The PIAA formula says that, from District 10, they should take the top 1.78 girls from AAA on to the regional competition. Unfortunately for me this year and contrary to what I learned in math class, they round 1.78 down to 1 and take only one player from Districts to Regionals.
Last year at Districts, my team and I were disappointed with taking second. We put in the work this year to have an undefeated season against fellow AAA schools Erie High and Meadville in our mega-matches. Even though we were confident we would win team districts, we wanted to win as big as possible. We prepared at The Country Club (in Meadville, PA) every day up until districts after school by putting to all pin positions, practicing bunker shots, tough lies, etc. We were ready!!
Conditions were cold, raining, and the course was soaking wet. My coach always tells me and my team that those are the best conditions to play in because other girls will complain, but we can feed off of that and play even better. I ended up shooting an 81 the first day (which counts for individuals and is the only day of team competition). I didn’t play great and my teammate shot 76 to lead, with me in second.
For the final individual round on Saturday I knew I needed to have a different strategy if I wanted to be the “1” instead of the “0.78.” I played slightly riskier as I had five strokes to gain just to tie for first and play off to move on to individual regionals. I played better and shot a 78, but it wasn’t enough. I was happy for my teammate who had two of her best rounds of the season and moved on to individual regionals with a 76-75. And of course I was especially happy for my team since we shot 259 (scoring three) and won by 67 strokes!!!
In the AA individual Districts the cut was the top four scoring girls. I was glad to see that I beat two of them and was only one stroke shy of being tying second, which has motivated me to help change the way the PIAA rounds. I believe that individual players shouldn’t be punished because they attend a larger (or smaller) school! While larger schools can field better teams on average, the size of the school really has no effect on the play of an individual. My hope is that in 2019 they will round 1.78 up like we’ve all been taught in school.
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