ORLANDO, Fla. – Host Bethune-Cookman turned in a gutsy performance while Sam Houston State head coach Brad Hagen's gut decision proved wise as his Bearkats won the 2016 Wildcat Invitational championship Sunday at Boardwalk Bowl.
 
The No. 6 Bearkats recovered from an earlier loss to No. 3 Arkansas State and downed the Red Wolves 4-1 in the championship match.
 
The host Bethune-Cookman Wildcats won two matches on Sunday to finish 11th in the 13-team field. Both victories came against Alabama State – the first a Cleveland Cavs-like comeback from a 3-1 deficit to a 4-3 triumph.
 
Sam Houston State, the 2014 National Champion, did not have a sharp Saturday afternoon during traditional match play, prompting Hagen to tinker with his line-up. On Sunday, he decided to go back to his original roster despite those players' struggles the day before.
 
Junior Heather Penatzer, who Hagen benched the final two games Saturday but reinserted as anchor on Sunday, struck out the 10th frame to give Sam Houston a 230-226 victory in Game 1, then combined with Stephanie Zavala and Janine Kuwahara to reel off five consecutive strikes at the end of Game 4 that allowed the Bearkats to steal a 215-207 win and take control of the match.
 
"Sometimes you have people who need to be in the position where they're comfortable and can do what they're supposed to do," Hagen said. "That's where Heather belonged and I trust my players. We have a very strong line-up that if we can get through, we can get strikes. For us to finish like we did is something we're capable of."
 
"Things weren't moving quite right Saturday. It wasn't automatic and I had to hit reset," Penatzer said. "I was throwing better today and was more confident. We had to be all in."
 
Madysen Keller's 192.6 average and Zavala's 191.6 paced the Bearkats, who are now a perfect two-for-two in tournaments thus far in the young 2016-17 season.
 
"We've had some success, but the numbers aren't where we want to be," Hagen said. "We have a lot of gaps we need filled."
 
Arkansas State, whose tournament-high pin count of 10,213 over the first two days was 352 pins better than Sam Houston State, started the day off with a 4-2 victory in the first meeting to earn a berth in the championship match. Sam Houston State bounced back and downed defending national champion Stephen F. Austin 4-2 to claim the other championship spot.
 
The Red Wolves were paced by Jordan Richard, who was named tournament MVP with an average of 229.9 and also had the highest single game total of 269.
 
No. 11 Maryland Eastern Shore out of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference won all three of its Sunday matches to move from fifth to third in the team standings, including victories over top-ranked Nebraska and No. 2 Stephen F. Austin.
 
After a winless Saturday, Bethune-Cookman regained some momentum with a come-from-behind victory over Alabama State. The Maroon and Gold opened the sixth game with seven consecutive strikes that forced a Game 7 that saw the Wildcats go without an open frame for 206-149 triumph.
 
Prairie View A&M, ranked No. 22 nationally, downed B-CU 4-2 in the next round, but B-CU ended the tournament with a 4-2 victory over Alabama State that determined 11th place, respectfully.

"It was very important to finish the way we did," said B-CU coach Charles Thomas, whose team finished the tournament 3-10. "It set the the mindset for future tournaments." 
 
In addition to Richard, the all-tournament team included 2016 National Player Of The Year Stephanie Schwartz and Paige Kraushaar of Stephen F. Austin, Thashaina Seraus of Maryland-Eastern Shore and Nebraska's Julia Bond.
 
Bethune-Cookman returns to the lanes fort its next event October 28-20, travelling to the FDU New Jersey Jamboree hosted by Fairleigh Dickinson in Elmwood, New Jersey.
 
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