Winnipeg’s Hupé brings home bowling silver

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This article was published 05/11/2023 (695 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Mitch Hupé is coming home a two-time silver medallist at the Pan American Games.

The 28-year-old Winnipegger, who entered Sunday’s playoff bracket as top seed in men’s singles tenpin bowling in Santiago, Chile, advanced to the gold-medal match before a narrow 68-pin loss to third-seeded American and fellow Professional Bowlers Association member, A.J. Johnson.

Johnson had a 795-727 edge in the three-game final and won by a 256-191 margin in the pivotal final game.

“It’s bittersweet for sure,” Hupé told reporters. “To lead the event up until the end and then to have it come down to basically one game — it’s unfortunate but it’s the way it was… He didn’t give me much room to breathe. So a couple of errors on my part and that’s all she wrote. Despite that, I’m still proud of my performance. I’m happy to bring back two silver medals for Canada. It’s a first Pan Am Games experience and I’d say it’s a successful one, despite the ending.”

Hupé defeated fourth-seeded Cristian Azcona of Puerto Rico 673-665 in one of Sunday’s semifinals while the No. 3-seeded Johnson advanced by beating Costa Rica’s Marco Moretti, seeded No. 2, 680-666.

On Thursday, Hupé combined with Quebec City’s François Lavoie to win men’s doubles silver.

“There’s definitely a difference between representing yourself on the lanes versus representing Canada,” said Hupé, whose parents made trip to South America to witness the event in person. “I don’t know if it’s added pressure per se but there’s an extra layer of honour and respect when you’re doing that. If anything, it’s a little easier playing two players I’m used to facing.”

Hupé wasn’t the only Manitoban to reach the podium on the weekend.

On Saturday, Boissevain’s Zoe Hicks hammered a two-run single to help Canada’s women’s softball team beat Mexico 7-0 in the Pan Am Games bronze-medal game. The game was called after five innings.

Meanwhile, the U.S. beat Puerto Rico 7-0 to win gold.

The Canadians, who went 2-1 in the preliminary round, lost 8-3 to the Americans in Friday’s super round. That result relegated the Canucks to the third-place game.

“I think it was big for us (to win a medal),” said Hicks, who played first base for Canada at the Games. “We had really high expectations and the tournament didn’t go as we had planned. We wanted to play the gold-medal game we wanted to compete for gold. For us, we love coming away with bronze but we have bigger expectations coming for the worlds next year and then following with the Olympics five years from now.”

Hicks, who is also a member of the national women’s baseball team, enjoys the challenge of playing both sports.

“It’s kind of fun to be able to switch back and forth,” said Hicks. “I can kind of put myself in a different head space. I’ve kind of been a utility (player) all my life. So to be able to go from softball to baseball, like ‘OK, today I’m playing softball first base, I can kind of put myself in that mindset or I’m playing third base in baseball and I can put myself into that mindset.’ It just depends on the day and what’s needed.”

The 25-year-old plans to focus on softball with the sport returning to the Olympics schedule for the Los Angeles Summer Games in 2028.

“I would say softball is my priority just because I grew up playing and I started playing softball when I was six years old,” said Hicks. “So it’s kind of where my heart lies. I love playing baseball as a as a complement to a softball type of skill set and that type of vibe and I really have gotten to know the women’s national team for baseball. We’re really close. So I love playing with with both groups of people and both groups of girls.”

mike.sawatzky@freepress.mb.ca