Off and Rolling

LADD — The beginning of a new era in Hall sports rolled off to a start Thursday, as the Red Devils bowling program kicked of its inaugural campaign against Mendota at Ladd Lanes.

Tony Padgett, senior captain of the 12-member boys’ team, said he was glad to have the bowling program introduced for his final year as a Red Devil.

“I’m proud of it. There was talk about it for many years, but it never seemed to happen. Thankfully, my senior year it happened,” Padgett said.

Hall junior Brett Herrmann was also excited to have the option to bowl for the Red Devils.

“It’s fun,” Herrmann said. “It’s different than most sports, I actually look forward to going to practice.”

“I think it’s very important for us to do this for all the kids,” said Hall Athletic Director Gary Barrera, who was on hand along with some parents to watch the Red Devils’ program-opener at their home turf of Ladd Lanes in Ladd.

“I think it’s going to be something good for the kids and something good for the community,” Barrera said.

Padgett was the high scorer for meet, with a 600 series, but Mendota took the varsity win 2,540-2,370, and also won the JV portion of the meet 2,214-2,048. Scores in high school bowling come from the aggregate score of the five-member teams, with each team member bowling a series of three games.

Both the new boys’ and nine-member girls’ team at Hall are coached by Monica Hrovat of LaSalle.

Hrovat, who said she has worked at Ladd Lanes for 10 years, said that things have been going smoothly since the program started practice two weeks ago.

“Most of them just got new balls, so we’ve been teaching them to use their new equipment,” Hrovat said.

“We’ve been doing some drills and teaching them the mechanics of bowling, showing them there’s more to it than walking up and throwing the ball.”

Hrovat has seen “a lot” of improvement from her young bowlers in a short time.

“They’ve picked up on it really fast,” Hrovat said. “I’m really impressed with them.”