Stricken With Bowling Fever: [SUFFOLK Edition]

Boys Bowling Chaminade 9 St. Dominic 0 Floyd 32 Riverhead 4 Longwood 33 East Hampton 3 Northport 32 Harborfiels 4 Whitman 29 West Islip 7 Girls Bowling Bellport 33 Port Jefferson 3 Longwood 24 Ward Melville 12 Patchogue-Medford 30 S’ham-Wading River 6 Sachem 33 Northport 3 Riflery Deer Park 1,378 Bayport 1,223 Jan. 10

By Mark Herrmann. Newsday, Combined editions; Long Island, N.Y. [Long Island, N.Y]. 16 Jan 1986:

The pins would have good reason to cringe if they could see ahigh school bowler taking aim at them. This is the result of burgeoning youth programs, which havetaught fluid four-step motions and shaped competitive poise: teenagers stride to the line and deliver shots that consistently level the head pin and send the rest of the pins sprawling.

Bowlers on Brookhaven boys and girls teams are achieving scores that would be envied in any Thursday night mixed league. How many adult fivesomes can match William Floyd High School’s aggregate average of 945? What women’s league team wouldn’t want to enlist Sachem’s Barbara Baumach, who normally scores about 172 and has recorded a 234 game? Or Bridget Riley, who averaged 188 through six games of the county championship tournament last year and led Centereach to the title?

Strikes and spares are rolling in. Last week, Longwood‘s Jeff Norton compiled a 634 series and Patchogue-Medford’s Marc Reisberg tossed a 249 game. Sachem’s Jonathan Gordon, who led the county with a 190 average last year, has a respectable 187 this season, but he’s 10 points behind Floyd’s Blair Byrne.

“You have to be on top of your game,” said Floyd sophomore Tony DeOliveira, whose 254 was the Suffolk season-high game through last week.

The roots of strong programs are uncomplicated. Centereach coach Roger Monfett said that you can find traditionally strong teams in communities that have bowling alleys.

But youth leagues have become widespread and many young bowlers have gained savvy. Baumach, for instance, once was the only female participant in a Farmingdale all-star youth league called Bowlympics. She still commutes to Farmingdale from Lake Ronkonkoma for weekly matches in another league.

DeOliveira and his Floyd teammates competed on a summer junior tournament circuit.

“Their parents bowl, the other kids in the school bowl. They fit right in,” said Floyd coach Sam Santorelli. “I have to beg kids to go out for tennis at our school.”

During the bowling season, Santorelli doesn’t plead; he commands.

“The concentration level is up when the kids bowl,” Santorelli said. So are the scores. Byrne, DeOliveira and Jay Licata all average more than 190; John Trotta, Joe Castillo and Jason Wagner all have averages better than 178. In a complex scoring system that takes into account individual matches and team totals, Floyd outscored opponents 219 1/2-19 1/2 while winning its first six matches.

Sachem’s girls also have been dominant, sweeping their first four matches.

Senior Baumach throws strikes with a 15-pound AMF Angle ball, which she carries in a knapsack that resembles a bookbag to ward off some derision from classmates. “If people around school see you carrying a bowling ball bag,” she said, “they just point at you and say: `Look at her.'”

Baumach bowls six days a week; Liz and Claudia Feser spend much of their time working on the 160-plus averages at Centereach Lanes; and Jennifer Filosa (167 average) and Kris Rose (161) are also regulars at the alleys.

A lot of participants practice that much. Some of them are so skilled and experienced, in fact, that coaches don’t have much to do during matches.

“It’s not like basketball, where you can put on a halfcourt trap,” said Longwood coach Alan Hildenbrand. “There’s no defense in bowling.”

Scoreboard Boys Bowling Huntington 24 North Babylon 12 Longwood 23 Mattituck 13 West Islip 31 Harborfields 5 Girls Bowling Bellport 20 Longwood 16 Centereach 34 Harborfields 2 Islip 23 East Islip 13 Newfield 27 Port Jefferson 9 Sachem 32 Lindenhurst 4 Ward Melville 20 1/2 Patchogue-Medford 15 1/2 Riflery Port Jefferson 1,306 LaSalle MA 1,210 Boys Swimming Chaminade 112 Connetquot 60 Jan. 17

Boys Bowling Floyd 34 Pachogue-Medford 2 Huntington 32 Babylon 4 Lindenhurst 22 Smithtown East 14 Shoreham-Wading River 24 Longwood 12 West Islip 24 Northport 12. Jan. 29

Floyd won at Shirley Bowl behind Tony D’Oliveira’s high game (244). Longwood‘s Jeff Norton rolled high series (654). Team Scoring – 1. Floyd 33, 2. Longwood18, 3. Patchogue-Medford 10, 4. Shoreham-Wading River 8. Feb. 27