KEENE, N.H. (MyKeeneNow) The Blackbird Bowlers celebrated senior day in fine fashion Saturday at Yankee Lanes in Keene.  It was their last home appearance of the season and they did not disappoint.

The team has been working out of it’s post-holiday slump and continues to climb each week.  Last week they scored 10 more pins in individuals but this week the varsity bakers team jelled at the right time to win the tournament. JV of course continued to dominate, also earning first seed and piecing together a victory in similar fashion to varsity.
The whole team celebrated seniors Gabriel Hobbs, Ethan Affeldt, Brody Baldwin and co-captain Dustin Whitney who all started along with junior Izaac LaClair.  Izaac led the team in scoring striking on the front 7, then sparing the eighth frame and striking out for a 278 in the first individual game followed by a 241 in the second.  Senior Brody Baldwin was close behind with a 210 average followed by Dustin Whitney with a 200.  Sophomore Chris Chickering earned a 208 to cap off the 200 plus averages on Varsity.  Down the lanes Dustin’s brother Jax also struck on the front 7 finishing with a 260 and a 156 for a 208 average and lead the JV in scoring.
Senior Gabriel Hobbs continued a very strong bakers performance this season to help the team defeat Hillsborough Deering in the preliminary round.  He struck 3 times and spared once in 6 appearances.  The team went on to face Coe Brown for the win.  They took the first round with a 215.  However they dropped the middle round 198 to 148.  Fear not as they roared back to put up 191 in the final round for the win.
Down the lanes JV earned a first round bye and faced Coe Brown to win the tournament.   They won the first game 140 to 113 but had to rebound from a 155 to 134 middle round loss to win 188 to 88 also against Coe Brown.  Sophomore Kaitlynn Dixon among others had key strikes in the win.
The team entered the week in sole possession of first place and 5 of the top 15 in the state including junior Jake Moody at number 1 and Izaac LaClair as number 2.  They all go on the road the next 3 weeks and will finish out the season February 22nd with the teams championship at Strikers East in Raymond.  Team members in the top 64 in the state will then travel to Merrimack the following Saturday to compete in the state individuals championship. Finally Keene will seek to have a 4th senior in a row win the Twin State Challenge between the best Vermont and NH senior bowlers.