The News Tribune

The postseason excitement for three east Pierce County high school bowling teams came to a screeching halt last week.

The South Puget Sound League bowling tournament, which will include Emerald Ridge, Puyallup and Rogers, had to be rescheduled twice due to snow, power outages and icy conditions. The tournament originally was scheduled for Jan. 18, and the Jan. 20 makeup date also was postponed.

The tournament was set to take place Tuesday after press time at Pacific Lanes in Tacoma.

Emerald Ridge head coach Al McCormack said there wasn’t anything anyone could do about the weather.

“Everybody wanted to bowl, but there is nothing you can do about Mother Nature,” he said. “Mother Nature does what it wants. It is something that you cannot control.”

McCormack doesn’t think the one-week layoff will affect his team’s performance.

“It doesn’t hurt our team at all,” he said. “We’re all set and ready to go. Hopefully we can go out now and finish what we set out to do, which is to win another state title.”

The Jaguars have won the past three Class 4A state bowling tournaments.

Puyallup head coach Anne Carpenter said every team in the tournament will be in the same predicament.

“When the tournament starts, it will have been one week since most of the teams have practiced,” Carpenter said. “Everybody is in the same boat. It is frustrating. We were ready for the tournament.”

Carpenter said it was hard to get in contact with her team due to widespread power outages across east Pierce County.

“Most of my team is without power,” Carpenter said Friday afternoon. “It is hard to get ahold of them on the phone or by email.”