By BAKER ELLIS / Sports Editor

PELHAM – The first-ever high school state bowling championship is taking place later this week at the Oak Mountain Lanes in Pelham. The championship will last two days, taking place from Jan. 28-29, and will see 16 boys’ and 16 girls’ teams compete for a total of 32 teams. Three Shelby County schools will be represented at the bowling state championship in Thompson, Spain Park and Pelham. The boys’ and girls’ teams from Thompson and Spain Park will make an appearance while the girls team from Pelham will as well.

The boys from Spain Park entered the South Regional championship with a 10-0 Region 4 record from the regular season but fell to Baker in the regional quarterfinals by 24 pins, 1,746-1,722. Thompson, which entered the South Regional with an 8-2 record, walloped Valley High School in the first round by 455 pins, 1,615-1,160 to qualify for the state tournament. The Warriors then fell to Prattville in the quarterfinals by 100 pins.

The girls from Spain Park also entered the South Regional championship undefeated at 4-0. Thompson came in at 3-1 and Pelham was 4-2. It was Thompson, however that had the best day at the South Regional, as the Lady Warriors took home the inaugural region title with wins over Spanish Fort, Mary Montgomery, Spain Park and Northview to win the title. Thompson beat Spanish Fort and Mary Montgomery by an average pin count of 109 in the first two rounds before squeezing past Spain Park by a razor-thin 13-pin margin in the semifinals and then repeating the act by beating Northview by 43 pins, 1,371-1,328.

Pelham beat Foley by 90 pins in the first round to secure a spot in the state playoffs while Spain Park had a bye in the first round and beat McGill-Toolen by 70 pins before falling to area rival Thompson.

The state championship will start at 12:30 p.m. on Jan. 28 and 8 a.m. on Jan. 29.