NEW BLOOMFIELD - The Lady Pintos and Lady Indians took part in the Helias Invitational on Wednesday, Sept. 2, along with 16 other teams at Meadow Lake Acres Country Club in New Bloomfield.
Starting on hole 16, California's No. 1 Sophie Brant and Russellville's No. 1 Mikala Jungmeyer were grouped together for the day with Jungmeyer shooting an 86 - tied for 10th in the tournament - and Brant finishing with a 90.
"Mikayla was definitely off her game today," Russellville head coach Jeff Benward said. "She shot a 43, 43 for a 86. She normally shoots 75, 77, so she wasn't quite on her game today with chipping and putting."
Jungmeyer played holes 16, 17 and 18 five-over before starting the front nine. On the front nine, she settled down by shooting par on three of the first five holes to make her seven-over on the round. But, she finished the next four holes on the front nine with a double bogey, bogey, double bogey and par.
"She just didn't have her concentration level compared to what she normally does," Benward said. "Normally she doesn't three-putt, very rarely does she ever do that. Her chipping today, she was just off today. She couldn't put anything close."
Jungmeyer finished her last six holes on the back nine two-over to salvage her day.
Brant started her day with an eight-spot on hole 16, but settled down once she started the front nine. She did have some ups and downs, as she pared holes four and five, but tripled hole six. She followed up her triple bogey with a birdie on the par-five seventh.
"Sophie started off a little rocky, but was able to increase her play and hit several pars and that birdie along the way," California head coach Ashley Atteberry said.
On the ninth, Brant miss-hit her second shot from the fairway, but landed her third-shot within 10 feet of the hole. She went on to get up and down for a hole-saving par.
California's No. 2 Renee Roberts got paired with No. 5's from Battle and Waynesville, so her group played slow and was one of the last groups to finish. Atteberry mentioned that Roberts likes to play fast, so the slow play got to her early in her round. On most holes, Roberts had to wait a long time to hit her second shot.
"It was pretty slow out there today," Atteberry said. "But we just talked about not worrying about all of the other girls' shots. It is hard waiting for that long, but I think she did a really good job of trying to focus whenever it was her turn."
Roberts finished the day with a 50 on the front nine and a 47 on the back nine.
Madison Oliver's 108 and Madie Bungart's 117 completed the scoring for Russellville.
"(Oliver) has a bum foot," Benward said. "Playing with a pretty much a broken toe, so she did pretty good for having to walk and hit through a lot of pain. (Bongart) hasn't been able to make practice the last couple of days because she also plays on the softball team. So, she hasn't practiced lately, but she did pretty good with the 117."
On Tuesday, California hosted its first tournament of the season, a quad with Boonville, Sacred Heart and Hallsville. Roberts led the team with a 41 for third overall and Brant shot a 43 to place fourth.
"I thought they did really well for their first home match," Atteberry said. "It was a little slow out there, but they maintain their composure and played really well."
New to golf, sophomores Sarah McCord and Madison Ratcliff played in their first ever tournament, shooting a 64 and 61, respectively.
"It was a learning match for them," Atteberry said. "They did really well for their first match."
The Lady Pintos will travel to Camdenton on Thursday for a triangular, then will host the California Invitational next Tuesday, Sept. 15.
The Lady Indians travel to Southern Boone on Thursday, then Mexico on Monday, Sept. 14.