Emmaus junior Sam Fritzinger didn’t get off to the best of starts during last Thursday’s Eastern Pennsylvania Conference Championship Golf Tournament at Woodstone Country Club. Through nine holes she was at 10-over par after starting her round on the sixth hole.

But once the final nine-hole stretch got underway, so did Fritzinger’s quest for her first EPC title after winning districts last year.

Fritzinger paced the girls’ field with a round of 82, eight strokes ahead of second-place finisher Franca Hurtado (90) of Central Catholic, to win the title on a gloomy and wet day at Woodstone.

“The front nine was very bad, that’s when I was 10-over,” said Fritzinger, who had hoped to shoot in the 70s. “On the back nine I was even. I hit a lot more greens on the back nine.

“I started on hole 6, and I got a nine on that hole. When I came back around to hole 1, I had like three double-bogeys. I missed some putts I should have made.”

Emmaus had hopes of capturing the team title as well after running through the regular season slate without a loss. But Nazareth had other plans as the Blue Eagles used a team-low 79 from Nick Atherholt to edge the Hornets by seven strokes.

There were certainly a number of impressive individual scores for the Hornets on Thursday, but they sure would have liked to add another team title to their trophy case.

“It’s tough because coming in we wanted to win,” said Eric Cichocki, who led Emmaus with a round of 80.

Pocono Mountain East’s Brian Whelan shot a 76 to win the boys’ title, while Bethlehem Catholic’s Nick Maff finished as runner-up with a 77.

Last week’s round was Fritzinger’s first trip back to Woodstone since finishing second at the inaugural EPC tournament last year with a round of 82 as well.

“It would be nice [to win] because I just wanted to play well today,” Fritzinger said.

After an inconsistent stretch at the end of the regular season with her driver, Fritzinger was able to right that ship on the biggest stage of the season thus far.

“My driver has been bad for like the last week, so I wasn’t sure how it was going to be today,” Fritzinger said.

Cichocki’s round awarded him a fourth-place finish and was one of 13 boy golfers to receiver a medal. Kevin Caverly shot an 85 and finished in a tie for 12th place.

Cichocki was able to put that round together despite feeling under the weather himself.

“I was hitting the ball really well,” said Cichocki, who aimed to shoot in the mid-70s. “I didn’t feel great, but I didn’t take any big scores. I didn’t have any double-bogeys.”

Max Harrington (86) and Conner Wambold (98) rounded out Emmaus’ finishers.