Jared Schmeltzer
Reporter
During the weekend of March 6-8, Merrill bowlers and sisters, Paige and Piper Plautz competed at the Wisconsin High School Bowling Club State Championship. Of the two girls, Piper would be the only one to qualify for the singles portion of the state tournament, with the pair teaming up for the Storm Scholarship Doubles tournament on Sunday.
At the state tournament Piper would bowl well, placing in the top 15 out of 162 bowlers, however came up short of making the day 2 cut.
“For singles I didn’t bowl my best,” said Piper. “It was really tough bowling conditions and everyone was struggling. I didn’t make the day two cut, but neither did the defending state champion, so I don’t feel too bad about it.”
Despite a let down on Friday, Piper would find her groove for the Storm Scholarship Doubles tournament on Sunday, where she, along with her sister Paige, would take first place.
“On Sunday I bowled with my sister (Paige) for the Storm Doubles tournament,” added Piper. “We did very well together and ended up taking first place out of 48 girls teams in the state.”
The Plautz sisters have been long time competitive bowlers, who take pride in breaking records and one-upping each other. Both girls began bowling at the age of 5, because it was something they were good at and really enjoyed.
“I like the competition of bowling and beating my sister,” explained Paige. “We have been in a bowling program since we started and they taught us how to roll a ‘hook ball’. Our parents were never competitive bowlers, or anyone in our family except for our grandma. The two people that helped us learn the most were probably our coaches Chris Doerr and Dan Adamec.”
As previously reported, the sisters have a long history of competing against each other for bragging rights. On Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2019, in the All-Star Seniors league in Merrill the pair put up some remarkable numbers. 15-year old Paige bowled a series of 661, with games of 222, 245 and 194. Not to be outdone, older sister Piper (16-years old) bowled a 725 series (233, 227 and 265), becoming the youngest female bowler to roll a 700 series in Merrill history. One week later, on Oct. 15, Piper would break another Merrill bowling record, becoming the youngest bowler, girl or boy, to bowl a 300 game. In February of 2020, Paige would participate at the Badger State Games at Coral Lanes in Rothschild, where she would beat her sisters record of youngest bowler to roll a 300 game, however it won’t count for the Merrill record books.
“Technically I beat my sisters record of youngest bowler to roll a 300 game, but since it wasn’t in Merrill the record doesn’t count.” explained Paige.
Despite their rivalry, the pair share some of the same goals for bowling.
“My future goals are to make state next year, and make the cut at the Junior Nationals tournament in July.” said Paige.
“My current goal is to make the cut for Junior Nationals this year,” added Piper. “My other goals would be to make it back to state next year and make the cut for day two. My final goal would be to bowl in college, but that’s kind of far away.”