Lady Bucs come up 1 stroke short at state
The fact that it came down to a single stroke made it worse for Hoover High School girls golf coach Lori Elgin.
The Lady Bucs fell just one stroke shy of Auburn in the Class 7A state golf tournament, held May 14-15 at The Shoals Golf Club in Muscle Shoals, finishing the two-day tournament with a score of 446, compared to Auburn’s 445.
“It was heartbreaking,” said Elgin.
Hoover was one stroke behind Auburn after the first day of the tournament (224-223) and the two teams shot identical scores of 222 on the second day. Spain Park finished third with a 469, followed by McGill-Toolen’s 503.
“At the beginning of the season, I honestly would have never dreamed of being in this boat,” said Elgin. “Even a month ago, I knew how good Auburn was and all of our girls were going to have to step up. There was no doubt about it. That makes it even more heartbreaking, to be honest with you.”
Carson McKie led the way for the Lady Bucs, as she fired a two-day total of 144. She posted one of the two under-par rounds in the 7A girls tournament, with a 71 on the first day of action. McKie fired a 73 on the second day to finish at even par for the tournament and finished one stroke behind Spain Park’s Caroline Waldrop, who won low medalist honors.
Neysa Dechachutinan, Danielle Buompastore and Emily Baker each improved on the second day. Dechachutinan shot a 76 the first day and followed it up with a 74 to finish at 150. Buompastore finished with a 152 after rounds of 77 and 75. Baker improved four strokes, going from 82 to 78 for a 160.
The tournament was the final high school competition for seniors and future college golfers McKie and Buompastore. McKie heads to Lee University in Cleveland, Tennessee, while Buompastore will attend USC Sumter. Elgin praised their ability to drive the team to theheights it reached.
“I think we had some great leadership,” Elgin said. “They just continued to get better, better and better throughout the season.”
Those seniors were able to lead the Lady Bucs back to the state tournament a season removed from losing Mychael O’Berry (Auburn) and Julie Baker (Southern Miss) to Division I schools.
Dechachutinan and Emily Baker will return next season for the Lady Bucs, along with Julia Freeman and others.
“I love them to death,” Elgin said. “One stroke may make it a little worse. But we’ll be back next year. That’s the plan.”
To reach the state tournament, Hoover edged Spain Park by seven strokes (221-228), as both advanced to the sub-state tournament. At the sub-state tournament, Hoover and Spain Park posted identical scores of 222, with both moving on once again to the state tournament.
In the regular season, Hoover took home co-champ honors at the Hoover March Madness Tournament and won Vestavia Hills’ Hike the Hills Tournament, the inaugural Battle of the Borders tournament and the Hazel Green Trojan Invitational.
Hoover has placed second at the state tournament each of the last two years and won back-to-back state championships in 2014 and 2015.