L-P girls bowling places fifth at state

The La Salle-Peru girls bowling team was welcomed back to the Illinois Valley in style Saturday night.

The Cavaliers had a parade through the area and a celebration in their honor at the high school to celebrate placing fifth in the IHSA state tournament.

“It felt really great to see the amount of people who truly care about the sport of bowling and the people who support it and the team,” L-P junior Kamryn Oscepinski said. “The amount of support that family, friends and the community give us really gives the team a push to succeed. It was really cool to have a parade dedicated to the team, especially since we worked so hard to earn fifth place.”

The Cavs knocked down 11,272 pins over 12 games on Friday and Saturday at Cherry Bowl in Rockford to earn the best finish in program history.

Harlem won the state title with 11,796 pins, followed by Joliet West (11,580), Hononegah (11,381) and Mascoutah (11,313).

“It feels so awesome to be able to make history,” Oscepinski said. “It means everything to each and every player and coach. We couldn’t have done this without our coaches and supporters. They helped us make history and get to where we are right now and the team couldn’t be more grateful for that. Placing fifth in the state means we are capable of achieving anything we put our minds to.”

Oscepinski led L-P as she placed eighth individually with a 2,457 12-game series. On Saturday she had a 255 in her second game and a 242 in her third game. She rolled a 244 in her second game Friday.

Oscepinski is the third L-P girls bowler to medal at state, joining Melanie DeCarlo (2008) and Kristi Tapscott (2003), who each finished seventh. Tapscott, who is now Kristi Leix, is an assistant coach for the Cavs and Oscepinski’s mother.

Richards junior Ulyssa Garcia won the individual state title with a 2,738.

“Placing eighth individually felt really good,” Oscepinski said. “This season I’ve been working so hard to push myself to be better and stay confident and I truly believe that placing eighth in the state helped me prove to myself that I can do anything I put my mind to if I just believe it and have confidence in myself.”

Also for L-P, senior Camryn Perra rolled a 2,333 series with a 237 high game, senior Anna Ricci bowled a 2,229, sophomore Leah Ricci had a 2,203 and sophomore Kaitlyn Miller added a 2,050.

“The girls really battled all weekend and never gave up,” L-P coach Aaron Guenther said. “Starting with an 871 wasn’t terrible, but they knew they’d have to step it up if we were going to maximize our potential. They worked hard, dug themselves out of that hole and finished Friday in fifth. Then on Saturday, we came out with our hair on fire and had the highest score for the whole field for the first three games. Unfortunately, we left a window open with a couple of so-so scores in the afternoon and a couple teams took advantage of that. That being said, nobody could ever doubt that the girls were giving it their all on every single throw. Their resilience really carried them through the entire tournament.”

Guenther said the welcome home celebration was a nice exclamation point to the season.

“The parade at the end was just the cherry on top to an awesome season,” Guenther said. “Bowling isn’t one of those glamour, uber popular sports that everyone knows about and your average community member follows like a football or basketball, but these girls put in just as much effort and work as any other student-athlete in the school. So to see their accomplishments get some well deserved recognition was awesome. They really enjoyed getting to see just how many people followed their state run and how much the community loved and supported them.