![Junior Grant Levins sprints down the track. "I'm here to try out because I love the sport of track and field and I'm working on my 800 [meter] time. Just trying to get better," Levins said.](https://www.wjpitch.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/g82ehdhTRiNswrE8gfn0tL9VRz7fuAnaiIKPCaOI-1200x900.jpg)
On Wednesday, Jan. 24, the Walter Johnson bocce team faced the Churchill Bulldogs in their last home game of the season. In bocce, there are multiple games played in a best-of-three matchup. The Wildcats lost both their games in a 10-2 defeat and an 11-1 defeat.
It has been a tough season for the bocce team being winless thus far, but what’s more important is that the whole team enjoys playing each game. Despite losses of points throughout the game, the Wildcats stayed cheerful and showed great sportsmanship. Both teams were supportive of each other and cheered whenever a good play was made for either side.
In the first game, Churchill went multiple rounds scoring multiple points with up to three of their balls being closer than our closest ball. This led them to attain a substantial lead in the first game at 10-0 going into the last frame. As the clock winded down, this would be the last frame of the game regardless of whether the Bulldogs got to 11 not. This is because the game ends if one team gets to 11 first. In this last frame, senior Karisma Mangal made a remarkable throw getting the Wildcats closest to the pallino. Then, Sebastian Bentley made another great shot getting it second closest to the pallino and earning the Wildcats their first points of the game. The game ended 10-2 and it was onto the next.
In the second game, Churchill got an early lead getting the three closest balls in the first two frames. In the second frame, when the Wildcats were about to earn two points after an impressive throw from junior Mia Halper, on the last throw they hit the pallino closer to three Bulldog balls, giving them another three points. This put the Bulldogs up 6-0. In the next frame, however, the Bulldogs were about to get another point, when they hit the pallino closer to one of the Wildcats’ balls earning the Wildcats a point and making the score 6-1. The game closed out with Churchill earning multiple points per frame and winning 11-1.
The Wildcats’ final game was played the weekend of Jan. 26 in tournament-style playoffs. They played BCC and lost 10-4 in the first frame and 9-4 in the second frame. One notable player was Alex Murphy who played exceptionally.
