FRANKLIN TWP. — The Fairways at Twin Lakes tried to fight back, but the Highland girls golf team’s stars were not fazed.
All-Gazette selections Madison Butler, Alicia Porvasnik and Christina Williams sparkled again Wednesday, recording three of the top four scores as the Hornets defeated Kent Roosevelt 170-180 in a Suburban League American Division showdown of undefeated teams.
Though neither Northeast Ohio power played well on the hilly 2,780-yard, par-36 course, Highland (7-0, 5-0) extended its SL winning streak to 45 matches after beating the Rough Riders (6-1, 4-1), who finished one place higher (5th) than the Hornets at last year’s Division I state tournament.
Coach Mary Becker’s squad also put a stranglehold on the division race. Having won the SL Preseason Tournament as well as match play, Highland can finish second Tuesday at the SL Postseason Tournament and still win a championship for the seventh straight season.
“It’s really exciting because you definitely don’t want to be that team that breaks the tradition,” said a visibly pleased Butler, whose team last lost an SL match on Sept. 10, 2009 (195-201 at Cloverleaf). “For me, this is my junior year — I only have one more year — and I’d love to finish out winning Suburban League all four of my years. That’d be nice.”
Butler rebounded from a slow start and was medalist on the beautiful late-summer afternoon with a 2-over-par 38. Porvasnik tied the Rough Riders’ Kory Nielsen for runner-up medalist at 39, while Williams’ 43 and Ruby Swan’s 50 capped Highland’s scoring.
With a plethora of tight, wooded fairways and greens that rolled from back to front, all 12 players fought off trouble the majority of the day.
The difference was Hornets returning starters Butler, Porvasnik and Williams crushed Roosevelt returning starters Nielsen (39), Chloe Wise (48) and Coreena Wise (55) by 22 strokes.
“It’s a challenging course,” Porvasnik said. “You need to know where to place your ball. If you’re not in the right spot, your shots into the greens are going to be tough.”
Two months removed from winning the prestigious Ohio Junior Girls Championship, Butler had a potential match-altering sequence when she bogeyed the first three holes. The right-hander settled down, though, and recorded five straight pars.
That set up what she considered the highlight of her otherwise “pretty boring” day, as she rolled in a 15-foot birdie putt on the dogleg left par-4 ninth.
“I started out with three bogeys and I was like, ‘OK, this could go really bad or it could go really good,”’ Butler said. “So then I kind of just took a deep breath, took it shot by shot, took it hole by hole and I ended up with that birdie. I was excited about that.”
Like Butler, Porvasnik overcame a stretch of bogeys with strong putting. The difference was Porvasnik’s four straight birdies came in the middle of the round.
“It feels good. I’m proud of my team,” Porvasnik said. “Everyone came through and played pretty good.”
Highland 170, Roosevelt 180
at par-36 Fairways at Twin Lakes
Highland (7-0, 5-0): Madison Butler 38, Alicia Porvasnik 39, Christina Williams 43, Ruby Swan 50, Sara Haller 52, Emma Medwig 62.
Roosevelt (6-1, 4-1): Kory Nielsen 39, Brooke Harvey 45, Hannah Thomas 48, Chloe Wise 48, Coreena Wise 55, Grace Thompson 59.