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BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS
Sports Editor, RTC
Olivia Bailey fired a 39 to earn medalist honors, and Ava Thomas had a birdie on No. 6 to highlight a 43 as the Rochester girls golf team beat visiting Logansport 188-196 over the front nine at Round Barn Golf Club at Mill Creek on Sept. 6.
Logansport came into the match ranked No. 20. They are the defending Twin Lakes sectional champions, and they return all five players from last year.
Yet it was the Lady Zs who had the three lowest individual scores. Payton Moore augmented Bailey and Thomas’ low numbers with a 44. Delaney Barkman added a 62, and Avery Brouyette had a 63.
Brouyette was filling in for senior Savanah Eccles, who was out with an illness.
Sophia Kay led Logansport with a 48.
“Olivia played solid,” Rochester coach Chad Thomas said. “A 39 is a really good score. I know she worked hard over the weekend on some parts of her game. That was something I was worried about. Friday, we didn’t practice because of homecoming activities going on. Of course, Monday, we didn’t practice because of Labor Day. So four days off kind of worried me. The last thing I told the girls on Thursday, I told them at some point in time, you need to get a golf club in your hand over the weekend. A few of them did. A few of them played every day, I know, and Olivia was one of them.
“And I think that helped her stay fresh and moving in the right direction. Even on the front nine, a 39 is a really good score.”
Ava Thomas said playing the first two holes in four-over-par was still weighing on her mind when she stepped up to the sixth tee.
“It was fun to get because I really needed it after my triple on one,” Ava Thomas said. “I feel like I recovered well after the second hole because I bogeyed the second hole and then I was parring until six when I birdied. … It was really cool for us to beat them even though not all of us had our best night.”
This match could serve as a sectional preview. Rochester has been reassigned to the Twin Lakes sectional this year after spending 15 years in the Warsaw sectional. Sectional tee time is 9 a.m. Sept. 19 at Tippecanoe Country Club in Monticello.
Logansport had won the Twin Lakes Invitational at the same Tippecanoe Country Club course on Aug. 6. Rochester finished third at that tournament.
This time, Rochester was playing on their home course.
“I knew we could be competitive with them,” coach Thomas said. “They’re very good. They’re a deep team. But playing on our home course, I think, played a big role in that. Even though we didn’t have our best night on the front nine, we do have a lot of experience out there, and I definitely think that played a role.”
at Round Barn Golf Club at Mill Creek Sept. 6 (front nine, par 36)
ROCHESTER (188): Olivia Bailey 39, Ava Thomas 43, Payton Moore 44, Delaney Barkman 62, (Avery Brouyette 63)
LOGANSPORT (196): Kay 48, Moon 49, Weaver 49, Crook 50, (Sutton 50)
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