Sophia Trombetta won medalist honors and Lyndsay Blum finished second in leading Independence to a team win at the 2017 Panther Invitational at Turnberry Golf Course in Pickerington on Friday.
The Blue Devils won the morning flight with 343 strokes.
“This was a great way to start the year,” said Independence coach Karl Schuld. “This is an overnight trip for us so there’s some bonding taking place and we take some of the younger girls too to watch and prepare for the future. The morning flight had 17 or 18 teams so it was a bit intimidating but it’s a very good environment and simulates the state tournament a little bit.”
Trombetta finished with a tournament low 1-under par 72, despite a two-stroke penalty for losing a ball.
“We had probably 15 people out looking for it,” Schuld said. “All of her playing partners thought it was in play but she had to go back and replay it. Essentially, she scored par on the hole but had a two-stroke penalty, so she easily could have finished with a 70.”
Trombetta, who finished third at state last fall for the Blue Devils, who finished as Division II state runners-up, was pleased with the strong start to the season.
“This was the perfect start to the season for us,” said Trombetta, a Michigan recruit. “To be able to get a win right off the bat is amazing, but we also know that we have to stay focused and keep working. It’s no secret that we want to win state this year, but we all realize that we need to slowly build our way to that goal and this victory is a great step. For five of us, this is our last year to show everybody what this team can do. This is going to be such a fun final year and I can’t wait to see how we all close it out.”
Blum opened the tournament with a 42 on the front nine but finished the back with a 37 to close out the tournament with a 79.
“It felt good to have a nice round today and will give me a boost of momentum going into the season,” Blum said. “As for the team, we were very happy to win today and are glad to be all playing together again.”
Blum reeled of a string of pars on the back nine to climb the leaderboard.
“Lyndsay played extremely well,” Schuld said. “She had one bad hole but other than that it was a solid day. She had one double bogey and everything else was a bogey or less. She’s starting to realize how good she can be. She had a great summer and I think it’s her time to shine.”
Maddie Harper finished with a 93 and Madeline Mindzora posted a 98 to close out the Independence scoring.
The Blue Devils will compete in the Massillon Jackson Invitational on Monday and the Chagrin Valley Conference pre-season tournament on Tuesday.
