Orange Beach, Foley girls and Elberta boys bowling teams punch tickets to state tournaments in Mobile

Bayshore Christian’s Garrick, Orange Beach’s McMullan, Elberta’s Dunlavy earn top-5 individual finishes

BY COLE McNANNA
Sports Editor
cole@gulfcoastmedia.com
Posted 1/28/25

Three Baldwin County bowling teams survived and advanced through the regional round and will battle for a state title next week in Mobile.

Girls’ teams from Orange Beach (1A-5A) and Foley …

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Orange Beach, Foley girls and Elberta boys bowling teams punch tickets to state tournaments in Mobile

Bayshore Christian’s Garrick, Orange Beach’s McMullan, Elberta’s Dunlavy earn top-5 individual finishes

Posted

Three Baldwin County bowling teams survived and advanced through the regional round and will battle for a state title next week in Mobile.

Girls’ teams from Orange Beach (1A-5A) and Foley (6A-7A), as well as Elberta’s (1A-5A) boys’ team, punched their state tournament tickets at the South Regional Championships in Vestavia Hills Tuesday afternoon. The Makos and Warriors both earned a No. 3 seed from their respective brackets and the Lions drew a No. 4 seed.

Individually, Megan Garrick from Bayshore Christian recorded the second-best series (two-game total) in the Class 1A-5A division at 357. Miley Kate McMullan from Orange Beach was not far behind with a score of 310 for fifth overall.

On the boys’ side, Harris Dunlavy from Elberta ranked fourth overall in 1A-5A with a score of 390. He was followed closely by Mark Flynn from St. Michael (364 for 6th) and Copeland Bryant from Elberta (356 for 8th).

On the 6A-7A circuit, Emmarie Avery from Foley was the highest local female finisher with a score of 289 for 11th place and Weston Payne from Spanish Fort was the highest male finisher from Baldwin County with a score of 378 to also register No. 11 overall.

Team battles

In the first year of a two-day, double-elimination bracket, Elberta had a shot at taking the regional title and entered the tournament undefeated.

The Warriors won their first two bracket matches (over Marbury 1401-1136 and Mobile Christian 1410-1203) to set up a championship match against UMS-Wright. Although the Bulldogs claimed the No. 1 seed, that was Elberta’s first loss (1248-1209), so it went right to the consolation championship against Beauregard but dropped to the third seed (1294-1185).

On the girls’ side, Orange Beach dropped its first match of the bracket (1106-1094 to Marbury) only to rattle off three wins in a row (over Mobile Christian 1144-905, Satsuma 1215-1146 and Sipsey Valley 1153-902) from the consolation bracket to earn a top four spot. The Makos squared off with Marbury again in the consolation finals but fell 1151-1113 to secure a third-place finish.

In the large-school division, Foley similarly lost its first match (1195-891 to Stanhope Elmore) then won its next two in a row (over Davidson 890-818 and Dothan 1032-989) to lock up a spot in the top four. The Lions faced Stanhope Elmore again in the consolation semifinals and lost a 1000-901 decision to seal the No. 4 seed.

The Bayshore Christian girls’ team lost its first two matches in the 1A-5A bracket (Horseshoe Bend 1004-982 and Northside 1009-977) to find the end of the road and the Spanish Fort boys’ team did the same in the 6A-7A bracket (Stanhope Elmore 1428-1327 and MGM 1277-1226). The St. Michael boys’ squad lost its first match (Beauregard 1393-1124) but bounced back with a consolation win over Hale County (1157-990) before the Cardinals found the end of the road against Mobile Christian (1314-1155).