Junior Maddy Briggs picks up her galaxy red and blue bowling ball and zooms in on her target: the pins. With her bowling ball in her right hand, she pulls her arm to her side and focuses on the middle pin. With one last breath, she steps forward and rolls her ball down the lane.

Mercy’s bowling team had their sixth meet against Regina at Bowling One Lanes in Troy on Jan. 23, where they were victorious. The meet started with Baker games, a form of bowling where a group of people bowl as one player against another group of people. At the end of the Baker game, Mercy was in the lead by two points and the team felt more excited to complete the game. The Baker game was followed by two regular games. Regular games are 45 minutes long and consist of each player playing one-on-one against members of their rival team. Mercy won the first regular game and lost the second, which resulted in Mercy winning two out of three games and ending with 24 points out of 30.

Throughout the night, each member encouraged one another by applauding and cheering no matter if someone got a strike, spare, or hit no pins at all. Bowling coach Mrs. Vicky Kowalski spent the night coaching the girls on their stance and aim.

“There’s a lot that goes into bowling…[for example], you don’t look at the pins when you bowl you look at the arrows,” said Mrs. Kowalski.

Mrs. Kowalski knows many of the girls love the game because it is the only sport where the players are allowed to eat as the game is going on. The girls can also talk and cheer each other on as they wait for their turns. Towards the end of the game, Briggs celebrated her highest score, a 246. This makes her one of the highest scorers on the bowling team. 

The team’s next meet will be held on Feb. 4 at Oak Lanes in Westland. The team’s final bowling game will be on March 7 at Thunderbowl Lanes in Allen Park.