win. Although the Golden Eagles were not able to finish in first, they were still able to claim second place for Tyrone Black and fourth for Tyrone Orange.
“The team spirit, togetherness, and camaraderie came together, for the teams to play at their best at districts,” Coach Kate Coltenbaugh said.
After the lighting of the torch, the first round matches commenced with Tyrone Black winning 8-3 and Tyrone Orange losing 6-2.
The win first, Tyrone started hot, scoring three points before Mount Union scored the first point of the game, making the score 3-1. Tyrone then went on a scoring run, scoring five straight points in the next four frames. Then at the end, Mount Union scored two points to make the final score 3-8 with Tyrone Black moving on to the championship round.
“Both teams gave it their all, and I can’t wait to see how our teams do next year,” sophomore Sarah Dale said.
In the other match happening at the same time, Tussy Mountain got out to a 3-0 advantage before Tyrone scored their first, making the score 3-1 after three frames. Tussy Mountain extended their lead, scoring one point in both of the next frames, holding a 5-1 lead.
Tyrone could only score one point in the final two frames, leading to a 6-2 final score.
“It took the team to warm up and start to play well, and when we did, it was a bit too late for the match,” senior Grace Naylor said.
The medal matches were now set: Tyrone Orange vs Mount Union and Tyrone Black vs Tussy Mountain.
The teams ended up losing both matches. Tyrone Orange lost the third-place game 6-5, and Tyrone Black lost 11-3 in the first-place match.
The bronze medal game started with Mount Union scoring two points, with Tyrone responding with a perfect four-point frame to make a 4-2 score after two frames. Through the next frames, the game stayed close with each team achieving one point to make the score 5-3 in Tyrones’ favor.
Mount Union had to make a comeback if they wanted a chance to get a medal, and that is what they did. In the fifth frame, Mount Union tied the game at five, and in the sixth, they got one point to win 6-5.
“The team did amazing considering where we were at the halfway mark of the season, and congrats on their effort at districts,” Coach Sarah Latchford said.
Now on to the gold medal match, where Tussy Mountain started hot, scoring two in the opening frame, and they stayed hot and had a 10-0 advantage by the end of the fourth frame.
Tyrone tried to form some sort of comeback, scoring two in the next frame, cutting the lead to eight, but it was too late by that point, with the final score ending up 11-3.
“The teams worked so hard to build themselves up after making it to districts, and they gave it their all out there,” Coach Shannon Davis said.
The teams did very well this season, just making it to districts, after their rough start, and being able to beat some of the teams that they couldn’t in the regular season was stellar.
Tyrone will have a lot of key players returning next season and will look forward to bringing home that district title.
