Lady Bulldogs open in dominant fashion
PHOTO COURTESY OF BATESVILLE GOLF
Batesville girls golf was all smiles early this week after a pair of invitational championships to start the 2024 fall season.
Dominate the local scene? A week ago it was noted that they should and so far Batesville girls golf is doing just that, opening the season with a pair of victories as part of invitational play in Richmond and Liberty.
Monday saw girls golf programs across the state allowed to begin regular season contests. Batesville opens the new year ranked 10th in the state rankings as part of the single-class sport.
The closest anyone got to head coach Ben Siefert’s crew on Monday was 62 strokes as Batesville won with ease inside the Richmond Invitational at the Elks Golf Course. An 18-hole team score of 313 won it for the Lady Bulldogs and Barr-Reeve sat in that distant second place spot with a 375. Richmond (384), Union County (390) and East Central (403) rounded out the top five. The standings concluded with Winchester (421), Rushville (427), Centerville (434) and Connersville (469).
A pair of returning state finalists led the Batesville charge and placed in the top three on the individual leaderboard. Addyson Weiler finished in second place with an even-par 71 and four strokes back in third place was Ava South at 75. Alexis Gallagher’s 81 and Zoey Ahern’s 86 finished out scoring for the Lady Bulldogs and Grace Saner carded an 88 in a non-scoring round.
East Central’s Rowan Pies, a state finalist from a year ago who is expected to contend in 2024, earned individual medalist honors with an impressive five-under 66.
The Liberty Country Club one day later was the home to another Batesville win as the Lady Bulldogs repeated as Union County Invitational champions on Tuesday afternoon.
Batesville put together an 18-hole team score of 325 which was 57 strokes better than runner-up Richmond at 382. Union County finished third with a 395, East Central sat fourth at 419 and Delta came in fifth with a 427. Franklin County (436) and Connersville (464) rounded out the standings. Rushville competed on Tuesday but did not have enough golfers to qualify on the team leaderboard.
Weiler and South jumped up a spot on Tuesday as Weiler’s even-par 71 gave way to the senior taking individual medalist honors for the first time this season. South’s 72 put her at second place for the day as the duo was able to thwart Pies in another early season battle between the trio.
Gallagher’s 90 and Saner’s 92 finished out the team scoring for Batesville and Ahern came into the clubhouse with a 95 as part of a non-scoring round.
Batesville is back out on the course Saturday morning, competing in the New Albany Invitational at the Valley View Golf Club in Floyds Knobs.
