The Bobcats defeated North, 2,932 pins to 2,627.

MHS led by just 52 pins after the first round of individual games. Gage Grieves rolled a 392 series and was the only Bobcat to break 200 with a 209 in his first game. Carter McCready had a 384, Aiden Cowan 368, Porter Niedermann 364 and Jayden Biechley 350 to round out the Bobcat scoring.

“I wasn’t super impressed,” MHS head coach Nate Clark said. “Just felt like we weren’t really here mentally. I told them before Bakers that we needed to keep our energy and effort at 100 percent, start to finish.”

Marshalltown responded with four of the five Baker games higher than their average coming into Thursday’s meet, including a 276 in the third round of Bakers as the Bobcat lead grew with every round.

Zackary Morris was bumped up to the varsity lineup as part of Marshalltown’s senior night and was a major contributor to the big Bakers on Thursday.

“I’m happy that he went out on a good note for him,” Clark said.

The Marshalltown girls won a forfeit on Thursday as a shorthanded Des Moines North girls squad elected not to travel to Wayward Social.

With junior Camillya Thomas out of the lineup, the Bobcats rolled 2,076 total pins, one of their lowest totals of the year that head coach Dustin Peterson chalked up to not having a good rhythm bowling against themselves.

“Only having three to a lane, you bowl kinda fast,” Peterson added. “And when you’re not against another team for Bakers, it’s hard to keep that energy and focus up.”

Devin Peterson led the way with a 304 series; Ariana Villagomez added a 298 series with a high game of 176, Kenedy Lammert rolled a 279, Delaney Legg 276 and Sydney May 268.

The MHS girls honored seniors Lammert, Legg, May, and Petersen before the meet. Three of the four are four-year seniors, with Legg the outlier.

“The cool thing is she’s in my daughter’s class at BCLUW, so I’ve known her since they were in fourth grade, so it’s kinda been like she’s been here all along,” Dustin Peterson said. “The three four-year seniors are great leaders. They’ve represented themselves and the Bobcats extremely well and I couldn’t be more proud of these three girls to stick it out.”

The Bobcat bowlers return to action at Bowlerama Lanes against Des Moines East on Feb. 3.