YORK — Sophie Orsulak’s first trip to states didn’t finish as she hoped.
The Blue Mountain freshman couldn’t find any consistency and shot a 94 to finish 16th in Class AA girls during Tuesday’s second round of the PIAA Golf Championships at Heritage Hill Golf Resort.
Orsulak’s performance on Day 2 followed a 96 in Monday’s Round 1, giving her a two-day total of 190.
Still, her score didn’t take away from what Orsulak was able to accomplish this season. In the process, she reached a feat this week that hadn’t been done by a golfer from the Schuylkill League in nine years.
Orsulak became the first male or female golfer from the Schuylkill League to compete in states since Mahanoy Area’s Randy Kurzinsky finished 44th in 2006.
The last female golfer from the league to compete at states was Marian’s Amanda Eckhart in 2005. She finished 11th that year in what was a one-day tournament. Day 2 was wiped out by rain and four girls ended up sharing the title.
Orsulak was looking to bring home a medal from her first trip to states. After her score Monday wiped out hopes of placing in the top five, she was out to improve upon the 96 on Tuesday and perhaps crack the top 10.
The place finish never happened. But after a 50 on the back nine Tuesday — her first nine holes of the day — she turned in her best nine-hole showing of the tournament with a 44 on the front side for the 94.
“Even though the score was only two strokes different, I definitely was striking the ball a lot better
today,” Orsulak said of Tuesday’s round, which was delayed a half hour by frost. “It was just putting that brought me down.”
Orsulak played a practice round at Heritage Hills on Sunday and shot an 88. It was the first time she saw and played the course, a 5,145-yard layout for the girls that features plenty of water hazards and plenty of elevation changes from tee to green, especially on the back nine.
But Orsulak couldn’t get her game to come together when it counted over the two-day championship. Orsulak struggled with her ball striking Monday and ended up with just three pars all day, shooting a 48 on the front and 48 on the back.
“Yesterday my driving was poor, so I was taking a wood off the tee,” she said. “When you are on this course you need the driver, especially on the long holes. So without the driver, I kind of struggled.”
Orsulak’s tee-to-green game was solid Tuesday. Her struggles on Day 2 came when she got close to and on the green.
“I couldn’t get the speed down,” Orsulak said of her putting. “I was rolling them by and coming up short. I just couldn’t get the speed down.”
Still, she did much better on her last nine holes of the day, where she had four pars, including back-to-back pars on No. 1 and 2.
At No. 1, a 310-yard par 4, Orsulak hit her approach from the rough out of a ball-below-her-feet lie onto the right side of the green. She two-putted for par. She reached the green in regulation on the 390-yard, par-5 No. 2 and also two-putted for par.
Orsulak also hit the green in regulation at No. 6, a 245-yard par 4, and No. 8, a 125-yard par 3, then two-putted both holes for pars.
Orsulak’s performance this week wrapped up a solid first year of high school golf for the freshman. She was a runner-up to Pottsville’s Rachel Brahler for the Schuylkill League girls’ championship Sept. 28 at Hidden Valley. Orsulak then finished second to Allentown Central Catholic’s Franca Hurtado at the District 11 Championships on Oct. 12 at the Schuylkill Country Club. Orsulak carded an 85, while Hurtado shot a 77.
Orsulak qualified for states at the PIAA East Region Championships on Oct. 19 at Golden Oaks in Fleetwood with an 86, finishing fourth.
One area Orsulak will work on this offseason and next summer is putting.
“Normally I am pretty OK at putting, but lately it kind of fell apart a little,” she said. “My irons are solid. My woods, maybe, because I haven’t worked on my woods a whole lot. But other than that my game is pretty good.”
Orsulak also expects this week is just the first of what could be multiple trips to states.
“I definitely think I am going to be shooting lower scores next year just because I think my game is going to improve as I get older and stronger,” she said.
Greenburg Central Catholic’s Olivia Zambruno ended up winning her second consecutive Class AA girls’ title Tuesday with a 9-over 153, taking the title by 10 strokes over Keystone’s Amber Hess. Hurtado was fourth with a 167, while Hamburg freshman Aly Rentschler (183) was 10th.
Other individual champions crowned Tuesday included Radnor’s Brynn Walker (150) in Class AAA girls and Wyomissing’s Nate Menon (146) in Class AA boys. In Class AAA boys, Steve Cerbara of Holy Ghost Prep defeated Geoff Rice of Great Valley in a one-hole, sudden-death playoff for the title after the two finished tied at 147.
The team championships were originally scheduled for today, but postponed until Thursday by the heavy rain that is expect to hit the area.